Thanks for all of the great advice guys!
I did make it out to the farm to work until dark. Nice to be in the sun and fresh air again.
Pat, thanks for the clarification about deer not be grass eaters. I thought that was mostly true, but very hungry animals will obviously eat darn near anything that contains a few calories. I have plenty of grass, so I thought it would be a simple fix if I could easily "serve" it to the deer as a different recipe.
I have been having some success pollarding a few of the undesirable trees (especially Siberian Elms) around the areas where I have planted new trees. I cut off the 1-4" diameter trees just below waist-high. The trees have explosive growth of twigs at the deer browsing level the next year. I have several of these trees each year where it is obvious the deer have been continuously browsing the tree for weeks at a time.
They still want my fruit and oak trees, but I think it keeps the deer happy and takes a little pressure off the shoots that poke out of the top of the tree tubes.
