Deer Apples vs Wildlife Apples

[KickapooKid#1]

I Have a feeling I will never be able to sample any of my great tasting apples in our setting with all the pressure from Coons birds etc. I had an bumper crop on 2 of the 11 year old Cortlands that were cleaned completely off in a week in mid July. We Had 15 trees out 19 with pretty great fruit set. Only 3 trees have fruit going in September. Liberty enterprise and wolf river. Those trees are still loaded. So should someone stick with not so great tasting apples to have fruit for deer season?

 

[Prof.Kent]

My answer has always been: Plant enough apple trees so you have some left for yourself.
If you have heavy losses to wildlife, fence them, plant bigger trees, use live traps, and/or use sound and light sirens.

 

[SwampCat]

Coons eat rotten fish. I dont think even the worst tasting apple is going to deter coons. The only thing I have found to deter coons is a dog, a trap, or a bullet.

 

[TenPoint]

I had apples on 29 of 29 trees this year, many were loaded. Coons f’ed it all up in July. I maybe have apples on 4-5 now. All out war will begin next year. I’m also going to start thinning trees heavily until they are 7-8 years old. They destroyed a few of my 4 year old trees that were fruiting for the first time. Broke leaders and or several branches. Younger trees just can’t stand up to those bastards crawling all over the trees.

 

[MRBB]

like said above, if you have issue,s all you an do is fence them tree's good and add some electric to things
ad traps and trap them coons, you leave coon's un checked and have food for them, your actually increasing there numbers, making your issue's worse
coons breed based on food supply
lots of food, and you will have lots of coons, I see it all the time here in yrs with heavy large crops productions(berries, acorns, apples, and so on)
next I always notice, is when coon numbers get TOO high for food supply, I start to see them having sickness's that drops numbers on there own(distemper, rabies and so on)

Mother nature seems to have a way to solve issue's, not always pretty though

but when you PLANT food, your inviting the damages and loose of fruit
fencing,. electric fence too, and well, some reducing numbers by hunting/trapping or??
is all you can do, , as planting more, honestly, IMO, just invites more critters, so doesn't really solve issue's
maybe at some point down the road it will work, but on young tree's, its a loosing battle till you get what's eating them in check and OFF the tree's with fencing!

maybe be better off planting corn away from tree's, seems critters here like that better than apples, or non ripe apples any how!

 

[Turkey Creek]

Not pretty, but a stove pipe sleeve around the trunks of the producing trees will keep the coons and possums out of the trees. Willy has mentioned this before on here. Going to be some up front cost, but they will last for the life of the tree more than likely. Otherwise you can always shoot and trap them!

 

[TenPoint]

Not pretty, but a stove pipe sleeve around the trunks of the producing trees will keep the coons and possums out of the trees. Willy has mentioned this before on here. Going to be some up front cost, but they will last for the life of the tree more than likely. Otherwise you can always shoot and trap them!

Tried 24” pipe. They just laughed at it. 36” starts to get pricey.

 

[DrDirtNap]

Not pretty, but a stove pipe sleeve around the trunks of the producing trees will keep the coons and possums out of the trees. Willy has mentioned this before on here. Going to be some up front cost, but they will last for the life of the tree more than likely. Otherwise you can always shoot and trap them!

Tried 24” pipe. They just laughed at it. 36” starts to get pricey.

Did you hang the 24 inch long pipe form the first set of branches? That would seem to at least limit their ability to jump as they climbed up the trunk.


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[Apple Junkie]

I would not get too discouraged; your trees are resilient and will produce more and more apples every year. One of my trees seemed to be a favorite of the coons and bears, so I tacked some stovepipe to the trunk as a “quick fix” and it seems to be going holding them a bay so far. The better way is to do as Willy and Appleman do… hang a barrier to slow them down at least. Stick with it, you’ll get to enjoy some of your apples too!

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I'll have to remember this tip when my trees get older. We dont have bear but there are tons of coon.

 

[Rit]

Certainly more work but I wonder if a roll of 24” roofing coil would be more cost effective.

 

[Chainsaw]

Coons are like weeds, they gotta go. They eat the apples, the turkey eggs, acorns and the corn we grow. Trap them or put on a spotlight and shine your trees at night. Have or make a coat out of their skins, eat or sell the meat if legal and save your crops for what you planted them for, songbirds and deer.

 

[Buckly]

I saw some branches moving on one of my trees last year so I put the binocs up and saw 6 in the tree. Only one made it to the ground but didnt get any further. Coon come in right about dusk. Just wait until they get in the tree and you can get a large number all at once. A couple times of that and you’ve put a dent in population for a while

 

[homerj]

Golden malrin and coca cola=fewer raccoon problems

 

[buckdeer1]

I have been trying to figure how to make a barrel trap so I can trap more than 1 at a time.I caught 13 and then a month later I had pic with 13 under the feeder

 

[gunfun13]

I saw some branches moving on one of my trees last year so I put the binocs up and saw 6 in the tree. Only one made it to the ground but didnt get any further. Coon come in right about dusk. Just wait until they get in the tree and you can get a large number all at once. A couple times of that and you’ve put a dent in population for a while

Unlikely. 2 of my neighbors which comprise about 300 acres total started running a handful of traps each when they received covid work from home orders in March. They gave up after killing over 150 in a couple months span with no slow down in trap productivity.

 

[BobinCt]

Apple trees are a lot more work than i
knew when I first planted em 7 yrs ago. I just lost 9 trees due to the 70 mph winds I had two weeks ago. I’m sick over it. 4 of them were my best trees. I was going to purchase 20-25 more this year , but I’m done. Other people might be able to plant, cage and protect the tree and get fruit years later, but I don’t think it’s that easy.

 

[Rit]

Unlikely. 2 of my neighbors which comprise about 300 acres total started running a handful of traps each when they received covid work from home orders in March. They gave up after killing over 150 in a couple months span with no slow down in trap productivity.

All the more reason to keep trapping maybe even more aggressively. I kill 30 or so a year and it helps a lot.

 

[Buckly]

Unlikely. 2 of my neighbors which comprise about 300 acres total started running a handful of traps each when they received covid work from home orders in March. They gave up after killing over 150 in a couple months span with no slow down in trap productivity.

understood. But, you’re just trying to get another 3-4 weeks on some apples so you can make a pie and get some to storage.

 

[Telemark]

You should protect your trees, but you should also start trapping raccoons. The increase in food will cause an increase in population. And get rid of old beech trees if you can. It's truly amazing how many raccoons a plot of land can hold. And they can get up to 35lbs., which is not good for your trees.