I highly recommend the electric fence route. I have every predator you can think of here including bears... No sign of anything larger than s squirrel getting into my yard since installing it and only a few of them made it past... Even they eventually hit the wires and stay away . I got the strongest battery powered fence and put a 30 watt solar charger with controller on it to keep the battery charged . Works great but it really hurts if you accidentally touch it . I used to trap and kill raccoons regularly as a way to protect my birds but havent done so since installing the fence . Going on 2 years now