Bowman, you may want to look into honeysuckle. It makes a great transition zone, spreads well, is hardy and deer like it. It would be good on the South side. Deer eat the humming bird vine as well. Deer don't eat my blueberry bushes, which may be close to the huckleberry. Pole beans make a good transition food at the edge of a plot. I run them at the edge of the honeysuckle as a nitrogen fixer. They climb the honeysuckle then die out when it gets cold. I come back the next spring and till 1" deep where they were and they come back up.
Blessings