Feeding Deer Backfires: Why Attractants Increase Garden Damage

It seems logical: offer deer a feeder and they'll leave your garden alone. Ecology says otherwise. Deer populations expand to match the "carrying capacity" of available food. Supplemental feeding raises that capacity, drawing more deer into your neighborhood. More deer equals more browsing pressure on your prized plants.

The only reliable exclusion is a properly designed electric fence. It changes the cost-benefit calculation for deer without subsidizing their numbers. Invest in a fence; skip the feeder.