Saratoga News

Photograph taken by Robert Scheer from the frame of a video shot by Nicola and Gary Gordon

Until seasonal rains turn the hillsides green, residents whose homes are near the foothills are likely to see an increase in the deer population. Nicole and Gary Gordon videotaped this deer in their yard recently.

Early autumn invites deer visitors

Residents claim visitors eat gardens bare

By Sarah Lombardo

Saratoga resident Nicola Gordon's garden has been decimated. The yard on her Toll Gate area property on Bankmill Road has been stripped of its greenery and flowers. The ivy has been reduced to brown strings, the flowers have been ripped up and the bottom three feet of branches on her lemon tree are gone. And the culprits are part of what brings many city-dwellers to look for homes in rural Saratoga: roaming deer.

"It's gotten much worse in the past few years," Gordon said. "They're eating things they never used to."

The deer, drawn to the neighborhoods in search of green plants they can no longer find in the woods this time of year, have taken to eating the tops off flowers, the ivy in Gordon's and other neighbors' yards and anything green and within their reach.

"It's a monetary problem, and it just makes the neighborhood look bad," she said.

Gordon said she and her neighbors are hampered in taking care of the problem by city codes that restrict the use of fences. Currently, in her area, the city allows only three-foot-high fences in the front yard and six-foot-high fences in the back, both of which deer can jump over.

And what does Gordon have to say to those who would pass off her complaints against Bambi and his friends?

"I would respond that you have to live here. Come and experience it," she said. "To be a real gardener and have this go on, it's heartbreaking and infuriating. We love the deer, too, but ..."

Gordon said it is more than just her garden that worries her. It is the danger that a seemingly increasing number of deer tromping through residential areas present: predators.

Following the deer in the migration for food are mountain lions. No sightings have officially been reported in this area, but Brian Hunter, the regional manager for the California Department of Fish and Game, said it is not uncommon for this time of year.

"Some of the severest times for deer in the Coast Range are in the late summer," Hunter said. "Deer only eat green; they don't eat dry. So when the hills are dry, they come into areas that are more moist. ... They do historically move in this time of year. And lions do move in behind them."

And, Hunter pointed out, the lions present a bigger problem because they're meat-eaters. "They don't eat plants. They eat people," he said jokingly.

But Hunter also said that this year has not seen a dramatic increase in the deer population, according to his department.

"It may be cyclical," he said. "Deer numbers go up and down. Our deer numbers are pretty much down except in these urban areas."

Hunter said that no matter if the perception of an increase in deer is real or not, residents living in semi-rural areas need to keep in mind that this time of year could mean the deer are venturing closer to neighborhoods and that lions might come with them. He said there were a number of things residents could do to try and discourage deer. He said No. 1 on the list--after a high fence--is to get a big dog. A dog that will bark at intruders in the yard might convince the deer to look elsewhere for food.

But for those who don't wish to go that route, Hunter suggested putting trip wires or large wire mesh out from the base of the highest fence allowed, the idea being that deer might not attempt to jump something in which their legs might get caught or which looks simply too wide.

A radio left playing in the yard, not necessarily loudly, at night might also scare deer away with its noise. Finally, Hunter said, a local nursery might have some chemicals that can be applied to yard perimeters to keep the deer away.

Hunter stressed, however, that any "scarecrow" loses its effect if used for too long without variation. For example, play a radio at the same volume and with the same type of sound every night, and the deer learn to expect it and eventually ignore it. But if the radio is moved around the yard from night to night or played at a variety of volume levels, the deer don't catch on.

Hunter also said that residents probably won't have to worry about the deer for much longer this year. The coming rains will restore the greenery to the hills, and the deer will retreat to the woods.

For more information or a booklet on how to deal with deer, call the Department of Fish and Game at 650/688-6340.

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