I know they didn't eat the leaves off of my plants until late in the summer and only after everything was cut in. I believe the pods will get to old and tough before the deer eat them, there fore making the pods not palatable to the deer's mouth. They won't eat the stalk after the plant has started producing the pods. It all depends on if the plants reach a mature age. But you have to cut the okra for the plant to keep producing new pods. Maybe it will work and maybe it won't.