Anti-Deer Mines

Although deer are beautiful to watch, they cause extensive damage by feeding on plants and rubbing antlers on trees. As many urbanites know – they also poop on the lawn and ‘drop ticks everywhere.’
In some urban areas, home landscaping may become the major source of food. Deer pose a serious economic threat. Damage is noticed in spring on new, succulent growth. Deer lack upper incisors and so browsed twigs and stems show a rough, shredded surface.
Icky!
Damage caused by rabbits, on the other hand, has a neat, sharp 45-degree cut. Rabbits leave narrow teeth marks when feeding on branches. Deer strip the bark and leave no teeth marks.
Rabbits are also cute.
Deer – as we already know – are icky!
What can you do about this problem?
Anti-deer mines
Anti-deer mines may be the answer for you.
They come in three forms: omni-directional bounding shrapnel, directional shrapnel, and blast and can be acquired at most local gardening centers. If not – ask you gardener or landscaper to order some for you.
Blast mines are about the size of a shoe polish tin and contain enough explosive to blow off a deer's foot.
Among blast mines the most widely used have been the Italian Tecnovar TS-50. It’s used in three continents already and is equally up to the chore of guarding against gazelles and tortoises as well as deer.
The widely copied Soviet PMN is also available in many locations – however, in Canada the PMN is protected by patent and you will not be able to purchase a generic PMN. However, under NAFTA, you will be able to cross the border an pick up a few in the United States to bring them home.
We find the generic mines to be just as useful as the Soviet brand – which is getting harder to come by. The Canadian and American governments are disposed to allowing this trade as it balances out the losses suffered by the Americans when the elderly go to Canada for drugs.
The Italian and Soviet models contain respectively 50 grams and 240 grams of high explosive (HE) and are designed to disable a deer so that you can collect the animal to ensure its death or to provide feed for roving predators or scavengers.
The sight of deer with blast injuries to feet, legs and lower abdomen lowers morale and slows the momentum of a herd feeding on your azaleas.
Directional shrapnel mines, such as the US M1A1 Claymore, blast 700 ball bearings across a 60 degree arc at a height of two metres, to an effective range of 150 feet!
An entire herd can be culled in this fashion and these mines are especially popular on the fringes of national and state parks where deer and songbirds are a constant nuisance and a drag on property values. Farmers like to use them to as they save time in reducing foraging animals while providing an easy to harvest protein source in the form of deer burgers.
Bounding AP mines, in the shape ofthe S.Mi.35 and S.Mi.44, were developed by the Germans in World War II, and have been the model for all subsequent designs including the Soviet OZM-4 and the Italian Valsella Valmara 69.
Bounding AP mines are triggered either by a tripwire or direct pressure. This fires a container to a height of about three feet above the ground, where it explodes - scattering fragments or ball bearings over 360 degrees, causing casualties out to 150 feet or so. Deer close to a directional or bounding mine will suffer multiple wounds, which are likely to be fatal.
The mine has an emplaced life expectancy (70% chance of functioning as designed) of 8 years in temperate zones with clay soil and up to 12 years in a tropical environment.
Minefields
Mines are employed for three purposes: Barrier, Tactical and Nuisance.
A barrier minefield is intended to move deer foraging into a 'killing ground'. These resemble the equivalent of a natural barrier such as a river, swamp, cliff or mountain.
Minefield design can incorporate existing natural and traditional landscaped areas – like mines laid on the edge of your lawn or down garden rows are harder for deer to avoid.
Tactical minefields are smaller and are laid around a small group of shrubs or a particularly nice patch of flowers or as used as a protection for your perennial border.
Finally there are nuisance minefields. These may be AT, AP or a mix. They may be laid forward of larger minefields, on road verges, or in defiles where rabbits and field mice will pass. Whereas barrier and tactical minefields are normally fenced and marked, nuisance minefields are not.
Remember to keep your mines and your minefields marked properly so that you or your gardeners will be able to mow and rake without hazard. A little know fact is that anti-deer landmines have led to a wide spread use of leaf blowers.
Your lawn is your responsibility.
Do what you can to protect it.