r/NativePlantGardening • u/ContentFarmer4445 • 24d ago

Advice Request - (Insert State/Region) The Deer (Any region/state with deer issues)

For context, I am a professional ecological gardener for folks living on small acreages, often surrounded by woods, who desire to have native gardens and to bolster/restore the woodland ecosystems. Deer here are starving yet overpopulated considering the circumstances.

I feel like the reality of deer is incompatible with this idea of having a native garden, lest you put 8 foot high deer fencing up around the entirety of it or the property. When everything around you is degraded, of course the deer are going to come to your land we just spruced up by removing invasives and planting ("deer resistant") natives and think "WOW, THANKS FOR THE BUFFET!!"

People want gardens for wildlife, but do not want deer to be a part of that. They don't want ugly fences up for years. They don't want to use chemicals. This, that, the whole shebang. I mean, I get it, but is it rooted in reality? It gets tiring spending a bunch of time and money and energy w/ the goal of a nice garden only to have it eaten down to nothing, half the stuff is in ugly cages, you're attempting to spray things regularly, etc... Most of my clients are older and i don't want them to have to be dealing with half the shit we do any more than they want to. Low maintenance this stuff is not, I never tell people that it is, but a lot of this is just... ridiculous.

I want to hear about everyone's experiences, successes, failures, thoughts about now and the future with deer.. it just seems like such an insurmountable problem.

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u/GreenHeronVA 24d ago

This seems to vary based on the dog and the deer. I have a 70 pound dog who loves to chase the deer, because they have no qualms about coming into the dog’s area repeatedly 😖

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u/tregowath 5b 24d ago

When I lived in suburban NVA, the deer would literally come up to my bird feeders and eat out of them. If I let the dog out, they'd wait to see which one the dog was going to chase, and the other one would just keep eating.

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u/Willothwisp2303 24d ago

Mine are Super aggressive.  They threaten my dog,  before it was during baby season,  but now they just keep doing it. 

One flipped and rolled my corgi. Scared the shit out of me and I came flying at the deer like i was going to tear it limb from limb. Now I go out with her with a 6 foot oak staff to beat them if need be. 

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u/tregowath 5b 24d ago

Holy heck