Ah, Bambi ! How dainty and beautiful. Does he eat plants?

As much as I hate to say it, they are lovely to see especially on a quiet morning. Not their fault that we've eliminated all of their natural predators and laid out a veritable botanical smorgasbord for them in our gardens. Here in Chapel Hill they are a serious urban pest, but through lengthy trial and error it is possible to figure out what they won't eat....at least most of the time.

Sad but true... they seem to eat things they're not supposed, like my lilies. They nip the bud and the the end. And if the deer aren't enough, the groundhogs and rabbits finish off everything else. I've stopped growing anything in the back yard! And, yes, I've tried pepper spray, fox urine and anything else that might deter them but to no avail!

The only solution is an 8 foot fence. There are quite a few things they won't eat, but you can never say never when it comes to an urban deer's diet. In early summer the fawns are learning what to eat and not eat. Small consolation if they decide they don't like your Coreopsis or Echinacea after a couple of bites....they've already ruined the plant for the season. Happily they never bother my cacti. Lillies on the other hand are a definite no no.

Most fences don't help either. In Ohio, a farm I visit often has Japanese Deer. They are all white and smaller than our deer. In their pen is a mix of ours and the Japanese. I asked the owner why? He said he can't keep our wild ones out. He puts them out every week and they manage to hop the fence and get back in. They like being fed all the time. They are the first ones to come up to be fed.
I hate to kill but it is the only way to control deer and other aminals. I gave up hunting long ago but have many friends who do.

I saw a baby last week as well, love to see them, but hate what they do to my garden.

They leave the cactus alone for the most part, but they will try to eat the flowers. I've noticed nibbles on the jades and the orchid cactus, though.

Other than spikey cactus, the only thing they don't seem to have eaten yet is anything in the mint family or butterfly weed. Everything else will at least get a taste and like a great white shark taste, the results are usually just as fatal or at the very least, quite disfiguring.

And I agree that if it isn't deer, then it's gophers, moles, voles or magpies........