Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
Provide them food, living quarters, women, safety, water....and this is what you get........ I'm going to kill the "$&*#(Q#" that did this. Next year....
Even a cage doesn't work sometimes
- Thread starter Native Hunter
- Start date
Gravel Road
Well-Known Member
That stinks, and on a nice sized tree too!
Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
This is the first time I've had a buck to actually rip into a cage to get to a tree. I did have two others where a deer apparently just accidentally hung antlers into the cage and went wacko. In both of those instances I found the cage 50+ feet away and bent all to heck with the fence posts pulled out.
deer patch
Well-Known Member
It was your return home buck and he remembered that you planted it the year he left and that's his revenge for letting the mature bucks run him off the farm.
Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
It was your return home buck and he remembered that you planted it the year he left and that's his revenge for letting the mature bucks run him off the farm.
Grrrrrrr....I'm mad at him now....I think I will shoot him.
I have had them do a pretty good job of bending fencing like that in to get to a tree. 4 t-posts supporting the fencing is about the only way I have found to really keep them off certain trees in my area. I had several American Plums that were protected by tubes this year that the deer broke the wooden stake supporting the tube off and then rubbed the plum tree to shreds. Frustrating. Don't even get me going about the damn bears.
Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
Yes TC - this means WAR!!
Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
Yep, I normally use 5 foot on fruit trees and then when they get bigger, I will cut some of the top off and bring them back to about 4 - once the tops can't be browsed anymore.
This was a place in the back near a property line where I had never been able to get pines established, but needed them for screening there. I thought I would save a little money and use 4 foot here, because I was only worried about rubbing and not so much about the tops being browsed. They will browse pine tops some but it doesn't hurt them like it does fruit trees.
I don't think any extra height would have made a difference here. That deer was determined to rub the tree.
I did some walking yesterday and saw more rubbing than I have ever seen before. I had a few other pines that weren't caged, and a high percentage of them got whacked. Also found some big oak damage from the bad storm this summer. I hadn't been back there since the storm. Three big oaks close to each other that were either uprooted or twisted off. You may remember me doing cleanup back then at the places I did go to after the storm.
Glad I wasn't in this ladder stand. Look at the center of the pic in the background.
.
dogghr
Well-Known Member
For such a strange hunting year across the country, I saw more rubbing and scrape activity than the last several years. Matter fact watched a 3yo work 3 licking branches and scrapes in a circle around my stand this past week.
And I mentioned one day of hearing 6 trees fall and seeing two of them hit the ground in one sit on a non windy day. Two things, I think the combo of dry then soaking rains really messed with their root structure in the ground. In addition, Oak disease is rampant. I had to cut down 3 red oaks couple months ago trying to get wood for a project I was doing for some Christmas presents. Even tho they looked healthy , inside , the wood had already discolored from disease starting on 2 of the 3. Depressing.
And I mentioned one day of hearing 6 trees fall and seeing two of them hit the ground in one sit on a non windy day. Two things, I think the combo of dry then soaking rains really messed with their root structure in the ground. In addition, Oak disease is rampant. I had to cut down 3 red oaks couple months ago trying to get wood for a project I was doing for some Christmas presents. Even tho they looked healthy , inside , the wood had already discolored from disease starting on 2 of the 3. Depressing.
Merle Hawggard
Well-Known Member
That's incredible Native. I've had them mess with a tube tree that wasn't caged, but not a cage tree.
Maybe he's trying to say there need to be more and prettier girls.......... or else!
Sent from my SM-S975L using Tapatalk
Maybe he's trying to say there need to be more and prettier girls.......... or else!
Sent from my SM-S975L using Tapatalk
I learned the hard way chicken wire doesn't work. I was putting four t-post up and wrapping with chicken wire thinking it would deter them. Well it doesn't work for me. Between the deer and my wife's damn goats they just use chicken wire as a ladder until they bend it down. Now if I put wire up it is hog wire.
