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New Discoveries in Deer Deterrence with Kent Scheer

Kent Scheer and his wife Vicki Chepulis live in a beautiful spot that they share with their community: “The Green Island is on the very north edge of the city of Wadena. The novelty of it is that it’s 60 acres of previous dairy farm actually within the city limits of our town. That’s the reason that it has the name Green Island—because at one point my wife and I said to ourselves, ‘We have all this space, we’re maintaining it carefully, we’re planting it abundantly, and it seems selfish to just keep it to ourselves.’ So we announced it was open to the community and to visitors. We have a system of trails for maintenance and upkeep and people can come and walk and stroll. We have schools that come for school outings in the spring. We’ve had some weddings here. So it’s basically open to visitors. It’s become one of those locations where, if people are coming to town for a family reunion or a class reunion, and they’re looking for things to do, they sooner or later head out to Green Island.”

Kent says he thinks of himself as a small forest owner, and also as an amateur environmental and community activist. He is one of the speakers at this year’s Back to Basics conference in Pine River.

One of his presentations is about deer deterrence. With help from University of Minnesota’s RSDP program, he and Vicki conducted some research to test the premise that deer hesitate to enter small areas. They set up small fenced areas, 16 X 16 feet and just 50” high. The fence height is “so small that a deer could almost step over it. But it’s a small area, and I put in the types of plants and crops that they’re attracted to. And lo and behold, that was all it took to keep them away from these plants.”

The exclosures were built from cattle panels, which are readily available at farm supply stores. Kent explains that they’re also rigid and will stand on their own. “You can just take four of them, connect them at the corners, and you’ve got this fenced-in square. It’s very automatic. I set up 6 of those, we planted them, and then we just sat back and we said, ‘Let’s see what happens.’ So this exclosure concept is very simple. You can simply clip these together; you can actually lift them up and move them to a new location. If you want you can dismantle them and store the pieces if you get tired of them. But that’s the new news—that a micro-exclosure—that’s what we’ve called it—is effective. We’re seeing 95% effective from our experience.”

Kent hopes many people will try this concept and share results. “Set some up for yourselves, and let’s all collect the information and see if this is exactly right, because it’s very new.”

Kent says the deer are actually looking at the space and making an assessment. “They’re looking at this space and saying, ‘Uh…can’t get in and out really safely and really fast.’ It’s a psychological deterrent. It’s not a physical deterrent.”

Another way to deter deer is with a home-made spray repellent. “They found the home-made spray is as effective or more than the commercial sprays,” Kent explained.

The formula is simple: Blend 3 raw eggs very well in a blender. Put them in a 1-gallon jug and fill the jug with water. There you have your deer repellent spray! Use the spray every two weeks or after a good heavy rain. And because this repellent depends on its odor to deter deer, it doesn’t work in winter.

Kent Scheer will also be presenting a workshop for beginning apple growers. You can hear his advice for protecting trees from voles (which can kill even a 10-year-old apple tree!) in the interview below.

If you’d like to attend his workshops, register to attend Back to Basics (B2B) at happydancingturtle.org. B2B takes place Saturday, February 2nd in Pine River.

 
Audio File

Kent Scheer explains the concept of Green Island in Wadena, talks about new discoveries in deer deterrence, has a tip for beginning apple growers, and gives a tip of the hat to the Rural Sustainable Development Partnership in this interview. He is a presenter at Happy Dancing Turtle's Back to Basics workshop on February 2nd in Pine River.
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Maggie is a rural public radio guru; someone who can get you through both minor jams and near catastrophes and still come out ahead of the game. She pens our grants, reports to the Board of Directors and helps guide our station into the dawn of a new era. Maggie is a locavore to the max (as evidenced on Wednesday mornings), brings in months’ worth of kale each fall, has heat on in her office 12 months a year, and drinks coffee out of a plastic 1987 KAXE mug every day. Doting parents and grandparents, she and her husband Dennis live in the asphalt jungle of East Nary.