Attitudes toward wildlife vary greatly. I enjoy watching Mother Nature's pets and try to keep my bird feeders and suet sacks full. I grow enough extra vegetables to fatten an occasional rabbit lucky enough to slip through my defense -- 'da fence' is an eight-foot high, chain-link barricade resting on a short stone wall with a strip of chicken wire along the bottom, installed the year I lost everything to a family of hungry whitetails.
There are of course, cheaper, easier ways to deter uninvited guests from helping themselves to your homegrown food. A hunter may say, "Bullets are cheap," but it doesn't have to be a deadly game.
Deer
Deer can do a running high jump of six-foot or better, but two shorter, parallel fences will usually confuse them. A friend uses this method to run his chickens in during the daytime, snapping up bugs before they can reach the veggies. His dog patrols the 'moat' at night.
Deer will eat roses but a fence of thorny shrubs or trees can be a very attractive alternative to metal wire. It does take a few years to become impervious but try Russian olive, hawthorn, boxwood or holly.
Hanging aluminum foil or pie tins, bars of fragrant deodorant soap, or mothballs in mesh bags from the branches will sometimes frighten deer away from fruit trees. Wind chimes are my favorite noisemakers but a radio in the orchard might work. The trouble is, the deer quickly loose their fear if you don't alternate between the various methods often. Coyote or other predator, even human urine sprinkled about will cause a deer to seek safer ground.
Rabbits
A 3-foot high fence of one-inch chicken wire will usually stop a rabbit. Contrary to popular belief, the wild cottontail is not a good burrower and ordinarily does not jump fences. To discourage minor burrowing in the garden, a 1-foot extension can be added below ground.
To restrict rabbits from eating the bark on your trees, wrap plastic tubing or 1/2-inch wire mesh around the trunk. Wrap the tubing or mesh loosely to allow for growth. Extend them 4 inches into the ground and 2 feet above the normal snow line. Tree pruning left for the rabbit as food decoys are helpful, as rabbits prefer twigs and buds to bark.
Hawks and owls are natural predators of rabbits. Several replicas of these predators can be placed in the garden or area of damage.
Mothballs, dried blood and even ground limestone have been said to repel rabbits.
Moles
You can erect a barrier around flower or garden plots by burying a hardware cloth (1/4" mesh screen) with an L-shaped footer that is approximately 12" deep with the "L" shape 8" long. The "L" part of the screening should face away from the area that you are screening in. Burying a concrete border about 8 to 12 inches deep will also work. Both of these suggestions are costly and/or labor intensive and only recommended where moles are a severe problem.
There are several things that you can do if you want to live harmoniously with moles. Tamping the run down before mowing the lawn will prevent equipment damage. Resist watering your lawn too much, causing moles favorite food (earthworms) to come to the surface. Insect and grub control will limit the food source for moles.
Live trapping is recommended only as a last resort since moles survive only a short amount of time without food. Killing traps are available such as the Victor Mole Trap and the O'Sight Mole Trap. The best time to trap moles is during the spring and fall and particularly after a rain.
Repellents that contain castor oil or castor beans are the most effective for moles.
There has been limited success in using wind-generated pinwheels that transmit vibrations into the ground. The vibrations have been said to scare moles away. Battery operated devices that operate under the same principal are also available.
Birds
As mentioned, I like birds on our property. Some species, such as non-migratory geese, gulls, pigeons, grackles (and other blackbirds) or woodpeckers, may wear out their welcome.
A thin wire or string 'net' over the berry patch or individual crops, scare tactics involving movement, noise, bright colors and models of birds of prey (hawks/owls) may be effective.
Cats and Dogs
Problem cats and dogs may be best handled by local animal control agencies. This approach might help settle a problem of someone else's pet or a wild animal that uses your yard as a bathroom or digs up your flowerbeds. Repellent sprays such as "Get Off My Garden" may be effective to keep digging or wandering animals away from shrubs, flowers or vegetables. Keep garbage lids on tight and put pepper sauce or other repellent on trash left at the curb.
Raccoon
A nocturnal animal, raccoons hunt for food at night and eat a varied diet. In spring and early summer, they live on small animals, such as insects, crayfish, clams and mussels, fish and frogs. In late summer and fall, they add berries and other fruits, nuts and grains to their carnivorous diets. They sometimes eat garden vegetables, especially sweet corn.
To keep raccoons out of the vegetable garden, a one or two-wire electric fence is effective; activate the fence at dusk and turn it off at daybreak.
Wildlife in the yard can be a treat once you learn the tricks to keeping them out of your garden.