Deer will cause widespread damage. They will eat, poke and play with leaves, bark and all parts in between. But they can be picky and skip the other hydrangea besides the one that was ravaged. However, they seem to branch into eating fruits around mid summer too. After the fruits are gone though, it will be back to hydrangeas! But once these begin to go dormant and the leaves look ugly and less tasty, they probably go around looking for stuff like acorns. Rabbits could also cause damage but they will much on the lower parts. Squirrels will eat, well, wherever they want. LOL!

The bush should recover in the Spring but you may have to start thinking how to keep them at bay in order to stop this eating cycle or next year they will visit your garden again.

As Elmer Fudd said "Darn pesky wabbit!" Yes, rabbits will eat the smaller lower branches down to nubbins (call it nature's way of pruning). Luckily we haven't seen deer on our property in years since we put up a five foot fence and have two good sized dogs (deer can still jump five feet but maybe the neighbors without fences are a little easier to navigate).

Any tips on how to keep the deer little deers away! I don't mind if they visit my yard just stop eatin my shrubs!

Tall fence and big dogs....

Bird netting over or around your shrubs works well too.