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Planning Guides > Product Selection Guide > Deer Attractants
9. Electric Fence Deer Attractants Guide 
Deer really go for the smell of peanut butter, apples, wild grapes, and other delicacies. So attracting them with one or another of these lures and then giving them a Pavlovian shock instead of a food reward can effectively train them to avoid protected areas. Not everyone agrees with this behavioral approach. At least one band of academic researchers has found deer repellants to be as effective as deer lures when combined with electric fencing. However, there are many factors at play here—how much voltage was on the line, the nature and spacing of the lures and repellants, the replenishment intervals, when deer training started, what plants were being protected, the protected area's size, whether there was snow and ice, what the deer pressure was like, how well the grounding system worked, what conductors were used, and so forth ad infinitum, to a point where it seems unlikely that the whole imposing array of influential variables could possibly have been tested with any rigor. What we do know is that the combination of an attractant and a voltage of at least 2.5 kv provides good deer training under most conditions. In contrast, repelling deer during the training season is not likely to provide good training, because there is no penalty to the deer, even if the repellants are frequently replaced. What's more, deer eventually become used to repellants and learn to ignore them; and so they may get used to the repellants and descend on the garden untrained around the time the garden is in full bloom or the vegetables are maturing. This same difficulty of getting used to things also governs the effectiveness of deer attractants. It is true that the attractants only have to be fully effective long enough to train the deer that happen on them. However, we don't have the full story on just how long this sort of electrical deer training lasts, and it is certainly possible that the electrical training might wear off for some deer before the end of the growing season or before the end of winter, at a time when they have become more or less accustomed to the scent and are no longer attracted to it. To guard against this possibility, it may be advisable to use two scents that attract deer—starting with one like apple and then switching over to another like wild grape partway through the season. (see Catalog, Electric Fence Deer Lures, products 03-01 thru 03-03). |