Good morning, nice post. Use a lot of wood chips also around my farm. My wife loves them to dress up her multitude of flower beds. I am fortunate enough to live a country mile from a saw mill. They mill softwoods exclusively, mostly Northern Hemlock. I can get as many wood chips from them as I want. With pine wood chips you must be careful. For most applications pine chips should be seasoned for a year before using around vegetation that you are trying to propagate. I do use them in the same way for pathways and other areas that I have no plantings. In your post, I see that you mentioned having a problem with the deer browsing on the young trees. I have learned a cheap way to combat this. It is mixing a solution of eggs with milk and spraying it on any vegetation you want the deer to stay away from. Check out my post on TREE FARM IN SPRING. You can bet the particulars on the egg to milk ratio. Using this mixture has never failed me. You may want to try and you may be able to remove that fence altogether.