Can Fishing Line or Irish Spring Soap Keep Deer Out of a Garden?

Yes, they can. That’s not the issue. The issue is whether they can do it reliably, day after day, month after month, and year after year. The answer to that is very different. The answer is No, they can’t. Here’s why:

Fishing Line

Suppose you take a fishing line and string it on posts surrounding your garden at heights of about 2 and 4 feet. A deer can’t see the nearly invisible line, so it’s likely to get confused when it touches it and stay away. Assuming the deer doesn’t simply run into the line and break it, that’s what happens the first time.

But deer have natural curiosity. So, over time, they will come to understand where the line is and how its location is limited, where it is and where it isn’t. Once they know that, it’s a simple matter to ease through the fence, starting at heights like 3 feet, where no line exists.

Irish Spring Soap

In a similar vein, what happens if you sprinkle small bits of Irish Spring soap around your garden. The deer will be repelled by the novel smell – a smell we have good reason to think that they don’t like. However, even if you renew the soap periodically (after rains and such), the deer will become increasingly accustomed to it. Eventually a time will come when they feel it’s not an issue, and that’s when your garden is likely to disappear.

Other Deer Repellents

The same problem afflicts commercial deer repellents, including one imaginatively dubbed “Not Tonight Deer,” as well as natural ones like predator urine, vinegar, ammonia, human hair, and deer-repellent plants. They’re likely to work at first, but then the deer get used to them, and then…  

Water Sprayers And Noisemakers

And the same applies to more active deterrents like motion-activated water sprayers, noisemakers, wind chimes, and outdoor radios They work at first, but then deer become accustomed to them, and then they don’t.

Psychological Deterrents

All these methods have one thing in common. At heart they are psychological deterrents. They don’t seem harmful to the deer, and they don’t provide any serious physical impediments to garden browsing. So, even though deer are not the brightest creatures in the animal world, eventually they learn they are being tricked, and then the game is up.

That’s not to say that clever deer repellent applicators can’t alternate their repellents in ways that repel deer for prolonged periods. But this takes special knowledge and a disciplined timing of applications that most people simply don’t have or won’t do. Even here, there is no certainty that the process will be so reliable that it will protect your garden indefinitely. And since repeated deer repellent applications by professionals are costly, the process is expensive.

Electric Deer Fences

Well then, what about a psychological deterrent on steroids, one that appears to threaten harm? More specifically, what about an electric fence?

That does work. Or at least it works most of the time. Think about it. How would you feel if you got a strong electric shock from an unknown source. Unless you happen to be an electrician, you’d not want to go near the place again. Same with the deer.

However, and even though electric fences are affordable, they have problems.  For one thing, grass, weeds, and even small falling branches can short them out. So, whoever operates the fence needs to make sure the fence Is working right on a daily basis. In other words, an electric fence requires a lot of maintenance.

Beyond that, electric fences aren’t really suited to home gardens, yards, or estates, because the owners don’t want to subject themselves or other people to possible electric shocks. For this reason, they are pretty much limited to protecting large farm acreages where the cost of any other kind of fence would be prohibitive.

Barrier Deer Fences

That leaves us with barrier deer fences like the ones that we sell here. These are actual physical barriers, so they don’t depend on psychology to work. They cost less than tall chain link or wooden fences. They have been developed over many years to be lightweight, to have low visibility, to last a long time without much maintenance, and to reliably keep out deer. They do cost money, and they lack complete invisibility. But instead of trying to play psychological tricks on the deer, they impose an actual physical barrier; and so, in both the short and the long run, they really work.