I hope this doesn't upset anybody, but I have to comment on this issue. Don't get me wrong, I like wildlife - including deer. When we bought this property 19 years ago, a few white-tailed deer would wander through and they were delightful to watch. Although they would munch a few things, I was still able to grow roses and many other flowering plants. Times have changed. With the proliferation of deer feeders in the area, the deer population has exploded. Texas Parks and Wildlife implores people not to feed them calling it a "misguided kindness". Yet the practice continues. The sugary corn causes goiters and an increase in twin births. With no predators (other than Dodge Rams), the size of the herds of white-tail and axis deer continues to grow. The local highway is littered daily with fresh roadkill, which is sad. During a recent drought, I watched as the deer consumed almost everything in my gardens down to the dirt. That's when I decided it was time to put up a fence. It's not because I don't like the deer; it's because I enjoy gardening for other things like bees and birds and butterflies. And I enjoy growing vegetables, which had become impossible. I dreaded the thought of an 8 foot fence because I didn't want to feel like I was living in Alcatraz, but friends advised me that anything shorter would be a waste of money. So I did it. I couldn't afford to do the whole property, so the deer still have the pastures out front and the woods out back to forage. But I now have about an acre that is protected, so everybody's happy.
The deer issue tends to be black or white. This was simply my solution to finding a compromise in the gray area.
