Eastern Wildlife Damage Control Conferences
Date of this Version
October 1993
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Deer feed on buds, shoots, leaves and fruit (Scott and Townsend 1985), and cause substantial economic losses for many apple producers (Purdy et al. 1987). A variety of mitigation techniques are used to control such damage including deer population reduction via hunting, exclusion fencing and scare devices. However, most commercial apple producers rely on home-made or commercial repellents to control deer damage (Purdy et al. 1987). Despite their popularity, repellents have often provided only limited or highly-variable control (Conover 1984, 1987, Hygnstrom and Craven 1988). There is considerable need to improve the performance of existing repellents, or to identify new materials which are effective at preventing damage. In this study, we compared the effectiveness of Safer and Hinder in preventing deer damage to dormant apple trees during each of two winter seasons. In the second year of the project, we also evaluated whether adding a sticker to Hinder improved its effectiveness as a repellent. Test materials were provided by Leffingwell Chemical Group of Uniroyal Chemical Company Incorporated (Hinder), Mycogen Company (Safer and M-Pede) and the Miller Chemical and Fertilizer Corporation vapor Guard sticker). We thank producers G. VanDuser, R. Dressel and C. Innis for allowing us to use their orchards. This work is a contribution to the Cornell Wildlife Damage Management Program, and was supported by funds from USDA APHIS/ADC and the NY Cooperative Fish Wildlife Research Unit.