As there is an abundance of deer in and around town, there are a number of residents that don't want them in their yards because they eat flowers.
People often put up page wire fences to keep the deer away, but the occasional fawn gets stuck in the wire.
Sundre-area resident Joyce Kyncl came across a fawn stuck in a page wire fence this summer and managed to rescue it. The same thing happened to her last year.
“I don't know how long he was hanging there upside down and when I got it out it just ran away dragging that leg,” said Kyncl, adding that she isn't sure if the fawn made it.
She said people usually have one strand of barbwire on the top of their page wire fence.
“When the little deer jumps over, it gets its foot hung up in the page wire and the barbwire fence,” she explained.
She believes that if people put a railing at the top of the fence, rather than barbwire, it would reduce the risk of fawns getting stuck.
“The deer would see that and I think it would curtail it from jumping over,” she said.
There are some techniques that have proven successful in preventing deer from being in yards, according to wildlife biologist Chiara Feder.
“There is some product such as ‘dog be gone' that works really well. That is a mix of spice that you basically sprinkle on your flower bed and that kind of stuff so the deer don't eat them,” Feder explained.
“The deer usually come into your yard because there is something to eat, usually flowers and at times gardens, apple trees,” she said.
Deer also eat grass, grains, bird mixes and haystacks. Keeping bird feeders down and/or making sure they don't spill is advised.
“To discourage them to come in, you're quite limited. Either you put up an electric fence or you put page wire, which works to keep them from eating your flowers, but I mean how can you prevent a deer not being caught into it?” she said.
The alternative is to use natural products that deer don't like, she said, including certain flowers.
“They really don't eat marigold, which means that if you plant marigold around your front lawn or around stuff you want to protect, it's less likely to be damaged,” she explained.
“Keep your apple trees clean, so harvest your apples, both the ones on the trees and the ones that fall on the ground. This is good not only for deer but also for bears,” she said.
Some residents spray cougar urine on their flower beds, which can be bought in town, but is not natural, she said.
By risking the possibility of a deer getting caught in a fence, it is not only harmful to the deer, but also a danger to the property owner, she said.
“Usually deer are followed by predators, so if you have a deer stuck in a fence, you might have a cougar come in to kill the deer and eat it,” she said, noting that the best way to avoid conflict with wildlife is to keep yards free of attractants.
