I've used Milorganite (processed human poo, in case you're not aware) the past two years, and it's been pretty effective as long as I remember to use it early and often enough. The smell isn't the greatest, but I can deal with it if it keeps the deer away.

Lowe's sells in the fertilizer section.

JR Blanton sells deer scram.

Here is a link that might be useful: Deer Scram

I've tried EVERYTHING! I've found the best result from milorganite. It wasn't working 100 percent so I put up a six foot fence. Along with the milorganite, I've had great success with both deterrents in place.

I have three gardens that aren't fenced so i will be trying a recipe I saw on the Martha Stewart show shared by a guest horticulturist. The guy swears by it.....four eggs into one quart water mixed in a blender. Pour into spray bottle and apply to plants needing protected. Hopefully along with the milorganite I can keep the deer from munching my bloom away!

not sure how you would hide them. i back up my 20 ac. to public forested land around truman lake in mo. at lowe's in iowa i spyed bundles of 25 each 3' green very thin bamboo or cane sections. totally dried, no centers so don;t worry about planting bamboo. clerk said she stuck around her garden in cty and tied fishing line between. i put about 2' apart around whole garden that had been eaten to the ground whole i was in ia. never got the line up. deer walk into canes, can't see them and get spooked, walk all around the yard but won't go in. when frost hit bad i had enough green tomatoes, after eating and giving away, to make 35 qts. of mincemeat. so it really worked.

Deer Repellant An All-in-One Homemade Deer Repellent (from the Washington Department of fish and wildlife) Mix the following in a 1-gallon tank sprayer:
2 beaten and strained eggs- strain them to remove the white strings surrounding the yolk, which otherwise will plug up your sprayer).
1 cup milk, yogurt, buttermilk, or sour milk
2 tsp. Tabasco sauce or cayenne pepper
20 drops essential oil of clove, cinnamon, or eucalyptus, found in small bottles at health food stores
1 tsp. cooking oil or dormant oil
1 tsp. liquid dish soap
Top off the tank with water and pump it up. Shake the sprayer occasionally and mist onto dry foliage. One application will last for 2 to 4 weeks in dry weather.

In terms of smell, some will use dog hair, others will hang bars of soap from trees using nylon stockings. All help to repel.

I have successfully kept the deer from devouring my roses, daylilies, etc. for the last 3 years with a homemade mixture: 1 raw, beaten egg, tabasco, small amount of garlic POWDER, mixed in a gallon of water. I do not strain it since I merely use a watering can (with the sprinkler head) and sprinkle the plants I am protecting. Since deer have such a keen sense of smell, it hasn't taken much of the solution on the plants to keep them away. I believe the deer repellents available on the market have egg solids and garlic in their ingredients.
Molly

It's a process...little, yappy dogs (multiples for back-up), a doggy-door, and a milk-bone treat everytime they run off one of the deer. My pups now sit by the back door on constant look-out since they've learned that's how they score a reward!

It DOES help. In all seriousness, though, I've also interplanted my daylilies and roses with a barrier group of salvias and copper canyon daisy at a ratio of 3 (salvias) to 1 (daylily, rose, etc.). For the same reason Jardineratx has success with her deer repellant, (smell), the deer avoid plants such as salvia that possess a strong aroma and don't browse in the area where a large number of them are planted. Good luck - it's a difficult challenge but my dog/salvia combination is working for me so far and I'm in a high deer population area south of Austin, TX.

I use irish spring soap...I cut it up in little tiny pieces and I sprinkle them arround my favorite tasty plants...I also put some of the flakes in my cheap sprayer and fill with water and let it sit...then I spray the follage. I notice they move on pretty quickly. This year I am going to do it before they even get to my house.

Strange but true--my mom put a radio inside a mailbox and turned it to a talk station. She did this after trying to wave her arms and yell 'whoop' to scare dear away. The dear evidently thought this was the dinner show, and watched her with great interest. But when my brother came out and the two started normal conversation, the deer ran immediately. So far, so good she says, it's just remembering not to mow over the long, long extension cord and plug it in each night. She says she can't hear it herself from the house.

I think the deer might get used to it, but she can always move it, and change stations.

I use a commercial spray, and I especially like Deer Out. Sprayed often, it keeps the deer from eating everything in our gardens. It has saved the daffodils, hosta and other goodies that the deer love from our yard.

We have the best luck with Milorganite. If you start putting it out at the start of the season and faithfully after each rain they will start to avoid your yard. We have lots of deer, last night while walking a few hundred yards from our garden we counted 20. If we can keep them away with Milorganite it must work.

I tried about all the commercial sprays and besides being too exspensive for me, they didn't work over a week or so, but had good luck with beating up a egg really good and pour it into a gallon of water in a sprayer, and I usually added a couple drops of garlic juice to it, and spray everything once a week.When all my roses was blooming I beat up 2 eggs and added it to the water instead of one,as the deer always went for the roses first.

jean

We put hotel-size bars of soap early in the fall on our woody plants that the deer like. That keeps the deer away during the winter. Interesting that the deer never bother the magnolias.
In daylily season, the deer come down through the main path in the garden and take a taste. If we see the damage, we quickly spray Deer-off, which is hot peppers and eggs, down the main path. That seems to discourage the deer. Milorganite is a big help too. Love it. By the way, deer won't eat daffodils. We have them all over our several acres and they are never touched by any critter.