Escalating global environmental change resulting from multiple anthropogenic stressors has necessitated the development and use of robust ecological indicators that can accurately and efficiently inform ecosystem management decisions and actions. High deer populations are a primary driver of ecosystem degradation on multiple continents, but proposed indicators of deer impacts largely lack experimental evaluation to determine whether they meet the eight criteria of an ecological indicator defined by Dale and Beyeler (2001). Using a network of large white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) exclosures established in 2013, we evaluated whether three protocols meant to assess deer browsing severity: Assessing Vegetation Impacts of Deer (AVID), the Ten-tallest protocol, and the Twig Age protocol, met the criteria of an ecological indicator, and whether three common understory herbaceous species: blue-stemmed goldenrod (Solidago caesia), white wood aster (Eurybia divaricata), and zigzag goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis) could strengthen a partially evaluated Sentinel protocol. We found that all the evaluated protocols could meet at least one of the criteria of an ecological indicator, but an expanded Sentinel protocol had the greatest potential to meet all criteria. Further research is needed to evaluate the ability of these protocols to be anticipatory of and sensitive to variations in deer browsing pressure. Using defined scientific criteria and experimentation to evaluate whether protocols meant to measure deer impacts can serve as robust indicators is necessary to improve deer and ecosystem management decisions, actions, outcomes, and accountability.