What's That Smell?
Living on a mountain, albeit a small one, brings with it lots of wildlife, which I love. There are hawks and eagles, turkey vultures and coyotes, squirrels and quail, even the occasional cougar. Unfortunately, there's also deer...lots and lots of deer. I usually don't mind, especially in the late Spring when the little Bambi babies come around, all spotted and tiny. What I do mind is the snacking, munching, decimating of all plants, bushes and trees in the front yard.
I spend about $150 every year on deer deterrent spray to keep them from turning my naturalized front area into a barren wasteland. The stuff is very stinky and awful to spray without getting it embedded in hair, clothes and up my nose. It works for about a week--if it doesn't rain--and then I have to reapply it, from March to October. Every now and then I forget and that will be the morning I wake up to find all of my lilies have been eaten to the ground, or my beautiful little Weeping Cherry tree is now stripped to the bark: no leaves, no flowers, nothing left but sticks. To add insult to injury, they just walk right up the front path and eat their fill.
A couple of months ago, before the quarantine, I used the last dose of the stinky stuff and added it to the list of things to get at the co-op next time we went. Before I could get more however, the world went into crisis and the Stay At Home orders were in place. I really didn't know if the front yard would survive the rampaging deer and had sort of resigned myself to watching everything turn into deer fast food take-out.
But then. Nick came up with the brilliant idea of using old and leftover bottles of manly cologne and some of my no-longer-liked perfume, mixing them together into the most horrific eye-watering, nose-burning stench you can imagine. He cut a bunch of dowels, soaked them in the yucky liquid until they were completely saturated and stuck them in the middle of all the lilies and pots, and also hung several to dangle in the limbs of the Weeping Cherry tree.
It worked.
Now, without the deer eating everything in sight, you can hardly see the dowel tucked into the foliage as the plants have been free to grow...
But the best part, besides the fact Nick's plan worked perfectly, is lily buds are forming and all the bushes and trees look wonderful. Woo hoo...
So, not only has the toxic aroma mixture worked like a dream, but the deer won't even come into the yard these days. The smell lingers for weeks and if the stuff clogs my nose and gives me a headache if I inhale too much of it, imagine what it must do to the deer. I also like the fact it's an organic way to stop them, plus a great way to recycle unwanted aftershave/cologne/perfume. Win-win in my book.
Though no doubt the deer would disagree...
I spend about $150 every year on deer deterrent spray to keep them from turning my naturalized front area into a barren wasteland. The stuff is very stinky and awful to spray without getting it embedded in hair, clothes and up my nose. It works for about a week--if it doesn't rain--and then I have to reapply it, from March to October. Every now and then I forget and that will be the morning I wake up to find all of my lilies have been eaten to the ground, or my beautiful little Weeping Cherry tree is now stripped to the bark: no leaves, no flowers, nothing left but sticks. To add insult to injury, they just walk right up the front path and eat their fill.
A couple of months ago, before the quarantine, I used the last dose of the stinky stuff and added it to the list of things to get at the co-op next time we went. Before I could get more however, the world went into crisis and the Stay At Home orders were in place. I really didn't know if the front yard would survive the rampaging deer and had sort of resigned myself to watching everything turn into deer fast food take-out.
But then. Nick came up with the brilliant idea of using old and leftover bottles of manly cologne and some of my no-longer-liked perfume, mixing them together into the most horrific eye-watering, nose-burning stench you can imagine. He cut a bunch of dowels, soaked them in the yucky liquid until they were completely saturated and stuck them in the middle of all the lilies and pots, and also hung several to dangle in the limbs of the Weeping Cherry tree.
It worked.
Now, without the deer eating everything in sight, you can hardly see the dowel tucked into the foliage as the plants have been free to grow...
But the best part, besides the fact Nick's plan worked perfectly, is lily buds are forming and all the bushes and trees look wonderful. Woo hoo...
So, not only has the toxic aroma mixture worked like a dream, but the deer won't even come into the yard these days. The smell lingers for weeks and if the stuff clogs my nose and gives me a headache if I inhale too much of it, imagine what it must do to the deer. I also like the fact it's an organic way to stop them, plus a great way to recycle unwanted aftershave/cologne/perfume. Win-win in my book.
Though no doubt the deer would disagree...
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