One thing to keep in mind when using a new style rotisserie motor is its ability to reverse direction when pressure is applied in a way that tries to stop the motor. It's a safety feature that prevents motor burn out, and comes in handy if your deer deterrent gets stuck. It will also reverse direction sometimes if you lose power for longer than a few minutes.

I figured this out back in the early days of these experiments when I would come home from a trip to town and notice one or more of the deterrents were  moving backwards. At first I thought this was a flaw and started to look for a better motor, but soon learned that a direction change is a good way of keeping things mixed up.

Another way to make sure the noise is more dynamic is to play with the crinkle in the clanging tin. Adjusting this even a little can help to create a situation where the noise is less constant with a longer interval of silence.

"Deer Proofing your Yard and Garden" is a book by Rhonda Massingham Hart that came out in 1997 and is chocked full of relevant research on understanding deer and their habits.

I agree with her conclusion that deer are very adaptable, and an effective deterrent system should use multiple methods of making the deer feel unsafe. That's the main reason why my current deterrent design uses motion in conjunction with sound.

The picture above shows how to set up a simple electric fence barrier with a shocking peanut butter surprise. I think this would be a good backup to a mechanical deterrent for folks who don't have a dog, but our Lucy would most likely find it first and we want her to continue to patrol the perimeter.

One of the first steps to a  functional back yard deer deterrent is your choice of power.

A "wall-wart" is a small transformer that converts AC power to DC or some other form of AC.


Digital-diy.com is now my favorite website for in depth information on every type of wall transformer and power supply you could imagine. It's open source electronics that can save you a lot of time when making decisions on the amount of voltage and amperage you might end up choosing for your latest contraption of the day.

The protection method shown on the left here has served me well during these deer deterrent experiments, but I found out the hard way that it's not good enough to work with a wall wart.

Water has a way of sometimes working its way into places you don't want it, and that's bad news for one of these power transformers.

Lately I've been using medium sized plastic bags to keep our power connections dry. Make sure the opening faces downward so that any water will be forced to break the law of gravity to get up in there. The plastic bag pictured on the right is positioned under the board where the motor is mounted for some added protection.

Although it's a bit off topic, I hope you'll forgive me plugging my newest ebook.  The May edition of Weekend Homesteader is now available for 99 cents in Amazon's Kindle store!  The series presents a simple and cheap project for every weekend of the year to provide stepping stones on your path to true self-sufficiency.  As the introduction says: