Neighbor took this yesterday afternoon.  You can see my figs on the other side of the fence.   

Wow! I'd say you need my Lucy for a few days. Maybe I'll rent her out. lol

Neighbor has a boxer......the deer don't care.  They are fearless. 

But isn't it deer season? That sure looks like a lot of venison on the hoof! My grandma could cook venison and you'd think it was beef.

It is archery season here.  They are small deer..that fence behind them the chainlink part is 4 feet tall.  Some of the neighbors adore them.....feed them and consider them pets.  To me they are pests but it would make for hard feelings if I started perforating them.  

Deer have damaged many fig trees from my garden this year. 

Best,
Tam

Last light of dusk would be best. Then you can retrieve your venison in the cover of darkness, so you don't freak anyone out.

I got tired of the constant deer damage.  I grow hundreds of fruiting plants and the deer were such a nuisance.   I finally gave in and fenced the entire property except for a small bit right next to the lake I live on.  I figured if I left them a way around they would be less likely to jump over.   Deer here don't like to swim as the gators will get them.   One side, the side you can see in the picture already had a 600 foot long run of chain link so I just added 3 strands of wire above it.  The rest of the property has 5 foot cattle fence and 2 strands above that.  It was a lot of work and had to move a 200 foot hedge of young pomegranates but it is so nice to know the plants in the morning will be the same as I left them the night before.  They never bothered the single  fig I had at the time but were hell on the plums, peaches, mulberries and blueberries. 

Perforation is quiet. You've got plenty of gators and Burmese pythons down there. Put them to work! 

Lol.....yeah arrows are quiet:)  The problem is after the perforating they will run off and you just know they will choose to collapse in a deer lovers front yard.  I have always been a hunter but with these guys it just seems very unsporting, like killing zoo animals, you can walk to within 30 feet of most of them before they run.  Far as the gators.yes we have them in spades, the pythons though are much further south:)

Land mines? Moat? Tar pit? Re-establishment of large predators? I hear wolves would likely leave figs alone.

Man, I'd fence my land if I had that many visitors too.  Worth the money.

I guess that you don't need to weed whack against the fence line, one consolation.

perhaps feeding gators would get them to help you? the deer i know would sooner or later jump that fence.

They don't jump the fence anymore:)  At first they jumped it or more accurately into it quite a lot.  They could not see the wires at the top and would hit them when jumping...deer do not like that at all, freaks them out.  It took about a month to educate them.  During that month I had a lot of stretched and broken wires but eventually they stopped.  For the past 14 months now not a single deer has jumped it or even tried to, no more bent stretched wires.  Some people use monofilament fishing line for the purpose, I used wire because our sun is so brutal I knew it would not last long.  

Venison steaks with sherry and figs recipe

Wills - Wow!  And I thought that I had a problem with birds eating my blueberries!  That must have been quite a lot of work to move all of those pomegranate bushes, not to mention the work to put up all of that fencing.  Your fig trees appear to be fully leafed out.  My 3 mature Celeste trees barely have any leaves on them - rust damage.  The leaves on my young Alma seem to be okay.  Do you spray your fig trees with fungicide?

Eukofios - What kind of cages do you make to protect your fruit?  I have trouble with just the fruits.  Critters don't bother my veggie garden.  This fall I'm going to grow quite a few strawberry plants in containers.  What works best for the strawberries? Bird netting?

Christine

My husband just came home with a load of deer meat from Colorado (hunting trip was successful) And I have a load of figs ripening up now.  I know what I'll be cooking!

Wills, good luck.  Maybe if you plant something the deer like they will leave your figs (and other fruit tree's) alone.

Christine,

It was a lot of work but was a good decision.  The poms had only been in ground a year so moving them was not so bad.  

For what it is worth my Celeste has lost better than half it's leaves to rust.  Not all figs seem to be as susceptible to the rust and some varieties have no rust on them at all even though the bush next to them has it.  No I don't spray but may in the future.

Meghan,

To be clear those deer are in my neighbors yard:)  My property is on the other side of the fence you can see.  They don't get in my yard anymore since the fence went up.  I was just at that neighbors for dinner.....they took pity on me as my wife is in Vegas:)   While we had dinner 11 deer went through the backyard down by the lake and then later 3 more came in the front yard.  I think the herd needs thinned.