Why do people put wire around trees!

[Bszweda]

Anyone else hate finding trees griddle by a fence line! (Always happen to be nice mature white oaks) a little bit of me dies inside every time I see it!

 

[j-bird]

I have a perfect example of what you are talking about. The tree has grown thru the fence to the point the lowest part of the fence is 3 to 4 feet off the ground. Would have been a great timber tree but even the logger said no dice. I just hate woven wife fence in the woods in general. I realize in many cases (at least in my area) it was done to confine livestock but yes it ruins trees and can become a hazard later. I need to take the time at some point to pull as much as I can.

 

[Tree Spud]

Just reality ... every farmer I know is a cheap bastard who will waste and destroy the ecosystem to benefit their needs.

Understand to a farmer, trees are a competitor to their needs ... they only back off when they get entitlement pay for set asides ...

 

[Bill]

Hey if a farmer is fencing cows out of the timber I'm all for sacrificing a few trees.

Also I kinda like that often that old barb wire sticking out of a few trees makes it easier to find the propert line.

 

[Tree Spud]

Hey if a farmer is fencing cows out of the timber I'm all for sacrificing a few trees.

Also I kinda like that often that old barb wire sticking out of a few trees makes it easier to find the propert line.

Run into it with a chain saw sometime ... you will have a different perspective ...

 

[j-bird]

Sorry spud, but farmers (especially the old school guys) fed a nation and the world. If they want to use some trees as fence posts so be it. Different focus, different time.....lots of fools still think what we do is crazy!!!!

 

[Bill]

Run into it with a chain saw sometime ... you will have a different perspective ...

I hit a beer bottle once
I figured someone set in a fork in the tree and the tree grew around it.

 

[chickenlittle]

Rare to see a tree girdled by wire. We have lots of old fencewire in our woods, electric fencing not woven wire or barbed. Why add fence posts where you already had one? It never got taken down after the cows were sold. Trees grow around it and embed the wire. If you are cutting trees down, you know where it likely is and cut high or low to avoid and leave a chunk lay. If you didn't know it was there, shit happens. Not the end of the world.

 

[Bill]

Different focus, different time.....lots of fools still think what we do is crazy!!!!

There's a lot there.
I just hinge cut some 3 - 5 inch white oaks. Their not going to be timber trees in 50 years. But their going to be great cover this summer.

I understand, it drives me nuts that the previous farmer owner of my place farmed from fence to fence regardless of erosion, streams, ditches or soil health. But somewhere he has grandchildren or great grandchildren living a better life because he did.

Some day a guy may own my farm and bulldoze out all the trees I planted :(. Hope not but.......

In the words of Forest Gump

"it happens"

 

[TMIL]

Some day a guy may own my farm and bulldoze out all the trees I planted :(. Hope not but.......

In the words of Forest Gump

"it happens"

Yep, I bet you're right. Should have given fruit trees a fair shake.

And ...

Sh

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Bill, post #4 - We ran into the " barbed wire pieces grown into a tree " and figured it was a good guide to the property line. WRONG !! At least in my camp's situation. The old-days farmer just picked an easy location to string wire, and while we thought it was the property line, that proved untrue. Surveying showed us the real property line. We gained some acreage by surveying.

 

[Tree Spud]

Sorry spud, but farmers (especially the old school guys) fed a nation and the world. If they want to use some trees as fence posts so be it. Different focus, different time.....lots of fools still think what we do is crazy!!!!

J-Bird --- I thought ADM was the supermarket to the world?

 

[j-bird]

J-Bird --- I thought ADM was the supermarket to the world?

Well I'm sure they would like for that to be true.....however it isn't quite that simple. Besides, some folks will ague that processed stuff isn;t real food anyway!!!!

 

[Native Hunter]

• If you use a wood fence post, a tree was sacrificed to make the post.
• If you use a metal fence post, trees were sacrificed because the companies that made and sold it had to operate as a business, and trees were sacrificed for all the wood products that were used (building materials, printer paper, etc.)
• If you use solar power, trees were sacrificed, because the solar panels cut off the sunlight to the ground.
• If you use wind power, trees were sacrificed, because they can't be near the generators.
• If you get your power from the electric company, trees were sacrificed to make the poles.
• If you have a field for any purpose, trees are sacrificed because you keep them from growing to maintain the field.
• There aren't many things you can do without sacrificing a tree.

And, I might add two more things:

• Try running a fence on a property line through the woods and miss every tree that wants to grow.
• The old farmers in many areas years ago had no place to buy a fence post, and many had no money to buy one even if they could find one.

So why do people do it? No surprise to me. Hug a tree but don't be a tree hugger......................

 

[Bill]

• If you use a wood fence post, a tree was sacrificed to make the post.
• If you use a metal fence post, trees were sacrificed because the companies that made and sold it had to operate as a business, and trees were sacrificed for all the wood products that were used (building materials, printer paper, etc.)
• If you use solar power, trees were sacrificed, because the solar panels cut off the sunlight to the ground.
• If you use wind power, trees were sacrificed, because they can't be near the generators.
• If you get your power from the electric company, trees were sacrificed to make the poles.
• If you have a field for any purpose, trees are sacrificed because you keep them from growing to maintain the field.
• There aren't many things you can do without sacrificing a tree.

And, I might add two more things:

• Try running a fence on a property line through the woods and miss every tree that wants to grow.
• The old farmers in many areas years ago had no place to buy a fence post, and many had no money to buy one even if they could find one.

So why do people do it? No surprise to me. Hug a tree but don't be a tree hugger......................

Now I don't feel so bad. I've nailed fence to trees so the deer walk around them. There isn't always a tree to cut down where you need one.

But I can see the frustration of not knowing its there and hitting it with a saw.

 

[H20fwler]

Most timber cruisers here wont even look at trees along the edge of a woods, almost every woods here was fenced at one time or another. I've got one old huge white oak with fence wire hanging out of it twenty feet off the ground.

 

[dogghr]

Anyone else hate finding trees griddle by a fence line! (Always happen to be nice mature white oaks) a little bit of me dies inside every time I see it!

Some fences are not originally placed in tree but expansion of trunk with growth absorbs fence with time. But plenty of fences here going up a mountainside are certainly nailed to tree to save lugging up posts. And if done by farmer 50 yrs ago trying to pay bills on a small farm, I think I have an idea what he would tell you.

Most timber cruisers here wont even look at trees along the edge of a woods, almost every woods here was fenced at one time or another. I've got one old huge white oak with fence wire hanging out of it twenty feet off the ground.

Trees grow by their apical tip thus wire or carved initials don't raise in height with growth. Trees only change in circumference at base for the most part.

 

[JT's Outdoors]

Did you ever stop to consider that the fence maybe came before the tree? Even if it didn't, was the farmer supposed to cut down the tree on his fence line so he could put up a fence post in it's place. Cut trees on a fence line and you run the risk of hitting wire, plain and simple.

 

[TMIL]

Bill, post #4 - We ran into the " barbed wire pieces grown into a tree " and figured it was a good guide to the property line. WRONG !! At least in my camp's situation. The old-days farmer just picked an easy location to string wire, and while we thought it was the property line, that proved untrue. Surveying showed us the real property line. We gained some acreage by surveying.

You're right about that. The neighbor had his property logged some year's back. The logger took trees up to an old fence on my property, which was actually my grandpa's old hog lot fence. He was Mr. Tough Guy, though, and said he was using that fence, as opposed to the old pieces of wire I showed him on the true property line. When I protested, he said, "Show me your surveyor's license." I said, "give me 30 minutes," and I returned with it. Haha! A simple letter from my attorney netted me $1,500 for some sycamore trees that I wanted down anyway. And I probably saved him some $$ showing him where the not-so-obvious old wire was located.

 

[H20fwler]

Trees grow by their apical tip thus wire or carved initials don't raise in height with growth. Trees only change in circumference at base for the most part.

I don't know why wire is sticking out of it up so high then? I can't imagine someone would have nailed it high on purpose?