///I'll take deer over rats any day of the week. Cringe. I've seen rats bigger than a house cat munching away on the sidewalks of NY especially after construction. They're disgusting and nothing seems to scare them.///

That's your fault for living in NY. You don't like it--move. I see rats only now and again around here with the average being no more than a foot total length. I can live with that. I can't live with larged hooved, horned critters ploughing through my yard eating my bushes, busting down my fences and crapping all over the place.