Yes, the deer are back, and they are hungry. We have a Gang of Seven that saunter through almost every morning and evening. I am sure they discuss the level of tastiness of every shrub or perennial they pass.

They have consumed almost every daylily bud and hosta leaf and even ate the leaves of a small rose bush I have been nursing along for several years. Of course, earlier this spring, they nipped the azalea buds.

A few mornings ago, I stepped out of my kitchen door to find a lovely doe munching on the leaves of one of three huge hostas located outside our picket fence. She looked up at me, then flounced off into the woods and stood there, staring at me and daring me to say anything. Sadly, she returned for another hosta that night.

I know that Jim and I are not the only Gloucester residents suffering from the depredation of our plants by these large, four-footed eating machines. According to the Cornell University Cooperative Extension fact sheet “White-tailed Deer,” an adu...