Youtube user rchopp had some luck recently using the above driveway alert system to keep deer out of his garden.

He simply put the receiver in a ziplock bag and hung it next to the motion detection unit near his garden.

Since our deer pressure is extreme I would consider making a modification that allowed one to switch the alert noise to something more harsh and scary, or better yet make the alert also trigger a mechanical gizmo that would activate and provide motion for a minute or two.

Expect to pay 30 dollars unless you catch it on sale.

This latest deer deterrent video was made with a Canon Power Shot SX20.

We had a 22 hour power loss this past week and wouldn't you know it one of those deer made it far enough in to nibble on a sweet potato leaf during what I'm calling the summer power outage of 2011.

Firing a few rounds into a hillside near the suspected entrance point seems to have kept any other midnight snackers out of the garden for now.

The new motor configuration is working out to be a dependable solution.

Here's the latest video showing off the full range of sound signatures that can be obtained with a few adjustments to the primary clanging surface.

We've been eating fresh stuff from the garden every day thanks to these mechanical deer deterrents.

It seems like the urban deer problem is notching up a few degrees in some areas where especially hungry bucks are eating small birds as a snack. Bird lovers beware-the video actually shows a deer eating a small bird.

The birds are fighting back with everything they've got, but their small beaks and soft feathers are no match for the bone crushing teeth of a predator over 100 times their size.

How can you help? Stop spending money on deer repellants that only last a few weeks! Invest that cash in a few good mechanical deer deterrents to not only protect your garden and flowers but to help the beautiful birds that love to vist our backyard feeders at this time of year.

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.

Grandpa Brock built a deer deterrent that works on exactly the same principle as ours --- many thanks to his grandson for pointing me in the direction of the embedded youtube video.  If you watch through to the end, you'll notice that Grandpa Brock adds a pebble to the can to mix up the sound a bit.  We're coming to realize that minor adjustments like this are enough to keep the deer on their toes and out of the garden.

I've found after several generations of these mechanical deer deterrents that sometimes a smaller sound can have more of an impact than a more steady, louder crash.

I'm pretty sure deer have excellent hearing, which should mean they would be alarmed at any unnatural sound. I've even noticed how the sound of a chain saw doesn't seem to push their alarm buttons.

This set up allows for several variations which helps to prevent a situation where the enemy might become accustomed to the deterrent.

Stay tuned for more details on a low budget delay circuit. I'm still working out the details, but ideally it will have an adjustment knob where the delay interval can be set to a wide variety of choices.

Now is the time to start thinking about protecting those young lettuce sprouts from being a tasty snack to some over indulged buck.

You might notice how this configuration provides a slight variation of clanging and scraping noise, a feature I hope will prevent our enemy from getting accustomed to such sounds.

Here's a short updated video of how the latest mechanical deer deterrent is faring after the winter. I've got it timed to miss the target from time to time in an effort to make the interval between hits a bit more random.