Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
I've planted LOADS of Norways over the years and most of ours never get browsed. I think it depends on your area. We have lots of other more preferable browse items ( oak, maple, poplar, aspen ) and winter food plots, so the Norways are very low on the list. I cage the Norways that I want to definitely survive in specific locations, just for insurance. Other randomly planted spruce, I don't cage.
It's funny how some areas get certain trees browsed, and other areas get no browsing on the same tree varieties. Guys on here get pines hammered - we never get pines browsed.
I have rows of norways planted 15 yards from a corn field and they get browsed. Which I could find a better solution other than caging but nothing else has worked. We have plenty of food sources, browse, etc.
I did have about 30 balsam fir reach 3'-4' a few years ago only to watch them get destroyed by bucks rubbing. The ones i did cage are now probably 15' high.