Hi Chickenwarrior, beautiful pond you have there. I grew up just south of Louisville and am in IT too, small world.
The deer will largely quit bothering white pines once they get "head height" or larger. They are hardly touching my unprotected seedling white pines, but they are raping the recently planted tulip poplars. I am a deer hunter, but hunting is not very effective in protecting seedlings. You won't get all the deer. (Nor would you want to) Sprays and scents do work for a while, but you would have to continue applying after rains. Alot of people think bars of soap and human hair are effective. But the only way to really protect seedlings long term (without frequent maintenance) is to fence them off. I'm not protecting mine and am letting the deer decide which ones live
The deer (aka hooved rats) are pretty much reproducing out of control in the Southeast. It's mainly because their natural predators (cougar and grey wolves) are extirpated from this region.
