a year or two only works if they don't develop a taste for them. if you can't shoot them, think  cruelty. personally, not being a very nice person, i'd think caltrops or  something like that.

Susie, are you talking caltrop spikes? Yikes, I hate to be on your bad side! Currently trying to convince hubby to use the bathroom outside. He's not interested.

hahaha, yup. an old anti cavalry  weapon. never tried it myself, but i know they worked great at discouraging horse charges. perhaps a little extreem? keep on hubby. all males are a short step from the primitive.

i'm quite protective of my figs. why else should i cater to my guard snake?

A few nips at a leaf,branch or two is minor. Wait until a mature buck makes a deer rub out of a tree. I had a several year old celeste almost totally destroyed. 90% of the first three feet of bark gone.

Lost peaches, plums, apricots and now my figs to deer. Tried netting my larger trees but wildlife seems to be in collusion to feast on my figs.  Raccoons are tearing and removing the netting and local deer are getting very fat. Plan on inviting the hunters in my family to remove some of these critters. Will put up an electrified wire fence to deter the raccoons and possums next year.  Still deciding on what to use as additional deer protection. Partial solution may be just doubling or tripling production and putting the more vigorous but pedestrian cultivars where they can lure wildlife away from my more special plantings.

We moved out into deer country and the deer do NOT fear the humans. I plan on installing a fence, but here you need a 12' fence to GUARANTEE they won't jump it. So we're going to bring the fence in a little to leave a path between properties so they won't feel like they have to jump in to get to where they are going. A few people have mentioned this as a possibility. Deer are lazy. If the neighbors yard is easier to get into, they'll go for that. You can also build a cage around your trees as well to protect them from curious mouths and antlers.

If all this fails me, we'll add an electric fence to the top to keep the little bastards out. They drive my dogs nuts. One in particular will chase them into the woods. I need to protect her more than I need to protect the trees.

My dogs have NOT been a very good deer deterrent. 

Nicole, thanks for the video. I think I'm going to do a multi-prong attack. Wire fence around the new stuff and human urine. Finally got my hubby to give some in a jar. BTW, more deer damage last night!

I had problems with the deer eating my garden plants. I strung fishing line on the deer path before they get to the garden. They say it spooks them since they can't see it, like when we walk into a spider web. Seemed to do the trick.

Sophie, he wasn't interested last night in making the rounds in the garden, but after he saw the additional damage this morning, he obliged. Just sprinkled it, so we'll see.

My deer have anger management problems ;)  I think a buck got his antlers stuck in my wire cage when he stripped the leaves and new growth off this small cherry tree. I found the twisted cage about 50' from the tree.

Good grief, Barry.  I would've loved to have seen that on video.

Whitetail deer can jump a fence less than 8 feet. However an effective method for keeping deer out of orchards or vegetable gardens is to install an electric fence. Go with three strands spaced one foot apart with the top wire at 3 feet high. On this top wire crimp aluminum foil at thirty foot intervals and dab peanut butter on it. Deer go for peanut butter, get zapped, and stay away.

Urine may work for a short while but will lose its effectiveness over time.

The best way to decrease deer damage issues is to lower the population through hunting. Venison is also delicious.

We had the same problem here.  Its the first year I had really heavy production on my plums, peaches, apricots and figs. I am sure all the deer in the area will be dropping triplets this winter because they were so well fed.

Going with wire fence cages which are electrified and trying the peanutbutter/tinfoil strategy too. Since some clever critter was also taking down some of my netting, I suspect that we have either a raccoon or possum which is chowing down as well. Hoping if they have to climb up something electrified, they may be less interested in my trees in the future.  Going to use the temporary fencing posts used for electric tape sold at farm stores for horses with a wire fence. No tools other than your foot are needed to drive the posts in and it will be easy to put the fence up and take it down for periodic mowing.