Grandpa's "Scarecrows" Were Cheap and Easy to Build, but Effective!
Two "swingin'people" hanging around waiting for the breeze!
What a Mouthful, Maybe We Should Call Them “Scaredeers” or “Deercrows”!
Grandpa doesn’t think you have to put a heck of a lot of effort, time, or material into making a deer scaring scarecrow.
Take a good look at the picture, and try to mimic the effect. We won’t give exact dimensions, designs, or blueprints, because we feel that you may be able to make them from scrap materials you may have laying around. The key design features in our opinion though is: A human body silhouette that can HANG from a pole and SWING and MOVE with the breeze!
THE BODY
For a body, Grandpa used scrap OSB board or plywood. The “torso” is about 16×24 inches more or less. The “head” is just a rectangular piece about 8×12 inches. The “arms” are just a piece of 1×3 about 24-30 inches long. Center the arms at the top of the torso with the head on the other side and screw it all together securely. For a little better night effect, he covered the “head” with aluminum foil and wrapped it with clear shipping tape to keep it on. Grandpa bolted a short piece of light chain to the center of the head in order to be able to hang it from the post and swing arms.
MOUNTING THE “CROWS” ON THE POST
For the mounting post and swing arms, Grandpa used some light posts he had laying around and scrap 2x4s about five foot long. You may want to invest in at least an 8 foot post, 3 inches or more in diameter. A good wind storm came along a busted a couple of Grandpa’s “crows” since his posts were only 2 inches in diameter. Drill a long hole down through top of the post so you can mount the 2×4 swing arm flat ways on top of the post with a long 6 inch bolt. Drill the 2×4 cross arm in the center and just run the bolt through it and into the hole on the post. Gravity will keep it in place pretty well. When the scarecrows are hung on it, the breeze will rotate the cross arms on the bolt giving the scarecrows movement as well as a little vertical, up-and-down rocking motion. Grandpa put some 3 inch hooks on the ends of the 2×4 cross arms so that he could hang the scarecrows from the chains.
Grandpa has to cultivate and work his young trees in some fields, so in order to be able to work around them easier he buried a two foot long piece of PVC pipe as a “socket” for the pole to sit in. That way he can have the scarecrows anywhere he wants them and be able to pull them up and work around them and “over” them with his tractor.
FASHION TIPS!
Grandpa worked the local garage sales and found long sleeve shirts and sweatshirts to “dress” the scarecrows. Nothing fancy, but it helped to make the scarecrows look more “human”. No pants on Grandpa’s scarecrows, but he tied some flashy tape to the arms, and also stapled some fabric softener sheets to the shirts in order to provide a “human smell”. Grandpa’s not sure if men’s clothes work any better than women’s, but he mixes them up so that the guys don’t get lonely!
100% EFFECTIVE IN GRANDPA’S FIELDS!
Talk about simple solutions! Grandpa started out as a skeptic when he learned about the possibility that “moving scarecrows” could deter deer, but so far he has had 100% success keeping the deer out and away from his nursery fields. He is not even seeing tracks up the roads next to the fields. Made a believer out of him! Definitely worth a try.