All I have for alternative diet for the deer are GMO corn and GMO soya beans, so they like my garden very much. The deer are quite reddish brown but I took the pic at dusk and it is a bit redder than in real life.

@Surfpirate Deer here aren't big on corn, peas or cereal crops except for ripe grain, they tend to stick to legumes, browse and forbes. What kind of deer do you have there?

@HeathenFarmer White tails which are smaller than the Muleys you have out your way.

@Surfpirate We have both and about half of our white tails can be bigger than our mule deer. Our white tails can get quite red here, too. In fact the river in the area is named for this fact, "Red Deer River".

@HeathenFarmer I haven't been to Red Deer in ages, initially I thought you might be in 3 Hills.

I've thought about putting up some venison this fall after the deer have stuffed themselves with apples and veggies from my garden. I haven't killed anything in years though so don't know if it is worth the trouble.

@Surfpirate Venison is always worth the trouble.

The deer jump the cattle fencing all the time at the local farms with beef cattle or dairy cows. Funny thing is the dairy cows don't like the deer and will get up and chase them off.

@Surfpirate there's your answer - a big shorthorn or Angus bull! They have found round here that solar powered lights at a few points around the perimeter on random off_on sequences scare the dingos and some feral dogs off. The most effective against dogs however are the alpaca who not only herd the shep behind them but then go and stomp the dog to death which must scare the proverbial out of the as most sheep like animals in their experience don't do that.

@FrayedBear I liked seeing alpacas and llamas all the time when we lived in Peru and in Ecuador but I don't know if I wouldn't want them in my backyard. They spit on you and they have a habit of spontaneously aborting their fetus if they become upset. Dried llama fetuses were often for sale at the local mercados, kind of creepy looking.

I don't think it would be a good idea to let napthalene leach into the soil of my garden, the plants would take it up and it is toxic. I do use them in our motorhome to deter mice but I think it works best in enclosed spaces.

They certainly are tenacious.