Hops and Deer

Does anyone know if Deer will eat the shoots and the Hops? I have a damn heard that man handles my yard and chases my Boxer back to the door when they are out. I know the hops are bitter so I don't think they would eat them but I am afraid they will eat the shoots.

anyone have issues with deer eating their hops?

well i know a good way to get rid of deer. its called a 30-06. just make sure you have plenty of freezer space.....but then again...thats my $0.02. i love deer meat....

Try a "scarecrow" I will water your hops and run off the deer!

Philip

I will find out soon. Planted my rhizomes yesterday. They made it through the first night. Your Boxer must be smarter than mine- he tries to chase them out. Stopped for a month or so after he got kicked, but he's back at it.

You need a bigger dog... maybe some wolves?

The deer eat everything in my yard, except they didn't touch the hops last summer. I don't know if I was just lucky, or if they had enough from eating everything else in our garden whenever they could. The only thing that I can guess stopped them is those leaves and stems are sort of prickly.

I vote for eat the deer.

i vote pee on the hops.

they haven't bothered mine in 5 years and I have a lot of deer problems.

We've got loads of deer and they eat everything in sight. I don't take any chances with my hops. They have fencing around them.



It's pretty simple to move out of the way to do any chores.

Haven't had any deer damage, three years so far. Or elk, rabbits, gophers, wood rats, mice, etc. Even after I got rid of my RV (a major snack source), no problems.

Then again, city-deer might be hungrier.

I asked the owner of my LHBS this same question, as I've had 4-8 deer in my yard on any given day. (How to bag a deer for meat when I'm pretty sure there's a city ordnance against discharging weapons?) He said the deer in his yard leave them alone. Some other thread mentioned squirrels or burrowing critters going after the rhizomes. I'm planning on surrounding mine in chicken wire, just to be safe... If Midwest ever gets around to sending them to me. Everyone else seems to have been notified of delivery. Their website says they'll be delivered by April 2nd, I could swear it said by April 1st just a few days ago.

JayC said:

(How to bag a deer for meat when I'm pretty sure there's a city ordnance against discharging weapons?)

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Crossbow.

thwack...thump.

JayC said:

I asked the owner of my LHBS this same question, as I've had 4-8 deer in my yard on any given day. (How to bag a deer for meat when I'm pretty sure there's a city ordnance against discharging weapons?)

Click to expand...

I can't say as I've ever hit a deer.. but there may or may not be a freezer full of squirrel harvested from my very urban back yard...see, I practice for deer season with my bow in my back yard...and I'll be damned if those squirrels keep feeding on the bird seed in front of my target... Aim small, miss small...arrows don't go bang!

I just put up an electric fence to keep those damn pests out of our cedars. So probably not to hard to extend it to around the hop plants.

But from what I hear, deer don't like the hops. Then again, they'll probably eat anything if they are hungry enough.

I have a sister-in-law who claims she trained the local herd using a slingshot and marbles.

She said they eventually learned to avoid the area where the pain happened and would teach the young ones to do the same with only occasional reminders.

Not 100% sure I believe her... but it sounds fairly cheap (and maybe a little entertaining.)

orfy said:

I vote for eat the deer.

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+1

Mmmmmmmmmmm venison....

not quite related to the thread but im in the process of designing a beer pairing menu and its venison based as far as the meat goes.

Other than violating several hunting laws.. how the hell do you package 14 deer?

Oh and electric fencing for deer works mostly on psychology. You bait the wire with peanut butter laden tinfoil. Then when they sniff or lick the peanut butter, they get a shock. They then attribute the wore as being shocking. So your sister inlaws negative reenforcement through slingshot enabled marble projectiles probably does work.

there are several deer that frequent my yard. they chill out, sleep, whatever in my yard for some reason (when i cut grass i can see their droppings and big depressions in the grass where they've been laying around). so i was slightly concerned about them, too.

after planting last spring, the new rhizome grew well, even better than expected considering i kept it in my fridge for about 2 months. by the middle of the summer, it was approaching 10 feet or so in height. i had no protection around it, so it was vulnerable to being munched.

well, sure enough, one day, it happened. i came out for one of my frequent "admire the hops vine" sessions and practically every leaf between my knees and my head was gone. the deer got it!

this must have been a gardener-friendly deer, though, because he or she didn't eat the main climbing shoot, just all the leaves. and there were still a few little leaves near the base and above (out of the reach of the deer).

the good news is that after that event, the vine grew even more vigorously than before, it was like hops on steroids. amazing. the act of deer eating the leaves served the function of the pruning/trimming and the vine did very well after that, it didn't miss a beat. tons of new leaves instantly, and i noticed the vine produced a lot more side shoots than before. it kickstarted it. my vine even produced a good 1/2 oz or so of hops cones in the fall (its first season), something i didn't expect until the 2nd or 3rd season. for some reason, after that first time, nothing ate it after that.

Cover yourself in synthetic deer urine. That will take care of it.

My neighbor taught me a trick after I complained to him about the deer simply jumping the electric fence around the garden.

Be sure to turn the fence off first. Then wrap some aluminum foil on the fence leaving a small streamer of foil dangling. Smear some peanut butter on that streamer. Turn the fence back on, grab a homebrew and enjoy the antics. I don't even turn my fence on anymore and I haven't had any trouble for two years. I'm sure that I will have to do it again soon to "learn" the new generation but it works great!