Talking about making my day! An old customer (sorry – young guy, long time customer!) in Tennessee sent me a batch of photos taken by a trail cam in a wildlife clearing where he planted Chinese chestnut trees and protected them with tree tubes. Enjoy!
I know of two trees this buck isn’t going to munch… (Click to enlarge)
… which isn’t to say that he’s not trying! (Click to enlarge)
In taking a closer look at the night time photo, it appears that the deer might be chewy on the zip tie holding the tree tube to the stake. That’s not uncommon, and generally – as in this case – “no harm, no foul” since the trees are doing great. However, there’s an easy way to prevent this: tuck the loose tail of the zip tie back through the tie hole into the tree tube.
This bear – or one of his buddies – has singled out one (out f 80) tree tubes to knock around a bit, leaving the rest untouched.
I get a few questions each year about bears knocking down tree tubes. It does happen, but in every case I can remember it’s been limited to one or two tubes which the bear(s) fixate on for some reason (bees/wasps buzzing inside?), and they leave the vast majority of tubes alone.
Bottom line: These photos came in an envelope with a new order for more tree tubes. It’s a familiar story, but no less inspiring: A dedicated tree planter and land steward whose deer ate everything he planted now having success (and fun!) growing trees, all with an eye on handing the land down to his grandchildren in better shape than he found it.
