Deer Rub... or...???

[bigbendmarine]

Have fourteen crabapple trees I've had protected by tree tubes since planting four or five years back.

Fully appreciate that good many folks on the board appreciate cages vs tubes for fruit trees -- wouldn't argue with anyone about it as wish I'd caged from start but just have struggled finding time amid other competing tasks to switch over, and in our neck of the woods haven't had issue with voles, mice, rabbits, etc, doing any damage. Honestly, to date the main dislike I've had for tubes is hiding root suckers, and the suckers having slowed growth just a bit. Still, this year most all the trees had fruit... which brings me to a new issue.

Some critter has taken to aggressively knocking the tubes apart / down, and recently damaged a few of the trunks. Due to the fall timing I would guess it bucks rubbing... BUT... they haven't done it in years past, and the rubs look less "shredded" than most rubs I see. Some deep scratches in the trunks caused by either tine, hoof, or claw (we do have bears). Tubes are really bad about housing wasps, so could be something going after them. Reason for mentioning "hoof" as an option is that several weeks ago I had a friend visiting and he actually witnessed a buck "having a kicking fit" on one of the tubes which sure enough I found on the ground, though in that case no damage was done to the tree in question.

Anybody have a strong opinion on it being bucks vs bear (or some other critter)? Again, just looks to be different than typical shredded rubs I find and lower on the trunk as well.

 

[Rit]

That doesn’t look like any buck rub I have seen before.

 

[dogghr]

Bear


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[Troubles Trees]

I would guess bear if I had to, I don't think it looks like a buck rub IMHO.
Pretty rough on your tree bud, sorry to see that!

 

[Apple Junkie]

I second bear as being the offending party. I've seen claw marks similar to the first picture on my trees. The damage in picture two is unique, but what I believe to be claw marks, are still clearly visible. Hopefully this offender, whatever it was, has moved on.

 

[Buckly]

Got any of those panthers around?

 

[yoderjac]

I'd guess bear. I've got some pear trees with those claw marks.

 

[Tree Spud]

You have too many season an temps to render a decision.

Something is splitting the bark and I can't comment on bear in Florida ...

 

[yoderjac]

You have too many season an temps to render a decision.

Something is splitting the bark and I can't comment on bear in Florida ...

I'm thinking Gentle Ben...

 

[TreeDaddy]

Sasquatch...
......As you probably know,they are endemic in the creek bottoms and wetlands of the south

Rare to be a chupacabra east of texas as they prefer desert ecosystems

bill

 

[Ed Brodt]

We came up with a quick, easy and free way to cage our trees. Plus it is easy to disassemble for mulching and weeding. Take four shipping pallets (free around here) assemble around tree and put one screw in each top corner.

 

[chucker66]

Plus you can have paint ball battles there ^^^^^

 

[SwampCat]

I wouldnt totally discount a boar hog, either. I have seen similar here - and we dont have bear - yet

 

[SwampCat]

What kind of crabs are they?

 

[bigbendmarine]

What kind of crabs are they?

SwampCat, they were purchased as dolgo... though I'm suspicious if that's the case as the apples don't look to have the slightly oblong shape nor quite the velvety-red color I see when I google search for "dolgo".

On a positive note they are producing a bit more each year now. Last year only a few trees had a few fruit, whereas this year almost all the trees had a few on them.

No shortage of bears OR hogs on our place. Shared this pic the other day in the monthly photo contest (with dog photoshopped in for size comparison). And as for hogs, neighbor and I together have killed over 100 in the last year and don't even seem to be making a noticeable dent. Blessing and curse we face as relates to hogs is that we've got 4,000 uninhabitated / unfenced acres lying against our property lines, and by trying to make our plots nice enough to draw deer off the 4,000 acres we're ever drawing in hogs as well.

 

[SwampCat]

I have the same problem as well - land adjoining 27,000 acre NWR where they allowed no hog killing for five years. It became a hog refuge. I kill them by the hundreds. It does make a difference though - when I lay off for a few months - the hogs increase and the deer decrease. I dont think the hogs run the deer out of the area - they just change what the deer do and where they use.

 

[bigbendmarine]

I have the same problem as well - land adjoining 27,000 acre NWR where they allowed no hog killing for five years. It became a hog refuge. I kill them by the hundreds. It does make a difference though - when I lay off for a few months - the hogs increase and the deer decrease. I dont think the hogs run the deer out of the area - they just change what the deer do and where they use.

My neighbor grows field corn, so he bears the brunt of the burden killing them (he's killing about 90% to my 10% of the ones we harvest). That said, my mixture of "old field" habitat and hardwoods seems to appeal to sows looking for a place to raise a sounder (or two) each year. I completely wiped out a sounder one pig at a time by putting out a line of corn within shooting distance of the house, but it took me a couple of months... and as fate would have it, literally a day or two before I patted myself on the back for finishing the sounder off my game cams were at that very moment recording evidence of another 6 or so moving in.

My deer and hogs definitely were using the same areas this summer (and in past falls), but will say that when pigs arrive on the scene my deer always run off until the pigs move out of the fields (all my plots are failry small - none larger than an acre).

 

[bigbendmarine]

We came up with a quick, easy and free way to cage our trees. Plus it is easy to disassemble for mulching and weeding. Take four shipping pallets (free around here) assemble around tree and put one screw in each top corner.View attachment 31925

If not for the crabapples sitting right behind my house I'd use the pallets in a heartbeat. Very well may try using them in spots a bit more distant / out of view from the house. Sure no "snob-erry" in using pallets, just that I planted the crabapples in two rows leading to a road that goes to my nearby pond and it's the view we see every day looking out our bedroom windows. Wife can't wait until I remove the blue tree tubes for that matter (and can't say I blame her!).

On the subject of the pallets, can't help but wonder if 3 pallets wired together might do an ok job as well? Guessing it might let deer browse some low / close branches, but would think the trunks and top growth might still be fairly well protected!

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Those pallets look like a good idea, but I wonder if the bear would just use it as a ladder to get higher up?

 

[bigbendmarine]

Those pallets look like a good idea, but I wonder if the bear would just use it as a ladder to get higher up?

Good point, 4wanderingeyes, as I've had them climb over cattle pannels to get into my hog trap even when the hog trap door was open and they could have more easily walked in! TRUE STORY!!!