Damn looters!
- Thread starter 4wanderingeyes
- Start date
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
Yes. Apple trees. They have snapped off one last week already.
rocksnstumps
5 year old buck +
Bears suck
They are tough on oak trees too. Any talk of hunting them doesn't matter, sows with cubs by me not legal. Cubs have bent/almost snapped several small oaks (slow growing burrs) and busted out several tops in larger others as play toys too. No acorns even on em. Did I mention that bears suck!!
This was my best producing young red oak several years in a row. Key word "was" as now missing over half of the branches that actually grew acorns.
They are tough on oak trees too. Any talk of hunting them doesn't matter, sows with cubs by me not legal. Cubs have bent/almost snapped several small oaks (slow growing burrs) and busted out several tops in larger others as play toys too. No acorns even on em. Did I mention that bears suck!!
This was my best producing young red oak several years in a row. Key word "was" as now missing over half of the branches that actually grew acorns.
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4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
Most of the time they just prune the trees the way they want them, it is when they snap off the central leader is when it hurts the most. I have one tree they messed up in the spring, that will need to be replaced, and a couple I will need to finish cutting the broken branches off. These are 5-7 yo trees. Just starting to make the corner into being a big producer.
gonzalezeb
5 year old buck +
Wildlife looters aren't so bad....it is the two legged ones that bother me. I'd take a bear over a human looter any day. I've posted the property...spoken to a few of them...and one of them keeps coming back (bad part when your hunting land is out of state, they perciee you as all bark and no bite). If I ever figure out who he is, I will likely have to prosecute at this point.
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
I am still a non resident, for about 7 more months. The county my land is in, thinks bear must be protected, because you basically need to apply for a bear tag for 5-7 years before you can get one. Yet they are as common as deer, which they offer 10,000 plus doe tags a year for my county.
I talked to a few bear hunters in the area, and the ones that dont use hounds to hunt them said, while they would be glad to come in, put down some bait, and shoot the biggest one, it will actually draw more bear in with all the bait, and I would be worse off then before. I dont own enough land for hound hunters to hunt, and they have no interest for anything less then a few hundred acres on private land. They also dont like my area because of all of the wolves are hard on their dogs. What has helped for me was to stop baiting. But they still come in for my apple trees anyhow. I have lots of berry bushes, and acorns, so they come in anyhow. Seems like a no win situation, all I can do is keep re planting the trees they break, and hope to get some to full size.
scott44
5 year old buck +
Maybe you're on to something, ornamental oaks.
rocksnstumps
5 year old buck +
^^^^Exactly. Trying to bait and hunt attracts even more and maybe someone removes one from the bunch hunting while others trash stuff in greater numbers.
I've been rethinking strategy and no quick producing trees or hybrids for me going forward. Need them to be much bigger trees before having fruit or acorns. Not much else to do now bears have moved into the neighborhood
I've been rethinking strategy and no quick producing trees or hybrids for me going forward. Need them to be much bigger trees before having fruit or acorns. Not much else to do now bears have moved into the neighborhood
Apple Junkie
5 year old buck +
Bears – Love ‘em, hate ‘em. I like watching them from a tree stand, I hate watching them on trail-cam having their way with my apple trees.
Like you, I have a lot of trees in the 5 to 10 year range that are particularly vulnerable because they are producing apples, but not yet old enough to withstand a bear pulling the tops over. My only defense is to cross my fingers and keep my pruning saw handy. However, when they get a little bigger, both Willy and Appleman have shared their solutions to prowling bears - see below. My short-term solution was just to tack two 2’ sections of stove pipe to the trunk of my tree – which also proved effective.
I am not sure there is a fool-proof fix for bears, but I hope to find a way to live with the occasional looting.
Like you, I have a lot of trees in the 5 to 10 year range that are particularly vulnerable because they are producing apples, but not yet old enough to withstand a bear pulling the tops over. My only defense is to cross my fingers and keep my pruning saw handy. However, when they get a little bigger, both Willy and Appleman have shared their solutions to prowling bears - see below. My short-term solution was just to tack two 2’ sections of stove pipe to the trunk of my tree – which also proved effective.
I am not sure there is a fool-proof fix for bears, but I hope to find a way to live with the occasional looting.
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4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
I was thinking I would fertilize all my trees the next couple years a little heavy, maybe it will speed up their growth, and slow down the fruit for a couple years?
