# Deer eating alfalfa



## zero2bb (Feb 21, 2015)

I am looking for advice in keeping deer from eating my alfalfa any help would be greatly appreciated


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## ANewman (Sep 20, 2012)

A .308 and a permit from your area wildlife agency...or a tall fence. There is a product called Hinder that could be sprayed in a band width around the perimeter but deteriorates after rain. It would probably not be cost effective to keep it applied to a large area.


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## dubltrubl (Jul 19, 2010)

There are several ways to deal with this problem. I prefer the sausage solution. However many others prefer roast venison or more specifically, pot roast. Either way the end result is the same. How to KEEP them from eating the alfalfa,,,I have no clue. Best of luck!

Steve


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## panhandle9400 (Jan 17, 2010)

Here we have enough mountain lions they have taken out most of our deer herds white tail and mule deer.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Back before they started having the hunt in the state park across the road we planted alfalfa just so they'd not hit the row crops so hard. Alfalfa grows back, beans and corn not so much.

Was bad enough if you drove several miles either side of the park on the highway you'd see at least one roadkill deer.

Six square mile of park across the road or 3600 hundred odd acres, the first year they took over 900 deer in three days. Did it again the following year, by the third year our yields had doubled.


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## shortrow (Feb 21, 2012)

I have chased them on my quad before. Sometimes I shoot them in the rump with my pellet gun. My neighbor is an avid bowhunter, he has multiple stands on my farm. Season comes in soon, he will thin the population as usual.


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## azmike (Jan 4, 2015)

You might get a dog that chases deer away, but not three counties over. We had to build an eight foot fence for our vineyard with the same problem.


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## Uphayman (Oct 31, 2014)

Have your wildlife officials introduce the gray wolf. We have a surplus here in the U.P. Your deer problem will be solved.... Course they'll eat your pets, livestock, after the deer are gone. Federal judges consider that collateral damage.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Uphayman said:


> Have your wildlife officials introduce the gray wolf. We have a surplus here in the U.P. Your deer problem will be solved.... Course they'll eat your pets, livestock, after the deer are gone. Federal judges consider that collateral damage.


Now that's funny, good stuff UPhayman.......big brother always knows best


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

Guess our deer in East Texas are more ignorant than elsewhere. A 48-inch high field fence topped with a strand of barbed wire surrounds our alfalfa field and for two years, no whitetail deer have been in the alfalfa. While local doe usually go under perimeter barbed wire fences, larger bucks here have 8+ points (not Montana count) and must jump perimeter fences. Since the next closest acreage of alfalfa is 25 miles away, deer here don't know what alfalfa is.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

A fence like that is no barrier for deer here. Chops, sausage, jerky, and roasts sounds good to me.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Deer are a major pest here......soybeans get hurt the worst with 50-60 foot around the parameter of the field that never makes it taller than a few inches. With the amount of damage I get from the deer at the current price of soybeans it is no longer profitable for me to grow them in most of my fields. They are eating my alfalfa pretty bad as well......it doesn't completely ruin the alfalfa plant like the soybeans but the yield from the outside couple windrows of hay is about half the rest of the field. I wish I knew of a realistic way to keep them out of the fields but I don't.

Hunting doesn't do much here because they are so many deer, and the area where I farm is mostly residential property and the people love the deer and won't allow hunting so even if you kill a bunch at the farm there are literally hundreds more waiting to move in from the neighbors around you. I guess this is why I don't understand the excitement that many have about about deer hunting since it is nothing more than varmint control for me.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

FarmerCline said:


> Deer are a major pest here......soybeans get hurt the worst with 50-60 foot around the parameter of the field that never makes it taller than a few inches. With the amount of damage I get from the deer at the current price of soybeans it is no longer profitable for me to grow them in most of my fields. They are eating my alfalfa pretty bad as well......it doesn't completely ruin the alfalfa plant like the soybeans but the yield from the outside couple windrows of hay is about half the rest of the field. I wish I knew of a realistic way to keep them out of the fields but I don't.
> Hunting doesn't do much here because they are so many deer, and the area where I farm is mostly residential property and the people love the deer and won't allow hunting so even if you kill a bunch at the farm there are literally hundreds more waiting to move in from the neighbors around you. I guess this is why I don't understand the excitement that many have about about deer hunting since it is nothing more than varmint control for me.


One of those things. Been an annual tradition since I was old enough. Last year was the first year I didn't get a deer in 10 or 15 years. It turned out ok. I still have a small amount of venison from the previous year.

Back to the point, deer hunring was and is a "coming of age" thing. Now I wouldn't miss it for the world. There are a lot of people who go "hunting" year after year with no real intention of shooting anything. The social aspect is what they are after. To each his own. I know come hunting season I will see a handful of people that other than that, I will maybe see once every 5 years. In November, all the vacant shacks come alive where I am from.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I am going to share this. I know it is not ethical. Guess it depends on how much a person hates deer.

A few years ago we had exclusive hunting rights on 500 hundred acres of prime black belt farming land. The owner grew beans and cotton. He worked for the state and got a permit to shoot deer during the summer. At first some of the locals would go with him. They would spotlight from the bed of his truck. It got old having to drag the deer down the rows out of the field. His solution was to gut shoot them with a .22. The deer would run out of the field, bed up and die some time later.

He did not tell many what he was doing. We saw the skeletons in the woods during hunting season.

He sure did thin out the population. Always made me think a little different of him after that.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

deadmoose said:


> One of those things. Been an annual tradition since I was old enough. Last year was the first year I didn't get a deer in 10 or 15 years. It turned out ok. I still have a small amount of venison from the previous year.
> Back to the point, deer hunring was and is a "coming of age" thing. Now I wouldn't miss it for the world. There are a lot of people who go "hunting" year after year with no real intention of shooting anything. The social aspect is what they are after. To each his own. I know come hunting season I will see a handful of people that other than that, I will maybe see once every 5 years. In November, all the vacant shacks come alive where I am from.


You described me moose....I've harvested so many that I really don't care about the harvest anymore....I care, just doesn't excite me much like it used to, now for my wife, kids, grandkids, the luster is still there so I like to polish the metal for them.....plant food plots, deer feeders, walking trails and the like......


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## zero2bb (Feb 21, 2015)

zero2bb said:


> I am looking for advice in keeping deer from eating my alfalfa any help would be greatly appreciated


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

FarmerCline said:


> Deer are a major pest here......soybeans get hurt the worst with 50-60 foot around the parameter of the field that never makes it taller than a few inches. With the amount of damage I get from the deer at the current price of soybeans it is no longer profitable for me to grow them in most of my fields. They are eating my alfalfa pretty bad as well......it doesn't completely ruin the alfalfa plant like the soybeans but the yield from the outside couple windrows of hay is about half the rest of the field. I wish I knew of a realistic way to keep them out of the fields but I don't.
> 
> Hunting doesn't do much here because they are so many deer, and the area where I farm is mostly residential property and the people love the deer and won't allow hunting so even if you kill a bunch at the farm there are literally hundreds more waiting to move in from the neighbors around you. I guess this is why I don't understand the excitement that many have about about deer hunting since it is nothing more than varmint control for me.


Even the town people here were tired of deer, like I said, wasn't unusual to find a new road kill deer every day, enough of that and peoples insurance was going nuts on their cars.



Tim/South said:


> I am going to share this. I know it is not ethical. Guess it depends on how much a person hates deer.


When you have a family farm that could be lost because crop damage is so bad you can't even break even, you learn to hate em in a hurry.

Then of course all the mis information got old in a hurry as well, most seem to think the state paid us for deer damage, they don't, Indiana won't even supply the ammo to take em out



zero2bb said:


> zero2bb said:
> 
> 
> > I am looking for advice in keeping deer from eating my alfalfa any help would be greatly appreciated


Far as keeping them out, I really have no solutions other than shooting everyone you see. Once out of hand deer as bad as feral hogs.


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## Uphayman (Oct 31, 2014)

somedevildawg said:


> You described me moose....I've harvested so many that I really don't care about the harvest anymore....I care, just doesn't excite me much like it used to, now for my wife, kids, grandkids, the luster is still there so I like to polish the metal for them.....plant food plots, deer feeders, walking trails and the like......


I can relate.... Deer killing burnout. Filling tags , gutting, giving away, deer drives thru just the nastiest conditions, freezing your a$$ off. Finally went to an organized...controlled hunt. We built a facility for hunters. Run 7 to 8 groups a year from Sept. Youth hunt thru late December archery. I get more satisfaction seeing others be successful, while helping to control the damn things. When you see one of the "new" hunters (the kids), just light up, telling how he,she shot their first deer with their pa, watching pas' eyes mist up.... That's it man. 
Having said the that, 40 years of intense hunting pressure didn't have much of a dent on crop damage. We're talking some years with over a 100 deer taken on 700 acres of crop land. You guys probably get tired of my "wolf" experiences, but when they moved in 5-6 years back........no more crop damage.
I know options are different for different areas. Super heavy hunting pressure, brown is down, declare war. We had to, and did to save our operation. Good luck on this one.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

We did the depredation permits as well, would get 20, have em filled in less than two weeks, get 20 more, fill em. Started to run out of people who was willing to deal with the hassle of hunting and tracking deer in the summer.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

You have poor "state" wildlife management when you are overpopulated with deer. Some states have a mandatory doe kill if you draw a buck tag. Deer must be controlled just like any other pest. The trouble is that many states succumb to tree huggers and peta and do not take care of the "due diligence" that must be maintained with certain big game species.

I still archery hunt whitetails, but I do not take one every year. I have gotten very particular and just enjoy hunting mature trophy class whitetails anymore....not many of those in a population of deer and it makes it that much more challenging to try and match wits with them.

I would have no problem with helping out with control with a firearm....it must be done and here we donate population control animals to the "Hunters for the Hungry" program where the meat is processed and given to the needy and also donated to area soup kitchens.

Regards, Mike


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## glasswrongsize (Sep 15, 2015)

Check with your local Sheriff's Office for county noise ordinances. If nothing prohibits, make use of propane cannons. Voice of experience here- make nice with neighbors first and try to set up an amicable arrangement. Also helps that they know that they can call YOU if there is a problem instead of running and crying to the po-po. There is another advantage to using the propane cannons. By the time the deer get used to the constant booms and no longer give them a second thought, so have the 'possum cops 
73, Mark


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

mlappin said:


> We did the depredation permits as well, would get 20, have em filled in less than two weeks, get 20 more, fill em. Started to run out of people who was willing to deal with the hassle of hunting and tracking deer in the summer.


 I can't hardly get anyone interested in hunting the farms I have a depredation permit for. To start with you have to pass up a lot of shots because I'm in a populated area with houses and roads in the background. Then the neighbors call the police on you for poaching their deer. Most of the hunters in this area are antler hunters and don't have any interest in hunting for meat and get mad that I have a depredation permit because I'm killing their deer that they spend big $$ on to just kill 1 a year to hang on the wall. When deer damage is the biggest cause of crop loss deer become a very sore subject.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

When can you fill those permits? Legally and logistically?


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

deadmoose said:


> When can you fill those permits? Legally and logistically?


 Well they gave me a permit back in July for 10 deer at each farm....the permit was good until November 1st and the shooting hours were sunrise until 11pm. Logistically is another thing......I can't find anyone that wants to hunt more than one or two times.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Vol said:


> You have poor "state" wildlife management when you are overpopulated with deer. Some states have a mandatory doe kill if you draw a buck tag. Deer must be controlled just like any other pest. The trouble is that many states succumb to tree huggers and peta and do not take care of the "due diligence" that must be maintained with certain big game species.
> 
> I still archery hunt whitetails, but I do not take one every year. I have gotten very particular and just enjoy hunting mature trophy class whitetails anymore....not many of those in a population of deer and it makes it that much more challenging to try and match wits with them.
> 
> ...


Had to go thru the legislature in Indy so they could change the wording so the property managers of each state park could decide when park hunts were warranted.

Was getting so bad in the park you could dee several hundred yards into the park under the browse line, now in most places heavily wooded your lucky to see 20 feet in places.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

FarmerCline said:


> When deer damage is the biggest cause of crop loss deer become a very sore subject.


Oh yah, lost a few friends over that.

Moron down the road couldn't kill a deer with a nuke, he thinks for everyone shot in the park the DNR should bring one in to replace it. He'll never be confused as the brightest bulb in the box either.


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

Back to the original question, a 6-ft high field fence topped with tightly strung barbed wire around the alfalfa field should do the job unless you have some very athletic deer on your place. Most high fenced places in this region use 8-ft high fence, but that is to protect their investment in captured and purchased deer.


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

Some observations.

Clear the brush and trees out in your County. Get rid of all the cover. Keep t eh tall grasses mowed. A fawn may lay up in tall grass but mama has difficulty hiding in tall grass.

Build in raised deer stands. Get your hunters up high enough that the deer will not catch their odor(s). All might work, might not too.

65 years ago we had no deer, here. Now we have trees everwhere and plenty of deer. Back then every patch of ground was plowed.

We did not have yards full of bushes and trees. Many yards were still bare dirt. Back then we could see the trains in the River bottom a full 3 miles away. We could pick dew berries on the RR Bank. Not now all are hidden by trees, & brush.

I expect you have the big Pitcher.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

vhaby said:


> Back to the original question, a 6-ft high field fence topped with tightly strung barbed wire around the alfalfa field should do the job unless you have some very athletic deer on your place. Most high fenced places in this region use 8-ft high fence, but that is to protect their investment in captured and purchased deer.


Depends on the deer I guess, a few people around here raise em and they go with 10 foot chain link.

Never even seen ours slow down when they go over the 4 foot perimeter fence around the park.


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## panhandle9400 (Jan 17, 2010)

Put a replacement bumper/cow catcher on and add a couple of extra braces on frame rails to cow catcher and chase 'em down, I know for a fact that antelope are the fastest land animals in north America but wide open in 3rd gear will do it . All of my rigs have heavy duty cow catcher/bumpers on them so we do not have damage when the herds run across in front of us going down the trails/roads. There are several 1000 head run openly around here, thanks to the Oklahoma fish and game department. If this was the boiler room I would shed some light on how these idiots do things here.


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## zero2bb (Feb 21, 2015)

Many thanks to all... Good to see folks that are willing to share.


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## Hawk40 (Jun 28, 2015)

mlappin said:


> Depends on the deer I guess, a few people around here raise em and they go with 10 foot chain link.
> 
> Never even seen ours slow down when they go over the 4 foot perimeter fence around the park.


I grade up a 30" berm and put a 6' hogwire fence on it then grade swales on both sides and still doesn't keep them all out


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## Hawk40 (Jun 28, 2015)

Three that won't be back


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## azmike (Jan 4, 2015)

A few years ago we had two border patrol agent "return fire" at a propane cannon in a pecan orchard, a local sheriff showed up and asked these duffuses what they were shooting at? I suspect they are patroling a VERY remote section of border!


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## Hugh (Sep 23, 2013)

We have a large amount of whitetail and mule deer, and also a lot of alfalfa around. I rarely see (if ever) deer grazing alfalfa. They do graze other fields, and I suppose those fields are timothy or orchard grass, etc.


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

What about in December through April when the mule deer come out of the hills and into the valleys?


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## Hugh (Sep 23, 2013)

We have a lot of deer around during winter, but none of them are interested in alfalfa. (as far as I have seen) We have an 8 foot fence, so none here, but the field across from us is 20 acres of 100% alfalfa, and I have never seen a deer on that property. To the East of us there is a 17 acre patch of 100% and I have never seen a deer there either. But believe me, we have a large deer population. Before we got the fence, the deer did a huge amount of eating on our apple trees. They seem to like trees and shrubs better than anything else. Could be that these deer graze the alfalfa late at night when I'm not watching...


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## Hawk40 (Jun 28, 2015)

Around my place nobody else irrigates so the entire population of this valley shows up for dinner every evening along with occasional road poachers. The deer are here are nearly as tenacious as the wild hogs are in Fl.
They have figured out our wire doesn't go all that deep into the berm its on and they dig under it.
Then the jackass local road shooters cut the fence to drag out em out.
I pretty much quit returning in the fall for deer season cause most of the really good bucks get whacked by the local jackass road poachers well before the legal season.
But anyway they eat anything that's fertilized and irrigated around here but if left alone they'll walk thru the alfalfa to get to the strawberry nursery fields.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Hugh said:


> Could be that these deer graze the alfalfa late at night when I'm not watching...


You can bet your life on it.....deer love alfalfa.....but they like a variety everyday....just like people.

Regards, Mike


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## VA Haymaker (Jul 1, 2014)

If the deer population is left unchecked, is there a typical percentage loss of yield one factors in on expected tons per acre?


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## Hawk40 (Jun 28, 2015)

Hard to quantify but I have an eight ac alfalfa field behind the shop that I don't do anything to keep them out and it looks like the half closest to the woods loses about 50% due to continuous browsing.
The larger pivot and wheel line fields don't show that kind of damage.
I don't know how many lbs a deer can eat a day but deer in this valley would get a very high % of their daily diet from my fields if I let them because it's usually the only green food here by July.
Left unchecked, there would be 60-65 deer eating their fill every night so the loss would be substantial


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