On Mon, 5 Jun 2006 14:26:53 -0400, "Hoib"
wrote:

I have
developed a strategy for next winter to keep deer off my yews. I'm
going to try to "wrap" them in something, maybe burlap. It was purely
hopeless this year out here where the herd is so large. Repellents,
tin cans with marbles and Irish Spring soap did little if any good.

The repellents, soap, perfume, fox-urine, etc. don't work.

My next door neighbor, bless him, feeds the deer leftover fruits and
veggies during the winter which is why I'm sure they're around...

Tell him to stop doing that. It's bad for the deer, and it's illegal
most places in the US. If he keeps doing it, and you are in the USA,
call your local cooperative extension agent, and ask him or her to
call your neighbor, and explain why he shouldn't be doing this.

Are there any thoughts about any successful anti-deer strategies?
None of the local nurseries around here are very helpful at all.

You can wrap them in burlap, or plastic netting. Either will keep the
deer off them, though the deer will try to pull the burlap or netting
off, so you need to attach it securely.

I used plastic netting for years, and it worked well, but it was a
pain to set up in the fall, and even more of a pain to remove in the
spring. The netting would catch on the yews (and other plants). Burlap
would probably be less difficult to remove, but it looks so ugly! The
netting was pretty invisible unless you looked for it. It was black
plastic, with about 1/2" square holes, is available in any nursery.

I finally decided the yews were my contribution to the local deer
population, and stopped worrying about it. Now the yews look pretty
bad in the spring, and I prune back quite a bit to get them to look
more bushy. By mid summer they have developed a lot of new growth.
Tthey never look really "good", but I accept that.

Just my $.02

T.