Funny how the smell-of-soap-repels-deer urban folklore usually is
restricted to the magical properties of Irish Spring -- perhaps because
it's got Irish fairies in it. Sometimes it's Lifeboy, Ivory, Coast, or
Dial has the magic properties, but the great majority of times it's Irish
Spring.

Often when this legend is alluded to as true, it will be stated without
citation that a university horticultural station proved only Irish Spring
works -- the university being variously identified as in California, in
Illinois, or Massachusetts. I've never been able to track down such a
field study, though I found an amateur study conducted by landscaper
William H. Frederick of Pennsylvania, who stated categorically the Irish
Spring soap had no effect on the deer. A University of Florida Warrington
College of Business market research study DID establish that people were
easily misled into believing Irish Spring cleaned better than other bar
soaps, based only on it having more perfume in it.

So I'm still willing to read that alleged field study if it actually
exists. The rumor of such a study seems to be based on a University of
Illinois Horitlucltural Extension's hand-out sheet on what to do about
deer. It was not a study on any level, but it did mention that deer
dislike strong unfamiliar smells & stuff that tastes awful, so that soap &
tobasco sauce applied to plants could be "moderately effective." No
special brand was mentioned, & it did not recommend hanging bars about the
property, but recommended making a nasty-smellikng nasty-tasting liquid to
paint on branches of shrubs & trees. Other horticultural statiosn have
expressed the opinion in their hand-outs that soap might have a very
transient effect until the deer figured out the smell was unimportant, but
again, no study.

My theory is this "Irish Spring repells deer" urban legend got started
this way: Hunters know that if deer in the wild smell hunters, they flee
lest they get shot, so hunters like to dump deer **** all over themselves
so that they will smell better than humans. A nice clean man who uses a
manly soap (Irish Spring the only soap ever marketed as a "manly" soap),
then the deer would smell the manly men from an even greater distance,
same as if they had spritzed themselves with their grandma's equally manly
cheap perfume, for Irish Spring has way more perfume than most brands.
Someone at some time must've used this as evidence that it was the Irish
Spring & not the hunters that repelled the deer in the woods. Therefore in
the garden, if you took a nice long shower using Irish Spring, then ran
outdoors & flapped your arms at the deer, the smell of the soap would make
them run away. The effect might not be quite so dramatic, however, if
you've merely got bars of soap hanging about the yard.

-paghat the ratgirl


I doubt any study exists on the effectiveness of Irish Spring soap as a deer
repellent, not that it matters, since everyone knows that anecdotal evidence
trumps science anyway. Anything with a strong smell may discourage deer
from an area, for no other reason that it interferes with their ability to
smell approaching predators. This tends make them nervous, and may lead to
them avoiding the area. Any strong smelling (deodorant) soap will work.
The reason that soap is used is because it is cheap, easy to get and lasts a
long time in the garden. Perfume would probably work just as well, if you
wanted to keep spraying it. As with all repellents, it works with varing
degrees of effectiveness. Being generally cheap, easy and safe I see no
reason not to at least try it.

Keith