[cowmeateater]

Been having a problem with critters(particularly deer) eating up the garden and lawn. So i was thinking, what would happen if you loaded up a shotgun shell with rock salt? I dont know where i got this idea but i think it was a book, only i think they used a bp gun of some kind.Would it damage my gun (870)? Would it even get to the target?

[Hungry Seagull]

Disrupt the peaceful munching of the deer with other noise adversion devices.

A recorded Snarl of a predator that deer are fearful of played through a bullhorn will do very well.

[rcmodel]

Loading shotguns with rock-salt has been around at least as long as there have been shotguns.

It is terribly ineffective.
Salt doesn't weigh anything, so it has almost no range at all.

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot33.htm

It is also very likely to rust your gun from one end to the other unless you clean everything inside & out with hot soap & water every time you shoot one.

It's just a bad idea all the way around!

On the otherhand, if you load the shells with salt, AND pepper, and manage to get close enough to kill a deer, you have pre-seasoned meat, ready for the pot!

rc

[BillyBA]

cheaper than dirt sells rubber shot gun ammo for sit's like yours , even liquid filled shells and concussion(sound waves from very loud blast) shells as well ?
just a thought ... $.02

[fiddleharp]

My $.02... If you live in a place where you can get away with firing a shotgun at night, why not just load up with buckshot and kill the nuisance deer? You'll get a freezer full of good meat and the surviving deer will avoid your place like the plague.

[earlthegoat2]

Fiddleharp is a straight up gangster.

[rcmodel]

Straight-up wrong too!

Deer have no reasoning ability, and if one of them turns up DOA in the middle of the night, they will be back to business as usual the next night. Or later the same night.

rc

[Dirtpile]

Rcmodel hit this nail on the head. While it seems like a good idea rock salt is completely innefective beyond about 25 feet.

Piss will go a lot further. Coyote or wolf from your local spoting goods store or your own are all pretty good at keeping dear away.

[fiddleharp]

Okay, if you guys don't like my first answer, then how about this?: Free-roaming dogs. When I lived in rural Louisiana many years ago, every farmhouse had a pack of dogs roaming all over the place, harassing the hell out of any wildlife that dared to venture within a mile of the homestead. Vegetable gardens were completely safe from everything except being trampled by free-roaming dogs. :rolleyes:

[Dirtpile]

That works too. Forgot about that one. Works especially well if they're not house dogs. Think one or two missed feedings away from going feral.

[Hawk]

When I was a great deal younger I recall one uncle telling me stories about those "rock salt" loads, including catching one in the butt checks, if memory serves. A number of his friends had similar stories. I was 12 years old.

By the time I was 14 I'd concluded that someone once loaded a BP muzzle loader with some rock salt with dubious results and that stories, echos of stories and modified echos of stories made it down through the years.

I believe that one guy with one barrel of a front stuffer with rock salt resulted in no less than 2,000 tales of rock salt derring-do by the time I was a teenager. It was largely legend until box-o-truth tried it with results that should lead it to remaining folklore.

[Big Daddy Grim]

Just pee on or around what you don't want touched your pee will do the trick pretty easy.

[RyanM]

Pee actually does usually work.

Otherwise, you could shoot the deer with a slingshot or a paintball gun instead. Those'd probably have more effect on the deer than rock salt.

[TheVirginian]

I like the way fiddleharp thinks! If you're gonna shoot the buggers, shoot the buggers! On the other hand, you can load anything that you like if you'd rather just scare them off. I'll agree with RC, that with anything less than lethal, they won't be gone for long though as long as there is a garden to be munched. Once they get it down into the roots, then they'll move along.

I remember my dad talking about rock salt loads being used by his dad. I never met my grandfather but I still have a "high gun" award that he won at a shooting contest. It pictures a bird hunter aiming a shotgun.
-Bill

[dflorida]

About the pee theory: Several years ago my wife sprayed around her purple hulls and green beans with Bobcat urine that she paid a small fortune for via mail order. It was probably expensive because the guy who has to collect if from the Bobcat has a high health care premium:). Anyway, the deer obviously thought it was salad dressing of some sort. When we checked the garden the very next morning, the only thing left was the stems. Not a leaf, not a pea pod. Nothing:mad:.
They didn't come back until the green beans came up again. I finally solved the problem by purchasing a solar/battery powered hot wire charger and putting a fence around her garden. I went solar powered so that I didn't have to run a wire to it. It's neat, convenient and deadly.
I ran one wire at 4' high and a lower wire at 6" and the deer and the rabbits get their groceries elsewhere. T posts, wire and charger came to about $300.00 and we easily got that much produce the first year and more.
Don:p

[codybrown]

Probably not a good idea to go spouting off about poaching deer, aren't we supposed to be responsible gun owners on here?

[Dirtpile]

I don't remember ever hearing about cat pee working. It might be like putting up a 'no predators around' sign. I've had good results with pee but I'm pretty sure you've gotta go a little higher on the food chain than Bobcat.

[ZeroDown]

What is wrong with the Daisy? Enough sting to do the job with about the same range as a shotgun. I have never tried it on deer, but I know for a fact it will keep the neighbor's dog from using your front lawn as a toilet.

[fiddleharp]

Have we heard from the original poster lately? Just wondering.
Since he or she mentioned rock salt shotgun loads, I just assumed the OP was living in the country, since one shotgun blast, containing rock salt or 00 Buck, would bring a SWAT team swarming around your place in no time flat in a surburban setting.
I tend to shoot varmints out of my veggie garden/fruit tree orchard with a .22 rifle loaded with CB caps.
Fortunately, there are no deer around here. My garden pests tend to be on the small side.

[Steve H]

I'd start filling the freezer!

[shotgunjoel]

It works.

[TheVirginian]

Poaching? If their in your garden, and it's out in the country somewhere, I'd call it "harvesting"... :neener:

Surely, I don't find baiting animals to be "real" hunting when you're bagging them with a long gun. But then things turn about when you are not hunting but are ridding your garden of pests.
-Bill

[desidog]

The best deer repellent is dog hair - and now is shedding season! if you want some, send a self addressed, post paid envelope to my dog Frida, and we'll give you enough to knit a sweater, free of charge. Just scatter it around the garden on the plants the deer like to eat. Deer repulsion is the only reason my mother allows my dog to come along when i visit.

[TimM]

Piss will go a lot further. Coyote or wolf from your local sporting goods store or your own are all pretty good at keeping dear away.
Okay, I get the rock salt thing but how do you load you shells with piss?

[Deltaboy]

Call you local Game and Fish dept and get the proper permit to kill them or other less than lethal ideas.

[Mr. Bojangles]

Shouldn't you be peeing outside anyways...

[TheVirginian]

My brother in law had a large german shepherd which would run down and kill deer on occasion. It was a superb companion and guard dog also. My old boxer never had free range to test his skills on deer but the back yard was a virtual opossum graveyard. :uhoh:
-Bill

[brisendines]

http://www.tacticalresponsegear.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=25_151

A couple flash bangs ought to do the trick. ;)

[lipadj46]

Poaching? If their in your garden, and it's out in the country somewhere, I'd call it "harvesting"

You would need the proper permits I would assume and unless you are a farmer or somehow make your living off the land you won't get them (at least around here). A simple 1 or 2 wire electric fence would probably do it.

On the rock salt, I bet it depends what kind of rock salt you use. The kind used on box o' truth is very refined and probably purified and re-crystalized and suitable for human consumption, most likely softer and less dense too. I bet if you used that nasty looking road rock salt that actually looks a feels like rocks (heavier and denser) the results would have been a bit different. Not saying it is a good idea but I bet it would there would be a fair bit more penetration with the road stuff.

[Mike U.]

My brother tried to show me how good rock salt was in a shotgun. It was jagged, nasty stuff.
He took a 12 ga. 00 buck shell, emptied the buckshot, replaced it with the rock salt and re-crimped the end.
We went out back where he propped up a 5'x5' piece of cardboard and shot it from 8 feet away. Three small holes and a lot of dents in the cardboard was the result. He considered it a success while I laughed all the way back to the porch. I'll stick with Lead, for now.

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

It was probably expensive because the guy who has to collect if from the Bobcat has a high health care premium

A couple flash bangs ought to do the trick.

Funny thread.

[rondog]

I wonder if you could load a shotgun shell with airsoft pellets? Wouldn't have squat for range, but I bet they'd sting pretty good.

[30mag]

I would wait until deer season and bag my limit.

[Mike U.]

Okay, I'm a little slow on the uptake so please forgive me. What I hadn't taken into consideration was the fact that those rock salt crystals that don't penetrate are gonna leave onehelluva bruise. OUCHY!
Also, the few that do break skin are just gonna exacerbate that bruise pain problem even more. Wicked nasty stuff...:evil:

Guess I'm too used to equating a shotgun as an instrument used to inflict death and not an instrument to make one wish they were dead.

[Leaky Waders]

I was looking at wikipedia on shotguns earlier and remembered this thread. They reference that the la guardia civil (spanish police) have a rock salt load for riot control.

I can neither confirm nor deny...just passing on information.

[cybernorris]

We had a bunch of deer eating up trees in our backyard before 1) putting up a standard chain-link fence and 2) getting a Great Dane.

[earlthegoat2]

I thought I would bring this one back up.

First off, you would have to a lot of poaching...er...harvesting to get the deer to stop munching.

Second, I have had several dogs over the years (one at a time though, so no packs) and have has mixed results. My dogs would sleep outside generally speaking on the warm nights of spring and summer. The Chesapeake Bay I had kept the deer away from the garden quite well as well as all other pests and rodents. The Newfoundland and Mastiff I had werent worth the ground they laid on to keep deer away. They probably welcomed them in like family.

[DFox]

I'd have to agree with fiddleharp as well.

[fireman 9731]

If there is one thing that you could call me an expert on in this forum, this is it!

I used to grow fresh Herbs, and Tomatoes for sale to local high end restaurants.

The Deer seemed to like my stuff more than the chefs!

I have 5 full size dogs. A 10 foot tall board/barbed wire fence, dog hair, human hair, urine of all types, rotten eggs, sprays, flagging... ect, ect, ect.

If I heard that it repelled deer I tried it.

Guess what?

None of them worked.

Luckily in Kentucky, if wildlife is damaging your property, you can shoot them on the spot no questions asked.

You wont be able to just shoot one and scare all the others away though, deer don't learn.

I say, depending on where you are, fill the freezer without remorse. Most places deer are extremely over populated anyway and you are really doing everyone a favor.

[Alchymist]

The actual mixture where I grew up was rock salt mixed with rice......rice to poke the holes and rock salt to fill them. Saw it used once on a german shephard that wouldn't stay home. He went home that day, tail between legs, approx 90 MPH.

[Gtscotty]

While I was in Alaska this summer, my friend's mother had worked out an excellent way to keep moose out of her garden. She bought an automatic Airsoft gun for $100 or so. Whenever she saw a moose outside, she would charge out the door Rambo style and lay down suppressive fire on the moose. Apparently it never failed to work, and sounded like it would be pretty fun.

So, I would suggest the airsoft route, no skinning or cleanup at inconvenient times of the night, and no possibility of brushes with the law. As an aside I'm sure it would be quite entertaining. I wouldn't expect the deer to stay away though, I'm not so sure they would put two and two together.

[TheVirginian]

Whenever she saw a moose outside, she would charge out the door Rambo style and lay down suppressive fire on the moose.

Your friend's mother wouldn't happen to be named Sarah Palin, would she? :D :neener:
-Bill

[Virginian]

Here in Ohio, the local game warden came out and issued six permits to kill deer damaging cash crops, based on what he saw. I had zero desire to kill deer in 85 degree weather, and skin, and etc. So I asked around. Had more volunteers than you could have counted. They finally killed two deer and scared hundreds if I remember right. They weren't the best hunters, but they were safe, and they did get rid of the problem.

[mgkdrgn]

Okay, I get the rock salt thing but how do you load you shells with piss?

=VERY= carefully .... remember to keep the powder dry.

[AllAmerican]

Sorry, if they are in my garden Im gonna drop them. In fact I welcome them to come into the garden.

I love living in the woods. No one is gonna say anything about the gun blast in the middle of the night LOL

Fill that freezer!

Sure, then once its full either fence it good or use piss like everyone has said.

[CoRoMo]

I dont know where i got this idea...

From Granny on The Beverly Hillbillies.

http://www.tvgasm.com/shows/images/biggestloser/Clampetts-gun.jpg

[mbt2001]

There are always the Dragon Breath and screecher rounds... I believe you can also buy beanbag rounds from Cheaper than dirt...