If you are outside the city limits, you could get a hunting license.

We are inside the city limits and have seen 35 at one time in our
development; they even eat out of the planters on the porch. We use
electric fencing around the roses; by placing the wire close to the bed,
they won't jump it (the wire is invisible from the street). Some neighbors
have put up 8' tall electric fences in a more perimeter fashion. Get the
charger and ground rod from Southern States or someone who sells to farmers;
the brands carried by Lowes and Home Depot are too flimsy. Put it on a
timer so it doesn't zap anyone during the day.

Doc

"JF" wrote in message
link.net...
We've been in our west Durham home, near Duke Forest, for eleven years,
and
we've always had problems with deer. Twenty-five azaleas were regarded as
salad, and hosta, impatiens, lilies, and many other plants were usually
consumed just before they reached their peak.

It's been worse, however, in the past two or three years. The deer have
eaten English ivy almost to the ground, have drastically pruned the
liriope,
and are evermore daring. They are often on the front walk or in the
backyard
in the middle of the day.

This morning there were five in the front yard, including two in the
azalea
plantings only six feet from the living room where I was taking
photographic
evidence.

I'm sure part of the problem is a neighbor who puts out cracked corn in
the
wooded area behind his house. The deer have worn that area, about twelve
feet by twenty-five feet, to bare earth. I often see six or seven deer in
the area, about 150 feet from my backyard.

Is feeding deer the problem, or is it that there are just too many more
housing developments?

Can I do any thing other than politely asking my neighbor to stop feeding
the deer?