mostly i try to plant things i enjoy eating. beans (fresh, shellies and then later dried), peas (it may be a good time to plant peas there), for pods, and for fresh peas and again later for dried. they are a cooler weather crop so they can survive a light frost if it happens. it might be too late for a crop there of peas, but you can always try a few.
with that many animals around you may need to have some kind of fence around a garden. for us here a fence is required for certain crops to keep the deer, rabbits and groundhogs from having too easy access to the vegetable garden space. we also have chipmunks and birds but those i can control with some hunting if needed.
hmm, trying to think of other easy crops, but really for you it does matter more what you like to eat as then you have more motivation to take care of them.
tomatoes are a big crop for us. there's a lot of choices in those. for a new gardener i suggest a cherry tomato plant or two and some smaller patio type tomatoes and then a few larger types like a beefsteak variety. nothing really beats a good fresh tomato.
we also grow onions, garlic, and peppers. i like green garlic in the spring and up towards summer it works as a very easy crop but then it is too late for that down there. it has to be planted in the fall/winter for the following season. the nice thing about onions and garlic is that not much will eat it in terms of critters.
for the south, okra and cowpeas of different kinds can be very useful and edible. longer season beans if they can survive the heat. you can probably have two seasons of peas and beans down there.
melons. yum.
