Addressing deer conflicts
Montclair Township’s
relationship with wildlife
Montclair Township believes in and follows a policy of peaceful
coexistence with wildlife. Co-existing means allowing animals to live their
lives out safely, while still addressing any wildlife-human conflicts with
humane, innovative, and non-lethal approaches.
Many of us moved to Montclair to live in a more nature-based environment
that is close to urban areas. As such, we can expect to encounter wild
creatures who also call our town home.
Therefore, learning to accept, appreciate and co-exist is necessary.
Trapping and relocating wildlife or killing wildlife is
ILLEGAL, ineffective, and goes against the values of our township.
Montclair Township Animal
Control is your go-to first call for information on local wildlife, and to resolve any issues that may arise. You can reach Animal
Control 24/7/365 by calling 862-621-9113.
Montclair Township is also part of the Humane Society of theUnited States’ Wild Neighbors Program. The program goal is to reduce and resolve wildlife-human conflicts humanely.
THE TOOLS AND STRATEGIES
Some people
assume there are "too many deer" when they experience a conflict in
their yard, yet the reality is that deer conflicts may be totally unrelated to
their numbers and can be addressed using strategic habitat (yard) management
strategies and tools developed and tested for our urban/suburban environment.
The tools described here
are effective in deterring and excluding deer so we can enjoy our garden and
plants - peacefully co-existing with deer. We include specific strategies that
Montclair residents have found effective.
1) Landscape strategically
Deer damage can be reduced, and in some cases eliminated, by
thoughtful landscape design focusing on the selection and placement of plants.
Often the solution is simply managing your yard and their
habitat differently. Dr. Oswald Schmitz professor of population and community
ecology with Yale University suggests planting things that deer like away from the garden area you want to
protect. “Provide these
alternative food sources by allowing them to grow outside your garden”, Schmitz
recommends. “What you’re doing is actually moving the deer around your
landscape yourself and deflecting the herbivory away from the plants that you
really like.”
Montclair Township’s own Animal
Control Supervisor, Michele Shiber, follows these principles. She shares “If you
create an edible garden in a separate part of the yard, the deer and groundhogs
and other animals are likely to stay away from the rest of your garden. I
suggested this to my neighbor and it worked!”
Nancy Lawson, The Humane
Gardener, did a deep dive into this approach in her own garden and documented
her findings in her article “Deer eat my garden and it flourishes” as well as
on providing information on her website, on webinars, and many published
articles. She quotes Dr. Schmitz who
explains “My strategies for coexistence with deer are
creative applications of principles already known to scientists, but “these
kinds of things have never really been tried from a gardener’s perspective.”
2) Adjust what you plant. Deer-resistant plants.
Gardens and landscape
What is attracting the deer?
Where it is planted? Replace hard-hit flowers and other plants with more
deer-resistant annual and perennial native plants. Many native plants,
especially herbaceous ones, are not tasty to deer and are great for attracting
pollinators and birds. Rutgers
publishes a very helpful list as does the Native Plant Society
of New Jersey.
Alternative plantings
Landscapers who use humane gardening techniques mix deer
attracting plants among deer repelling plants. The deer typically leave the
repelling plants alone. Most pollinator plant species are the
ones the deer despise, so they aren’t usually touched at all.
Trees
“Buck rubs” happen during the fall when male deer rub their
antlers against tree trunks. They do this in order to leave scent and visual markings that declare their
presence, release hormonal tension, and bulk up neck and shoulder muscles.
These rubs can be prevented by wrapping trees
with any commercial product sold for that purpose or placing corrugated plastic
sleeves around them. Erecting a temporary fence surrounding vulnerable trees
(usually smaller, two- to three-inch-diameter trees that stand alone) or
surrounding them with two-inch garden stakes that deflect any rubbing.
If you take a stroll through Yantacaw Park or Brookdale Park
you will see thriving young trees using these protections.
Vegetable Gardens
Often it is the groundhog or squirrel or rabbit or skunk that
causes the most damage to edible gardens, especially in Montclair. With deer,
the deterrence is much simpler. Placing a temporary fence around your vegetable
garden is the best way to deter them. (See some options in #4 below)
You can see this strategy in action at Edgemont Elementary
School. Deer had been nibbling at the edible garden. An 8-foot fence was
installed around the garden - then the deer munching halted. They also planted
a pollinator garden with deer-resistant pollinator plants. This pollinator
garden did not have a fence or use any deer deterrence tools. However, due to
the nature of the plant species, deer avoided this plot and the plants were
untouched.
Here are some great resources:
https://www.humanegardener.com/gardening-for-deer/
https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/deer-garden
https://www.humanesociety.org/news/deer-eat-my-garden-and-it-flourishes
3) Deer-resistant repellents
Deer are extremely wary animals who avoid places where they
feel threatened or insecure. A variety of products (including some homemade
remedies) can repel deer. The suggestions below were compiled from Montclair
residents:
●
Hire a service that uses natural spray repellents:
○
Montclair residents use: https://njdeercontrol.com/ natural spray service.
This is a safe and convenient method of deterrence.
“My cousin’s business
specializes in deer control. They use a natural spray that is harmless to
people and pets but works great to repel deer.”
○
“We have found deersolution.com to work! We have almost
an acre, unfenced, and I have seen a huge change. They come once a month and
spray the things in your yard that the deer eat.””
●
Other options. Montclair residents share:
○ “Do it yourself. Use a
product called Liquid Fence. It’s a
spray application. We use it with great success. It’s about $30 a gallon.”
○
“Bobbex works well
regularly sprayed on the plants they eat. This year I just threw some netting
over my hydrangeas, hostas and yew and that seems to be a deterrent.”
○
“I
used that liquid deer repellent. DeerBGone.
Smells like sulfur and eggs. You need to reapply it after a big rain. It worked
very well!”
○
“I bought deer scram
and sprayed it, seems to be working.”
○ “I used to use little cheese cloth bags full of blood meal
attached to branches inside of bushes and had great luck.”
○
“I use Deerstopper
once a month like clockwork. It works.”
○ “This year we sprayed Bobbex on the plants they like the most
(e.g., hostas, tulips) every 3-4 weeks and saw a major improvement over last
year.”
●
Throwing netting over
certain plants is a good deterrent: “This year I just threw some netting
over my hydrangeas, hostas and yew and that seems to be a deterrent.”
4)
Deer Scare Tactics
Motion-activated
sprinklers work at scaring deer away. Residents and experts suggest:
o
Motion-Activated
Sprinkler - Yard Enforcer | Orbit Irrigation – OrbitOnline
o
Scare Crow Motion
Detected Animal Repellent
attaches to a garden hose. When a deer comes into its adjustable,
motion-detecting range, a sharp burst of water is sprayed at the animal. The
combination of physical sensation and a startle effect provide effective
aversive conditioning.
o The Havahart Spray-Away
Elite Motion Detector is similar in action to the Scarecrow, yet is hose-free and solar
powered. This device uses infra-red technology to detect animal movement.
o The Havahart 5250
Electronic Deer Repellent consists of 3 stakelike devices and a scent lure. Deer are
attracted to the lure and then receive a mild electric shock when they reach
it.
5)
Good fences make good
deer neighbors
Deer may prefer a certain area of
town due to its proximity to a water source for drinking or other factors.
Folks living in those areas are more likely to see them. In this case, the most effective and
permanent way to protect landscape plants is with fencing, or to limit
plantings to species that are most resistant to deer browsing.
Fence around your garden: A deer
fence usually consists of a tall fence mesh (6 feet tall to 10 feet tall)
engineered to keep deer in or out of an area. The lower height deer fencing is
often used to surround shrubs like arborvitae from being eaten by deer. This
shrub type of fencing is typically seasonally removable and inexpensive. Critterfence
is a great source and here is their deer page.
Fence around your yard: Typically it is best to install an 8 foot fence. There are
also creative ways that you can amend a 4 foot fence to prevent deer from
jumping.
A Montclair resident shares: “I have
a solid wooden fence and never have deer in the yard unless I leave the gate
open.”
6) Slow down during rut season - October - December
Montclair has very few driving conflicts with deer. The best
approach is to slow down at dusk and dawn and during rut season (October to
December). At these times deer are more frequently on the move. Slowing down
during these times will avoid issues.
7)Don’t feed deer!
Feeding will just attract
them to your yard and neighboring yards. It is illegal to feed wildlife in
Montclair as per Ordinance 82-37. You will be fined for
violating this law.
More Facts About A Misunderstood
Animal
The Truth about Deer and Lyme Disease
●
Humane Society of the United States
explains: “New scientific research shows that Lyme
disease incidence, and human health risks, are affected more by the abundance
of the larval tick’s host (white-footed mice and chipmunks) and the food
resource those small hosts rely on (acorns) than by the abundance of deer.”
Other Sources of information:
●
Cary Institute’s
Tick Project
(partners include the CDC) says that deer have “gotten a false rap”. The
white-footed mouse and abundant acorn crops are major drivers of recent spikes
in infection.
●
Washington
Post: “Why this adorable
mouse is to blame for the spread of lyme disease”
●
“Killing Deer Not the
Answer to Lyme Disease”. Harvard’s School of Public Health. After deer kills, said Harvard,
Lyme infections “went up.”
●
The
Yale School of Public Health reported that the rate of infection was not
significantly different before and after deer hunts.
●
Research
is yielding more surprises: The humble opossum is an “unsung hero” in the
battle against the infection. Foxes and other small predators break the cycle
of infection.
The Truth about Deer
and Biodiversity
When scientists speak about regeneration and biodiversity
they are referring to forests. While Montclair is a beautiful, tree-rich
community, it does not mimic a forest in its ecology. Claims that deer impact
biodiversity are related to forested areas, not urban/suburban areas.
The Humane Society of the United States through its Urban
Wildlife program states: “It
is easy to point the finger at deer and blame them for our forest growth woes,
yet the reality is that forests are affected by many things: Acid rain, insect
damage, disease, forest fragmentation, pollutants, loss of soil fertility,
animal browsing, invasive and other competing plant species, parasitic
organisms, climatic and weather extremes, over-development … and deer. It is vital in addressing deer-human
conflicts that we do not use deer as scapegoats for larger and more systemic
ecological problems.”