Best Value Tree Guards 1.2m

[Freeforester]

You could protect the most palatable species (oak, Scot’s, the latter needing a different type of tube) and let the less palatable/vulnerable species (rowan, birches) take their chances. I had beech in short spiral guards at my area and pretty much all got away, I’d do the same for the hazel and willow, just to make sure they weren’t eaten into the ground before they could take hold. There’ll be evidence nearby as to what seems to get away well enough without additional protection, but the oaks and the Scots will get a lot of attention if you don’t protect them One way or another, the others I’d contend not so much, but as CB suggests, you can try without, and the deer will alert you to any preferences soon enough. Ash is particularly vulnerable to vole damage, I found first time around, and worth protecting, but their prospects seem to be limited as Challara makes its way up the country.

 

[countrryboy]

Aye i'd do wot freeforester says above, possibly get a few folks local opinions on the species deer prefer to eat.
Just do a bit of a suck it and see and monitor and change wot u need to.
Dunno wots on the ground the now but Birch often appears from nowhere anyway once u stop grazing
I know u don't want to be too hard on the deer the now, but there numbers will always come back and numbers will soon recover within a year or 3 in 5-10 years times when the trees are past the critical stage and u can relax on the culling and just enjoy watching them


If ur actually wanting it as a small deer stalking/watching area plan out some open culling watching glades, u could almost make it like a wheel spokes with glades running out from a central doe box u could really go to town on making it comfy and it would have almost 360 degree shooting up different glades ( assuming the layout would suit, but u get the idea)

Plan ur killing areas and plant say some wild rasps, possibly a few other highly edible plants in the areas where u want to watch but also where u can get a good safe shot ( and even an easy extraction) willow for rubbing antlers on etc
Was going to suggest look at wot deer managers/foresters asses on there deer habitat surveys ( i forget the 5 species now, think 1 was meadow sweet?) as they are the species deer prefer to eat so are a good indicator of deer numbers/density.
I know at 1 forest they had all the culling areas mapped out before planting due to soil type, i forget now the soil types that deer favoured, im sue some of the lads from there might mind.

 

[lambic]

Cheers gents, some decent advice.
20 years it was run as small shooting syndicate, and they planted out some hedges like 3 spoke wheels. Will use these as the backbone/wind breaks for the fine tuning.