One thing I have tried before on certain small trees and it has worked somewhat is to use the mesh from inside a furnace filter after I burned the non metal portion of the furnace filter in a camp fire. It makes a decent little fence

Deer differ greatly from one place to another on what they will hit. What they do at my place will differ from where you are. I've seen it differ in 20 miles.


Red Oaks are down the list compared to White Oaks. But yes they will hit them but not as hard in my experience. If I had to put a value on it I'd say with about 95% certainty that a white oak seedling wouldn't survive without deer hitting them Red Oaks I'd give an 80% chance. Red Oaks do tolerate more shade than White Oaks do so that is an advantage in most woodlots..
I have caged around 2 red oak grubs that the deer had been hitting just to see results along with a couple of beech and one white oak grub.

What kind of tubes do use for hardwood trees? I wonder if mice and rabbits will damage hardwoods too

To reduce that percentage I'd put bud caps on some of the most desirable trees &/or plant a bunch of acorns so you get so many oak trees coming that it makes for a better chance that more will survive long term. Shooting more deer might be another option for some folks.

I suppose. It depends so much regarding the type of food on the landscape, etc

Some people use mesh screen material (like a roll from the hardware store) & a wooden post, but I'm unsure the diameter cylinder they make or whether they use aluminum or fiberglass window screen