I had a doe and two large fawns cross in front of me just yesterday. Saw mom go across the road and knew there were more to follow, so I slowed down. Sure enough, the kids were following mom.
We are absolutely overrun with white tail deer here in the Coeur d’Alene area. Dalton Gardens near here proposed bow hunting and half the town supported it and the other half went absolutely ape-sh1t nuts about it. I don’t recall how it turned out.
Our town quietly harvests them when nobody is looking.
I’ve counted up to 26 on our neighbor’s property (they feed the rats). They quit feeding them and the herd cull got it down to a couple of does and four fawns this summer. I quit spraying my plants and they quickly devoured my Burning Bush and Sedums.
Damn rats!
I used to put out flowers of all sorts every summer. The deer would devour them. I knew it was deer because of the hoof prints.
Then my local garden center put out a bunch of flowers labeled “Deer Resistant”. Hurray! I can have flowers in my yard again.
The deer ate all these flowers. Perhaps I should go back to the garden center, and tell them to change their sign to “Deer Treats”.
Maybe you should scent mark your property so the deer leave your plants alone. Go get a bunch of beer, and the rest will come naturally. Maybe late at night so you don’t traumatize the neighbors.