How the Repellent Works, Test Results, Happy Cutomers

It is simple! Spraying the deer repellent Deer Guard® on plants makes them taste awful! The active ingredient in Deer Guard® is the most bitter substance known to man (and deer). The instant a deer’s mouth touches the plant, he’s repulsed by the bitter taste and leaves it alone.

Deer Guard® has no foul odor. Other products smell so bad they repel you. Not Deer Guard®! The only smell is a mild “training scent” to condition the animal to steer clear the next time they encounter a treated plant or tree.

Deer Guard® is easy to use. It is ready to apply right out of the jug. It sprays on cloudy, yet dries clear. It even leaves an attractive luster on the leaves of your plants. You can apply in the winter and it will still cover the plants and won’t wash off. You have to apply on a dry day however. Once the leaves drop and you have sprayed, you don’t have to spray until spring once the new growth appears.

Once you apply Deer Guard® it can last up to four straight months, rain or shine, because the strong latex bonding agent literally adheres to the plant. If new growth emerges during those four months, you’ll want to spray the new growth.

Scent based repellents don’t work well when temperatures drop below 32° Fahrenheit, because they freeze and they emit very little odor. Deer Guard® deer repellent is effective 365 days a year, because “taste is taste” no matter what the temperature. As you can see in the photo, the animal browsed the untreated hosta, but left the hosta treated with Deer Guard® alone.
Here are some basics on how to apply the product:

• Apply the deer repellent before damage occurs, at temperatures between 40° and 90° F.

• In the spring, spray as new growth first appears.

• In the fall, apply the deer repellent after the first frost when the temperature is above freezing.

• Application of two light coats is superior than one heavy coat.

• Touch up new growth during the summer months to ensure total protection.

• The product must dry completely prior to rain or snow for proper adhesion to plants. So check the weather forecast for ideal conditions.

• Wear protective gloves and wash hands after use to avoid getting that bitter taste on your skin.

For more details on applying the Deer Guard® deer repellent go to our How to Apply page.

If the Deer Guard® doesn’t work for you as promised, send it back for a full refund. That’s how confident we are in the effectiveness of our product.

“To protect your investment against deer foraging, spray your plants with deer repellent Deer Guard® and the taste will stop them.”

Click here for Babe Winkelman’s complete review.

Test Results

Test One (55 days)

Minnetonka, Minnesota, a suburb of the Minneapolis area, has a well documented problem with deer browsing of residential trees, flowers, and bushes. Before Deer Guard® the only effective deterrent was a ten foot high fence… not an appropriate measure for a residential area. The site tested has an established free ranging herd. Deer browse on the site is high, and ornamentals such as hosta, tulips, white cedar, and azaleas are often completely consumed unless protected by a Deer Guard®.

Plants treated with Deer Guard® and untreated plants were left at the site. Of course, scientific measurements were taken to determine the exact effectiveness of the product… but we think the photos tell the story the best!

The deer repellent remained effective throughout the 55 day test period… through inches of rain, summer sun, and intense browsing by hungry deer.

Test Two (121 days)

St. Croix, Minnesota is an area with a history of  damage because a large established herd of free ranging deer commonly travels through the property on a trail which runs along the west bank of the St. Croix River.

Northern white cedar are highly preferred as food by white tail. The residential property tested had over 50 established white cedar trees, and 34 were selected for this study.

The results were dramatic. Untreated trees were heavily browsed. (The trail was ended when the property owner insisted on treating the control trees with Deer Guard®.) His untreated trees had been stripped of foliage to four feet. The treated cedars were virtually un-browsed.

Test Three

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources directed Jay McAnich, a nationally recognized expert on white tail, to study the effectiveness of leading repellents. His tests demonstrate clearly that Deer Guard® was most effective in those areas of heaviest deer populations.

Happy Customers

“We have been using Deer Guard® on our Balsam Fir, Fraser Fir and Exotic Fir seed orchard for the last three years with very good success. Prior to using this product, we were being eaten alive by deer and suffered a lot of damage and even a lot of losses due to browsing the grafted seed orchard trees. Now browse damage in the seed orchard is essentially zero. We apply it in the fall, and it lasts into the spring”

Bill, Greenhouse, Cohasset, MN

“This product substantially reduced the number of deer in our plantations and almost ended tree damage. We plan to use the product in the next growth season”

George, Fenn Farms, Elkton, OR

“Your product works great! We didn’t get any damage to our trees last year!”

Sue, Winona, MN

“Years ago I tried hanging soap. This not only didn’t work, the deer ate the soap. This prompted me to try your product which I renamed my liquid gold.”

Laura, Chapel Hill, NC

“…our Geranium savior. It has not broken down once, even after seven to eight rains.”

Dubi and Carmen, Orcas Island, WA

“Poplars 100% unbrowsed, one rose bush was browsed once then left alone, nine others untouched. An excellent product. I highly recommend (it) for mitigation of browse concerns on trees and flowers”

Bruce, US Forest Service, Walla Walla, WA

“The only product that works.”

Chuck, Grand Rapids, MI

From the book Deer of the World… Their evolution, behavior and ecology… by Valerius Geist.. you can read it here.

Deer do not have overly specialized food habits… They select fairly low-fibered forages that, after modest shredding and rumen fermentation, are passed quite rapidly through the alimentary track. This is not an efficient digestive process compared with that of sheep or cattle, but one that allows for rapid absorption of large amounts of nutrients and energy-fuel for rapid growth and reproduction. The animal did not evolve into “coarse food giants” with huge grinding teeth. Rather than compete for harder, tough-fibered forages deer drift away in search of better food. They live and reproduce rather opportunistically, probing for and removing high-quality food wherever it grows., provided it can be done safely. The animal diversified in security rather than in food-processing adaptations. This predicts that deer species are not narrowly confined to specific plant communities but are ubiquitous, predators and competitors permitting. Opportunism, of course evolves as a specialization in its own right.

The animal’s big appetite for highly digestible, nutrients-rich forage apparently drove its evolution. The growth of large antlers demands such forage, particularly in large-bodied species; antlers grow with proportion to the body. Generally, the larger the body of a species the larger is its antlers. The bone-forming antlers demand calcium and phosphate in abundance. To support antler growth, males even raid their skeletons for these minerals… The counterpart to antler growth in the female is multiple births of large, fast-growing young fed by rich milk.

White-tailed and mule deer are opportunistic concentrate feeders, with overlapping food habits. Rocky Mountain mule deer have been found to feed on 484 species of forbs, 202 species of shrubs and trees, 84 species of sedges and grasses, and 18 species of lower plants

Deer feed on great diversity of living as well as dead and wilted, dry, or decaying vegetation. The white tail have even been seen ingesting dead alewives, small fish that had drifted to shore… White tails have also been seen consuming dead birds and lady bug beetles.

When snow covers the ground, the green feed that deer extract includes evergreens, such as the leaves of the Oregon grape, fescue, bluegrass, and trailing juniper, but also the fallen annual twigs of Douglas firs. The green thistles are eagerly taken after the first killing frost.