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Estimates range widely, but there were probably at least 20 million whitetails across a wide swath of North America several centuries ago. Even Thomas Jefferson had to defend his Monticello vegetable gardens with a 10-foot-tall planked fence.

Then came an era of unbridled hunting for commercial venison sales and the widespread displacement of forests by farms, and by the 20th-century, deer were nearly eliminated from every corner of their range. So, prompted by pleas from hunters, state officials worked hard to restore deer. For example, the deer now clearing brush in Posey Hollow descend from stock trucked to Virginia decades ago from Arkansas.

Such efforts have succeeded beyond anyone's wildest dreams. The national whitetail population has risen from a low of about 500,000 in 1900 to something like the 20 million of Jefferson's time.

But they are concentrated in smaller patches of habitat, scientists say. Generally, biologists say, when deer exceed 15 to 20 per square mile, ecosystems begin to degrade, and today deer number in the hundreds per square mile in some places.

Thinning the Herd

In a few places, the animals are relatively easy to kill, deport or sterilize. But these methods have significant limitations.

Contraception, promoted for years by the Humane Society and other animal welfare groups, has effectively reduced some deer populations in places like Fire Island in New York, but usually only where wildlife biologists have permission to go into every backyard to dart all the does in a particular population. Female deer rarely wander far from where they were born, so they are relatively easy to find.

Elsewhere, though, any undarted does are quickly able to rebuild herds. Also, the current contraceptive vaccine must be readministered every year, but each year the darted does become a bit more wary and elusive, experts say.

Sharpshooting by professional marksmen or trained police officers has worked in parts of Princeton, Cleveland, Philadelphia and other communities that accept lethal controls. But in Princeton, the rifle-toting biologists doing the culling could not shoot animals in the most densely populated neighborhoods, so they had to resort to capturing dozens with nets and killing them with a device similar to the gunlike bolts used to slaughter cattle in stockyards.

Biologists have found that trapping deer this way greatly increases their stress compared with a bullet to the brain, and animal welfare groups have aggressively protested the method.

Defending Plants

The deficiencies of these strategies have left homeowners and landscapers struggling to keep deer away from their plantings, which are prime deer fodder because they are fattened with ample fertilizer and water.

In wealthy neighborhoods north of New York City or around Washington, it is not uncommon to see high black-mesh fences enclosing entire estates.

Gardeners have tried an array of repellents, containing rotten-egg essence, hot pepper extracts and even lion excrement. They usually work for a while but need to be replenished frequently.

In some areas beset by deer, gardeners and landscape designers are being encouraged to move from defending lush plantings to changing what they plant, in hopes of discouraging hungry deer.

The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven recently published a survey listing dozens of flower and shrub varieties that gardeners in the state found were least likely to be eaten by deer. By switching from sunflowers, tulips and roses to butterfly bush, marigolds, poppies and lavender, gardeners can maintain attractive yards without attracting deer, the study's author, Dr. Jeffrey S. Ward, said.

But biologists and gardeners have learned that if deer are hungry enough they will eat any plant.

A new type of fencing made by a Canadian company, ElectroBraid, creates a psychological barrier to deer by shocking them as they nudge forward with their delicate noses. For the moment, it is only practical in places like airfields, where deer have been struck by more than 500 aircraft over the last decade, including fighter jets and Boeing 737's, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

In many communities, new policies aimed at changing human behavior around deer have met with resistance. For example, in many communities ravaged by azalea-munching deer some homeowners still cannot resist putting out 50-pound sacks of corn to attract the graceful creatures. Many suburbs, including Princeton and Lakeway, Tex., have banned the practice, but some deer lovers unabashedly continue to feed.

"I feed them when I want to feed them," said Judy Samouce of Lakeway, a fast-growing Austin suburb, tucked on the edge of the deer-thick Edwards Plateau. The deer were what attracted her to the area.

There is some progress in places. The death toll on roads and highways in Princeton has dropped sharply since culling began there two years ago. Accidents have also been reduced in Lakeway, which trapped more than 1,400 deer over the last several years and deported them to ranches in northern Mexico, where officials were eager to restore deer populations.

This year, though, Lakeway officials say they are running out of ranches willing to take deer.

Changing Hunters' Habits

In most places around the country, many wildlife experts say, the biggest effect on deer populations will probably come through changing hunting practices.