Effectiveness of Hot Sauce® and Deer Away® repellents for deterring elk browsing of aspen sprouts

Published source details Baker D.L., Andelt W.F., Burnham K.P. & Shepperd W.D. (1999) Effectiveness of Hot Sauce® and Deer Away® repellents for deterring elk browsing of aspen sprouts. Journal of Wildlife Management, 63, 1327-1336.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Use repellents that taste bad (‘contact repellents’) to deter crop or property damage by mammals to reduce human-wildlife conflict Action Link

Use repellents that taste bad (‘contact repellents’) to deter crop or property damage by mammals to reduce human-wildlife conflict

A replicated, controlled study in 1997 in a forest in Colorado, USA (Baker et al. 1999) found that aspens Populus tremuloides treated with the repellents Deer Away® and the highest concentration of Hot Sauce® were browsed less by elk Cervus canadensis than were untreated trees. There was less browsing on aspens treated with Deer Away® (42% of sprouts and terminal leaders browsed) and 6.2% Hot Sauce® (56% browsed) than on untreated aspens (77% browsed). Browsing rates on aspens treated with 0.62% Hot Sauce® (65%) and 0.062% Hot Sauce® (72%) did not differ significantly from those on untreated aspens. Four fenced pasture blocks (each 0.41 ha) each contained 10 strips (1 × 23 m) of sprouting aspen. Treatments were Deer Away® and Hot Sauce® at three concentrations (0.062%, 0.62%, 6.2%). Each treatment was applied to one strip in each pasture, five weeks before exposure to elk and to a further strip two weeks before exposure. Two strips remained untreated. Two captive elk were placed in each pasture block, from 3 August to 5 September 1997. Proportional browsing rates were assessed by examining all aspen sprouts in each pasture.

(Summarised by: Nick Littlewood)