The reason we have a seven foot high fence around the garden is the deer and the elk. The reason we have raised beds is the weather and the mountain beavers. The reason we garden is we like fresh vegetables. So do the deer and the elk and the mountain beavers.
I've counted as many as 10 deer bedded down in the spring outside the fence where they do pretty acceptable substitute for mowing. This evening we had these three does, two of them pregnant. In a couple of months, those two will probably both have two fawns each. That's the rule rather than the exception at the Portland Pataphysical Outpatient Clinic, Lounge, and Laundromat.
Two years ago we had a couple of weeks with 2-3 feet of snow on the ground, and the deer congregated to get the last of the fruit from the apple and permissions. At one point, we had eight deer bedded down in the barn, included one poor doe who had apparently lost a front hoof to a dog or barbed wire or some other cruelty that life visits upon beasts without adequate health care.
I don't make friends with the animals who live on the land. We do occasionally put out food when the winter is rough and the pickings are slim or none. In exchange, the animals give us nothing in return. They destroy the newly planted trees. If they can find a way into the garden, they strip it bare overnight. Good for them.