Deer Resistant Trees for Open Country

What Deer Leave Alone

Deer choose food by smell and mouthfeel. They favor tender, smooth, mild-tasting leaves and avoid foliage that is leathery, hairy, strongly scented or bitter. That preference is reliable enough to plan a landscape around. No tree is completely deer-proof, and a hungry deer in late winter will try almost anything, but the species below are the ones deer reach for last when other food is available.

Trees Deer Usually Pass Over

Pawpaw is among the most reliably avoided native trees; its leaves and bark taste bitter to deer, and it gives you custard-textured fruit in fall. Black walnut and hickory both produce foliage deer dislike. Eastern red cedar holds dense, prickly evergreen growth that deer avoid and that doubles as year-round screening. Serviceberry is passed over more often than not and feeds songbirds in June. Sweet gum and tulip poplar are rarely browsed once past sapling height. Browse native trees.

Protecting Young Trees

This is the part most people miss. Even a deer resistant tree is at risk in its first three to five years, and not because of browsing. Bucks rub their antlers on young trunks every fall to mark territory, and they do it regardless of species. A rub can strip bark all the way around a sapling.

Wrap new trunks with a tree guard or set a ring of fencing eighteen inches out from the trunk, and keep it in place through the first several autumns. It is simple and it works. For the rest of the landscape, see deer resistant shrubs and deer resistant perennials.

Deer Resistant Tree Questions

What tree do deer avoid most?
Pawpaw. Its leaves and bark are bitter to deer, and it is one of the most consistently untouched native trees.

Are any trees completely deer-proof?
No. Deer resistant means deer usually skip a tree when other food is available. Late winter and drought raise the risk.

Why do deer damage trees they do not eat?
Bucks rub antlers on young trunks in fall, which strips bark. Protect new trees with a guard for their first three to five years.

What evergreen trees do deer avoid?
Eastern red cedar, whose dense prickly growth deer leave alone while providing year-round screening.

When should deer resistant trees be planted?
Fall or early spring while dormant, with trunk protection installed before the first fall rut.

TN Nursery has grown and shipped plants from Altamont, Tennessee since 1959. Every tree is guaranteed to arrive alive.