Thanks :)
Yes, of course, not a smart question after you mentioned several times waiting until Jan/feb to prune and I even wrote it on my calendar! I guess I was just eager to get started after all of your valuable feedback. Suppose that means the first step of this project is tearing up the lawn.
No, I am not happy to share the tree with deer and all of the back yard is fenced off with a very tall fence none of the other deer have been able to get around--just this particularly smart one that comes through the hedge on her belly (not an easy task and none of the others have done it). My neighbor told me she got on top of a crate in his back yard, stood on hind legs and ate the limbs off from his tree too!
I've used weird smelling sprays to deter deer before and that's a good idea. One year I got several of those Victoria Secret body sprays for Christmas (all very powerful smells that were too sickening to use) so they worked great! I've got Vaseline so that's another great idea.
Thank you again!