Thread: Attracting deer onto your property / farm

Originally Posted by Delta Variant

Thanks for the suggestions.

I just bought a 50 acre block that is surrounded by forest and has heavy new growth of pines (xmass tree size) and gorse all over it.
Full of deer, pig and other sign because access for hunting is very restricted. No adjacent farms with stock on them or "doc land" just private pine forest all around.

Plan is to turn it into a private hunting and shooting "refuge". Will set up a really good plinking range as well like Hickock 45 has.

Will have to clear tracks, do some (lots of) thinning and also clear and plant some areas where they can feed.

I thought of salt blocks and planting "crops" that self propagate.

Any and all good ideas would be appreciated.

I'd plant some fruit trees for yourself. If it's pine forest you won't get many of the bad pests and there should be plenty of nice fruit.

Once you have some clear spots you could throw some acorns out, pick up a bunch next autumn at hagley park. Pigs love them and at least in North America the deer seem to go for them too.
Could also try some tree lucern - most stock will go for it and makes reasonable firewood. Old neighbour when I was a kid would periodically cut trees down, let the animals eat all the greenery and ring up what’s left for winter.
Sowing some cleared areas with clover would be a good attractant, a good cover of this will out complete most of the weeds and pasture for grasses for quite a while - esp if you give it a mow now and again…unless the animals totally blitz it first!
If you are in a dry area some water troughs or ponds can also be a good lure.

Good luck with the project, sounds awesome!

Property sounds awesome!

Jake 77
Thanks for the good suggestions.
There is a good supply of water but the block is very thickly covered by regenerated pines (Xmas tree size) and lots of Gorse.

There are lots of sign and animal trails through it so the animals seem to be there.

Cheers

I will look into the tree Lucerne suggestion

Originally Posted by berg243

@Phil_H do you know where to get that apple stuff , it might help with getting more possums in my traps.

Buy it through farmsource or PGG Wrightson etc we buy it to put in water supply to encourage cows to drink and mask minerals etc

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

It works better if you really really want the crop to feed your own livestock rather than have it stolen by deer.
Up the road 2 years ago that was happening, in desperation the farmer who lives off the property a got a bird scarer that worked for a while but really pissed off the neighbors going off at random all night. He was eventually forced to turn it off at night by sleep deprived locals but by then the deer had gotton used to it anyhow.
2 of us shot it one evening, we counted 17 on what was left of the crop and shot 5 before they twigged that the noise wasn't the bird scarer. As we were picking them up the others started wandering back out.

Lol have seen farmers here try to use bird scares on pigeons here in the UK! They don’t work. Yep they might keep em off the crop for a bit. A Pelion has a memory of 10 days. So if he has a bad experience it takes him 10 days to forget it, not sure about deer.

Trying to convince farms that dead ones don’t eat crops can be quite hard at times.

If your really keen have a look at some of the American web sights. They spend some big dollars on game/deer lure!

Looking at the opposite side of the equation, have any of you installed deer exlusion fencing? Are there effective budget options? I've always been hesitant about exclusion fencing because it also has potential to lock deer in.

This is the sight that I was talking about, for the op.
https://www.deerassociation.com/manage/

Originally Posted by Ben Waimata

Looking at the opposite side of the equation, have any of you installed deer exlusion fencing? Are there effective budget options? I've always been hesitant about exclusion fencing because it also has potential to lock deer in.

top up netting was common enough in the early days of deer farming.
you extend posts with 4x2 or such like and tack netting up.....locking them in isnt such a bad thing if you think about it...you get option to shoot them before they flee back into sanctuary of the native next door.....

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

top up netting was common enough in the early days of deer farming.
you extend posts with 4x2 or such like and tack netting up.....locking them in isnt such a bad thing if you think about it...you get option to shoot them before they flee back into sanctuary of the native next door.....

Yes I agree, locking them in could be good, but only if I could find the blighters reliably. Nothing more frustrating than having a lot of damage then watching them hope over the boundary and away. The problem is the cost, with 8km of boundary fence on this block alone the cost is pretty daunting.

I guy I know who lives between Napier and Taupo is intending to install deer exclusion fencing, his cattle stocking rate is down to less than half what it was do the pasture losses to deer. HBRC is now looking seriously at a region wide deer control program. Might be time for some hunters to get a deer culling proposal together.

Originally Posted by Ben Waimata

Yes I agree, locking them in could be good, but only if I could find the blighters reliably. Nothing more frustrating than having a lot of damage then watching them hope over the boundary and away. The problem is the cost, with 8km of boundary fence on this block alone the cost is pretty daunting.

I guy I know who lives between Napier and Taupo is intending to install deer exclusion fencing, his cattle stocking rate is down to less than half what it was do the pasture losses to deer. HBRC is now looking seriously at a region wide deer control program. Might be time for some hunters to get a deer culling proposal together.

might be time to open the gates and let folks in to harvest the deer.....do it properly and the folks allowed in keep eye on place and look after it.... riff raff git the biff bash and told to piss off hairy legs.....
I belive top up netting on existing fences would be far and away cheapest option...maybe only beaten by 3-4 individual wires...which would be recipe for leg entanglement of anything trying to jump....maybe the whole 8kms isnt needed....leave side nearest home open or into open country open...so animals have to come out into open to get in or out.... hopping over boundary and away would be harder to do in hurry if they had to travel even 1km in either direction to do so....

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

might be time to open the gates and let folks in to harvest the deer.....do it properly and the folks allowed in keep eye on place and look after it.... riff raff git the biff bash and told to piss off hairy legs......

It's a big issue that can't be solved one farm at a time, it needs a coordinated effort. One of the forum guys is coming out every now and then to check over my place plus a handful of other people and I are looking on a regular basis, but the deer are transient and none of us are controlling them adequately.

I hear you....couple of strategically placed higher fences might make your job a little easier.....sure makes sign cutting easier if there is way they have to travel...hopefully you can channel them and cut them off at the pass so to speak.

Just hide behind a bush and make a noise like a bag of oats. They,ll come from miles away.

Your mate drives along the road and pushes 3 fat stags off the side of the road into his farm where they go into the pines. Going back tomorrow for another crack at them. Beside the point he has nice grass. He videoed them last night from this truck.