my cousin is a farmer in the texas panhandle and several years ago started planting peanuts. the past several years all the farmers in the general area were having a very tough time with wild hogs devistating their crops. this year, on my cousins big peanut field, the problem is not as much the wild hogs as it is the whitetail deer. we have been out spotlighting for hogs and we've counted more than 150 deer in one field.here in the next week or two he will start to harvest his peanuts. the deer aren't digging the peanuts up like the pigs do but when starts to flip the peanuts in the field to dry before picking them up, he's very concerned about what the deer will do. he's going to ask the Game Warden dept. if he can get some license or if there is anything he can do to drop this huge population of deer. does anyone know if there is anything legal he can do like the above mentioned? opening deer season earlywould be nice seeing the deer season opens a few weeks after the harvest. any suggestions to give my cousin?

I would put a 3 or 4 strand 12 guage (or larger) wire electric fence around the area if he thinks it is that big of a problem. Once you dig the peanuts, if the weather co-operates, you should have them picked in two or three days anyway. It probably wouldn't be cost effective to fence it,and it sounds like a bad over population of deer.

I don't think a relatively short electric fence would keep them out for long , they'd just jump it . Fencing wouldn't be cost effective on peanut farming scale anyway .

The best solution is permitted off season hunting , the meat could even be donated to food banks . Can he get crop depredation permits there ? They can here if they can demonstrate at least $500 worth of crop loss .

I agree with Kevin. Getting some type of deer damage permits may be the way to go. Only one problem though...in order to get them sometimes the farm may have to prove that damage is being done..and that sort of defeats the purpose. I wish there was a faster solution.

We got some permits this summer for a cotton patch and a peanut patch and we filled 60 tags and did not hunt much at all. In our peanut patch they still devistated our peanuts and there was probley 50 deer shot out of it and you could still go out and watch 20 -30 in a matter of 15 minutes of sittin in the field.

should be able to get crop damage permit, here in al, the game warden will issue them prior to picking, but all you can shot are does, and have to leave them in the field or drag them to the edge,so my farmer friend gut shots them.

you might want to try this in the wildlife managment forum too.

Go to your barber shop and get a bunch of hair. Line the field with human hair and moth balls. But if you can those deer damage permits will work the best.

My suggestion is when he flips the peanuts (or the day before), go buy a few bottles of very strong and very cheap aftershave or cologne and walk around the permeter of the fields and spread a little on the trees or brush. That should keep them away long enough to do the harvest. I would freshen it each day just to be sure. Sounds corny but I bet it works, that has to be the most unnatural smell there is and deer would turn tail and bolt out of there as soon as they get a whiff of that stuff. Just my $.02

And gut shooting them helps how?