Oh rats.   Went to check my baby orange trees which were recovering from a munch down and wahhh they had another butch hair cut.  I guess deer needed excerise for high hurdles and jumped my fence again.  Also ate leaves off russell avacado sapling.   Snap!!!!!   Joyce

Deer = rats with hooves

Tons of bad experience with Deer as well. Racoons also!  and yes, birds. I live next to a reservoir, so there is no getting away from these guys. :(

I started a thread or two on deer last year. I planted a lot of elderberrys, and had them stripped bare. I used pepper spray and got them leafed back out. Then after the leaves fell in the fall, and I thought they were safe, they got used as antler rubbing posts, and badly broken down.

This spring I've been spraying them with pepper since the leaves first started showing, and had very little damage. The damage I got was a few nibbles right at first, and then during several days of steady rain when I skipped spraying because it would have gotten washed right off anyway. Now I take my sprayer for a walk through the elder every evening that it isn't actively raining. I have 50 plants on a quarter acre and I'm convinced that I wouldn't have any if I didn't keep up with the spraying.

I've started adding a little epson salt to the mix to improve the taste, and, maybe, help the plant. The mix I'm using is
3 Tbs Louisiana hot sauce (shake the bottle to be sure it's thin with no chunkiness, and, I like to see, "extra hot" on the bottle).
1 Tbs epson salt, (But, it works without this).
and, about a quarter tps sal suds dish soap to a gallon of water.

It's simple, and it works. Not sure, yet, what I'll do during antler rubbing season.

Snap 2!!!  I dug my baby orange trees up and put them in the planter box around the lanai.  They thanked me by immediately releafing.  I moved my mulberry tree from the porch since it was 6 feet tall and  planted it in the back yard.  Dang it.  They ate every leaf off.   Well I guess I will spray it with the hot sauce stuff and have hubby pee around the ground near it.   Will let you know if I am successful.    It is not as if these deer have a half an acre to survive on.  Our whole neighborhood of 300 acres is conservation.  They have nice clean lakes to drink out of  a pavillion to lounge in and swings teeter totters slides and tennis courts to excercise on.    Acres and acres of wooded areas and grassy meadow lands.    So why jump over my chain length fence and eat my trees.   Answer   because they are just plain mean.      Grrr.   Joyce

They sure do but you know what they say. The grass is always sweeter on Joyce's side;)
Lucky the deer around here love those kudzu vines or whatever they're called and don't bother jumping my fence! Oh and maybe they don't wanna deal with Miss Scarlet !

Wow  I enlarged the pup picture and one look in those brown eyes and you know she means business.   Lucky you Chris my friend.   My dog is 6" tall and weights 6 pounds.  Yorkie.   Hell on wheels with reference to armadillos though.  Wonder if they won't jump your fence because it is wrought iron.   Joyce  Tampa

Bambi also pruned my trees for me last year so me no likey Bambi, unless in a sausage casing.

My dear Joyce, Scarllet is the sweetest pup although not a pup anymore. Technically of drinking age( in human years) . The good thing about her is her strong bark and bad a... Looks. You have to see how fast the UPS Man runs away after leaving the package on the porch and hears Scar bark behind the door. AFV I Tell ya. As far as the fence goes ,maybe the metal look and spikes do intimidate them but I have seen deer clear a seven foot tall wire fence with no prob from a stand still. My next big fear is a darn T- Rex popping out of those woods. Lol. Looks pretty Jurassic back there.
Vince Vince Vince!!! Bambi in a sausage casing????
Well come to think about it ,it sounds pretty darn good . Too bad I can't kill things unless I really really have to. And I quote the ending of the movie "the bear" ,
"The greatest thrill of all
Is not to kill
But to let live. "
Even if that means sharing a couple of figs with them! Lol

For those of you having deer problems, I HIGHLY recommend a product called Liquid Fence. I live in a heavily wooded lot in VA and the deer will actually come up to my front doorstep and eat the potted plants on my porch!

I started using Liquid Fence last year and I had hostas for the very first time. It's organic, but it smells terrible when you spray it wet, when it dries, you can't smell it.

You can buy it off of Amazon, I ordered the concentrate and mix it when I need it. I have to reapply about every 6 weeks or so, depending on the amount of rain.

gardengrl, what if your fig was fruiting?  Would you still spray it on?  I guess the hope is that if you use it early in the year the deer would learn to avoid the area and you could stop spraying near to the time the figs (or other fruiting plants) begin fruiting.

Liquid fence   thanks for idea.   Garden Girl before my neighbors next door moved, she had hanging baskets of flowers in her trees outside the orchid house.    Deer would stand on hind legs and eat low hanging flowers.   Deer sausage  hmm  good.  Should be served at all fig gatherings.