Let the feast begin!

[Fish]

I cant believe your apple trees arent busted into pieces with bears around. Seems like everyone else has that kind of problem with bears.
Is the wild tree a crabapple, or larger?

 

[Maya]

They are old farmstead trees that had their apples eaten by cows, deer, bear etc. and seeds redeposited. There are tens, hundreds of thousands of them around Vermont. Old small farms have them everywhere in there pastures. My house is on 7 acres of a small part of an old farm with 3 of these trees on it. This is one of those trees. Bears do get to them occasionally at the farm I hunt, but they somehow keep on going!

 

[Maya]

The farm I hunt has hundreds of these wild apples they mostly drop in October and there are thousands of apples on the ground for the deer and bear. Maybe on a low apple and nut year they get up in the trees.

In 2009 I went out to Wyoming for a mulie hunt, when I returned I checked this cam and it had hundreds of pics of this little guy just lying there filling his face! He never had to move because there were so many apples around him, and certainly no need to get up in trees. Maybe that would be another good reason to plant apples that have different drop times.

 

[George]

Very nice, Jorge.

G

 

[dogdoc]

That green apple tree is gorgeous. Must be one DZ resistant tree to be that pretty.

 

[Maya]

Nope, not very disease resistant, but the deer hammer it.

Hey G, how's the new pad?

 

[George]

Hey Maya, I am really enjoying the new digs, no complaints. Market indicators say that my home value has gone up 10-15% since I bought it.
32 degrees outside this am and 64 inside. The house catches lots of sun for solar heating.
I closed off a panel behind the water heater and I haven't seen any indication of a rodent in the house since. I could barely keep coons out of my house in Iowa.

G

 

[Maya]

I can't believe it. 25+ years here and I've never seen a bear here at my house. Not very big and I don't see much sign, but I guess a few neighbors have seen him too. Must be he is here because I posted that I have never seen them here!

 

[Maya]

One more pic.

 

[Maya]

That bear and the deer will be fed well this fall/winter. This is a mystery tree that was supposed to be red delicious. Puts out a lot of apples every year and it drops late.

 

[Maya]

Some real nice HC's this morning. They were loaded. I picked and sold probably 20 bushel off these trees and will pick a few more and leave the rest for the deer.

 

[Maya]

The only buck I've seen on these apples so far. Pretty normal though. I normally don't see any here until November.

 

[Fish]

Glad i am not the only one with a "mystery" tree.
Do you welcome the bears? Seems cool to me, but i dont have to deal with them.

 

[Maya]

Like I said, I never have bears at the house, up until now, but in places that I have planted trees where there are bears, they have never been that much trouble. I've watched them several times and I've never seen them doing much damage. The times I have seen them up in trees it's been cubs. A few broken branches, but no big deal. I'm more worried about them eating fawns.

 

[KyDeerSteward]

Looks amazing! Had to go get an apple to eat while viewing this thread!

 

[Maya]

Just went outside to check the temp. ..34. Looks like we will get out first snow of the year. I heard from a friend about 10 miles away it was coming down hard and heavy. That will get the deer on the trees.

 

[Fish]

Snow already? I cant imagine...... do you have late varieties to pick yet?
The bear pics make me smile. I ve hunted and killed them, but i gotta admit they sure are likeable.
Disclaimer: i dont deal with them in my trash bins and fruit trees.... or when i am leaving the woods in the dark.

 

[Maya]

Well, no snow down here, but it looks like they got some above 1000' or so. We are going over the mountains to NH today to go see my son. I'll get some pics up there.

Yes Fish, we are still picking HC's, Grimes Golden, Honeygold, Liberty, Galarina and Fuji. Probably another 50-100 bushel to go.

 

[Maya]

I've been to busy in the orchards to hunt much but I did get out the other night. Here's a view from the stand looking back towards my tall spindle orchard w/ a few apples planted for the deer in the foreground. No deer. I don't hunt here much but didn't have time to get to a farm I normally hunt.

 

[Turkey Creek]

Geesh snow seems like something that is so far away from happening here, though we have had blizzards just prior to Halloween in the past. We have had 2 light frosts here this fall. Dry and warm is our current normal.