Unwanted pests and wildlife threatened crops, leading to the use of scarecrows or hay-men to keep animals out of gardens, lime and other materials to hold back worms and insects, and edge plantings to keep rodents from eating vegetables. Snakes also ate rodents but created hazards for field work. Bears, foxes, weasels, and other predators threatened chickens and livestock, so safe enclosures and occasional use of firearms were necessary. Although a rustic fence could help deter deer, population growth, the Civil War, and the arrival of logging and railroad crews in the mountains made hunting deer, birds, and small game both necessary and popular, and by around 1890 deer sightings were rare, making such a fence much less necessary.