Elk can taste very close to lean beef. You have my deepest symphathy! Happy hunting!

Ian, it looks like manzanita gets ratings that range from moderately deer resistant to highly deer resistant, depending on which manzanita. Unfortunately, I find deer don't read well, and it's hard to tell what they might snack on or decide to taste in any given year.

I've had them shear my evergreen azaleas - only once, but all of them and while standing on hellebores. Another season, allium flavum was tasty. I haven't figured out what the attraction is to my neighbors boring laurel, but deer push right in up to their shoulders and happily strip off entire stems.

Elk are a larger problem, literally larger...just their weight alone can cause more damage in a garden. Have you seen elk or signs of elk near yours? BTW, I find elk infinitely better tasting than venison - I prefer ground elk over beef.

The important point is that you have discovered something comes there and browses your plants. Time for effective fencing, unless you want to waste time and money putting out a buffet.

What deer eat obviously varies considerably by area as well as time of year and what else is available to browse, but I have noticed deer browsing some of the more common landscape varieties of Arctostaphylos here in the San Francisco Bay Area. More often it is new fresh growth that is most vulnerable. I'd agree with Ron that you are best off fencing to protect your plants, if feasible. Are you sure it might not be rabbits?

Rabbits hmm, I didn't think about that one. I had rabbits in Poulsbo but they never ate my stuff there. I tend to immediately suspect deer since they are taking over the world around here, but who knows.

Anyways, I think morz8 is on to something. The bottom line is we need to teach animals how to read. Then I can just put up a sign that says 'don't eat my plants'.

In the meantime I'm exploring bboy's idea, though I'd like to create a physical barrier as cheaply and interestingly as possible. Given unlimited time and money, what I would really like to do is build a 5' stone/mortar wall around the perimiter of the property, fill the center with gravel/grit and plant cacti and succulents all along the top of the wall. I'll let you know in 20 years when that's finished.

I think John told me the peeler poles with deer netting around Mike's cost about 300 dollars in materials. Don't know what rabbits would do when confronted with it, might chew through. Wire mesh could be put along the outside of the bottom for those, however.

Actually the more I think about that, the more I think I might have to do something like that - as much as I don't like the look of it. I gotta protect my stuff and I am also going to plant a lot of fruit trees and other edibles.

Their fence doesn't really show much. Right after it was put up John had the satisfaction of watching a buck bound into and fall backwards.