Rotisserie motors are readily available in a variety of shapes and sizes. Expect to pay anywhere from 20 to 30 dollars for a small unit and upwards of 150 dollars for the big ones, which might power a super large moving deterrent for extreme deer predation.


I've had this small one operating 24 hours a day for 2 weeks now.

Found it at a local Walmart. A recent visit reveals it might be a seasonal item.


The next thing you need is a large hex key. They usually come in a set, which helps make it easy to choose the size that fits your rotisserie motor shaft holder. I'll save those details for the next post.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I started this deer deterrent project with a medium sized box of advertising display motors. Not the optimal set up, but I was determined to find a use for these motors because I've carried them from a few locations for the past several years.

It solved the problem right away, but some of the motors would only last a few weeks. The longest I had one of them going was around 4 months before it burned out or one of the plastic gears within the drive section broke or wore down.

Now the box is empty, which has motivated me to come up with a new design that uses a pendulum movement. More on that in the near future.

In the meantime I rigged up this mini compressor to funtion as a desperate stop gap measure. Someone gave it to me a few months ago thinking I could use it for something like this. It made a moderate noise that was a weak substituition due to the lack of movement. Long story short it only lasted about a week before the motor burned up. I thought I could make it last longer by bumping down the voltage from 12 volts DC to 4.5 volts DC. I guess it was worth it due to the device being junk at the time, but I wouldn't do it again.

One mistake to avoid in putting a do it yourself deer deterrent together is over protecting the transformer.

Those things generate a small amount of heat, which isn't an issue in the winter, but summer temperatures could cause a condensation problem.

The remedy is proper ventilation. Configure the plastic protective cover so that it allows air to flow in and out of the bottom while still keeping any rainfall out.

I've avoided any permanent enclosure because this project has demanded on the fly adjustments and repairs.

Any system that helps to deter deer could use a back up.

One such method I've been thinking of lately is a field of marigold flowers also known as Calendula Officinalis.

California poppies, bleeding hearts, calla lilies, and corn poppies all have been reported to help keep deer out of your garden.

It should be noted that just because a deer doesn't like something doesn't mean he or she will never partake of its forbidden flavor. Deer do seem to shy away from marigold flower smells, but if times are desperate they just might nibble on whatever they can get. It's these times that require some mechanical help in the form of a noise and motion contraption.

While our garden is 80% better protected than last year, I have to admit that our foes got in a couple of times this month and nibbled on some beans, sweet potatoes, and strawberries.  Looking back over my notes, I noticed that the deer chomped on our garden at the exact same time last year.  I think the deer life cycle must involve shifting feeding strategies in mid summer as the wild foods lose their spring luster (especially when drought slows down growth in the woods.)  Now is the time to be hyper vigilant and stop deer damage before it starts.

On the other hand, I think at least half of this year's deer damage could have been prevented.  After seeing no deer activity at all for months, we got a bit lax and let some of our deer deterrents stop working for a few weeks.  Bad idea!  Mark's currently inventing a more dependable deterrent that won't get hung up or burn out its motor at inopportune moments to prevent this problem in the future.  Meanwhile, we're keeping an eye out for signs of deer so that we'll know when to upgrade our defenses.  It also seems to have helped to mow down a huge weedy patch at the edge of the garden where the deer could find cover.

I think I've decided these heavy metal lumber brackets are what's needed in the first stage of the back yard deer deterrent.

Folding the second stage tin in half provides the elastic spring that's needed to send the golf ball on its outer orbit.

It wouldn't hurt to add an LED light to the golf ball somehow to provide for more visible movement at night.