We live surrounded by fields and woodland in which lots of roe deer live. Deer have been demonised by gardeners but I like them and enjoy having them around. That said, they will nibble anything and everything and if they like it, eat it to the ground. This year we had a regular set of visitors with both a rogue deer and a small herd taking it in turns to eat our newly planted garden.
We don’t have the means to erect 2m deer fencing around our garden so I tried barricading them out but they kept finding their way through our hedges. In the end I bought one of the fairly inexpensive £20.35 Wikomo ultrasonic “pest repellers”. Apparently this is supposed to work to scare off all animals from dogs to cats, foxes to rabbits.
It works by letting off a sound that is triggered by motion sensor and supposed to be heard by animals and not humans, though I can hear it when I am about a metre from it and it hurts my ears. So I can understand how and why it would scare deer away! It also has a flashing light, which isn’t very bright but in combination you can imagine it being effective.
Is it effective? Well, yes, it seems to be. Since using it the deer have not been back! Of course, they may have decided to go somewhere else of their own accord but I don’t think so. I can also say for certain that while it appears to scare off deer, it doesn’t deter cats. We have cats visiting our garden, which I don’t mind, and they aren’t bothered one bit.
The battery can be charged by USB and also by a small solar panel. I charged it by USB when it first arrived and I’ve since left it out for a couple of months and it’s still working.
Initial overall impressions
In the first few months of using the Wikomo deer repeller, I have been very impressed. It did exactly what I wanted it to, scaring off deer from the garden and running on solar power. Time will tell how long the device lasts. Reviews online seem to suggest devices like this don’t have long term staying power and it does feel a little flimsy. Come back in future for an update when I’ll add some long term impressions.
Hate these things and would really like to see some heavy restrictions on them, I’m 47 and can still hear them, the kid is 19 and they’re painful. Walk anywhere near them with an anxious dog and it’ll get very upset very quickly
And by near we can mean the other side of a road as far as it’s possible to be
Rural areas, maybe, but wildlife in general will be affected, in towns using them is evil
That’s interesting thanks for the view. I haven’t found it loud enough to hear except within 1m and we have lots of neighbouring dogs passing that aren’t aware of it in the garden. Perhaps it depends on the exact model and setting. The only reasons I can think to use in urban areas are foxes and cats.