I learned from reading Jim Arnosky's excellent juvenile book "All About Deer" a key element that must be fully understood by the back yard deer deterrent maker.

"A deer can swivel each of its ears around on its head to listen in two different directions at once."

This fact indicates that even the smallest garden could benefit by deploying at least two deterrents at each end of the protected area.

In my opinion the sound puts a deer in caution mode, but it's the movement that usually provokes bolting.

Everybody knows that the best and most effective backyard deer deterrent is a well placed bullet.

I know there's still a thing or two I could learn on how to convert a backyard deer into dinner, which has promted me to put WM. Hovey Smith's new book on the list of books I want to read.

You might have noticed from my last post our local library only had a juvenile book on the subject, and although it covered some interesting subjects in regards to deer behavior, it said nothing about how to shoot and dress out a deer. This strikes me as odd because deer hunting almost seems like a religion around here. Perhaps when I hunt down a copy of Backyard Deer Hunting I'll donate it to the library after Anna and I devour it.

Why are deer so active at sunrise and sunset?

The way I understand it one of the advantages a deer has is its ability to see in the ultraviolet range, which is at a peak in the early morning and late afternoon.

The next generation of my mechanical do it yourself deer deterrent will take into account this trouble window and somehow gear up to a higher noise frequency, but the details are still fuzzy.

Image credit goes to the informative deer management portion of the Fish and Wildlife site for Delaware.

I discovered this week that a low end rotisserie motor matched up with a large hex key can equal enough deer deterrent noise and movement to keep those sweet potato leaf munchers away.

The noise interval is decreased down to a frequency of 1 hit every 25 seconds, which I think works better than the more constant banging approach I've taken in the past.

Two rotisserie motors hacked up in this manner might be even more effective by allowing for an easy way to adjust the timing. You could simply turn one off for a few seconds and then back on to keep even the most confident deer guessing and on his toes running away from your garden.