The likely answer is no. Deer and goats adore Meyer lemon leaves; and gophers will kill young trees. There are poison baits and traps for gophers; but nothing short of an 8 foot fence will protect against deer and goats. If your lemon is not a Meyer, the deer might leave it alone; depends on what other food you have around.

yes, I agree with John here. And add that deer have munched on my Persimmon and Pomegranate leaves while sparing the Myer and orange leaves only 10-20 ft. away!

BTW: I am assuming the tree is in and would be kept in a pot. Therefore, I would not expect that a gopher jump into a pot, ....but then again I am curious if anyone has had such issues.