Your pool should get a fence. But first maybe you should do something
about your "more dangerous" stuff.

I should have mentioned our entire property is fenced, so if you can
hope that fence, you can hop the pool fence (they would both be privacy
height.)

By "more dangerous" I didn't mean to imply I have land mines out here
or whatever, but I have traps for gophers out and about, a trampoline,
a travel trailer that could be crawled under, pointy sticks, etc.
Most of us have this stuff in our own yards, and frankly, it's possible
for someone to get hurt in almost every yard.

We do have neighbors, but in an area like this (very rural), it's
extremely unlikely someone would get a flat tire, come up to the house
for help, decide to take a dip in the pool, and die. It's kind of
ludicrous to say that, but given the odds there, I should also put in a
meteor shelter in case the mailman should get hit by a giant falling
rock.

The deer issue is a real one though, and something I hadn't considered.
The heating of the pool in competition with the ground temperature is a
bigger issue for me.

The wife and I decided (along with the help from you guys) that Above
Ground is above ground, and we'll simply build maybe a 1/4 deck around
it to provide a sitting area.

Thanks so much!