Deer eating young trees

[sillbeam]

A recent conversation with a very experienced land manager got me thinking about deer and young trees.
Does anyone have evidence, or personally witnessed deer damaging newly planted trees, hardwood or softwood ?
The general consensus is to protect young trees with tubes and fence off the entire area but he has a very different approach....plant trees with stakes for support but nothing else, no tubes, no fence etc.
After five years + the planted trees are thriving, even though deer are prolific in the area.
I can't help wondering if the "norm" is borne out of opinion rather than fact.

 

[timbrayford]

Tubes are an abomination that contribute towards micro plastic pollution, biggest cause of tree failure is probably neglect, particularly in respect of moisture and weed competition.

 

[Dan Newcombe]

I’ve seen deer (and hares) nibbling young trees so I’m confident that it’s not a myth.

 

[sillbeam]

I’ve seen deer (and hares) nibbling young trees so I’m confident that it’s not a myth.

I don't think it's a myth but more interested to know if there's irreversible damage done.

 

[HonestJohn]

Tubes should be banned en lieu of replanting grants for damage

 

[FISH BOY]

Watched him do it…

 

[sillbeam]

Watched him do it…

View attachment 424276

Looks like a well established tree.

 

[Terrydeer]

Tubes should be banned en lieu of replanting grants for damage

Wow interesting, if you get a herd of fallow go through a plantation that isn’t protected, the outcome is not great and very costly.
Then the squirrels come in later on in the cycle.
So without a coordinated approach to management of deer and squirrels there is very little point in planting broadleaves.
Conifer are slightly different but still very affected by browsing and fraying.

…….,,,,

 

[Terrydeer]

There are also a few deer repellents on the market, it would be good to get a consensus on their effectiveness

 

[Dan Newcombe]

I don't think it's a myth but more interested to know if there's irreversible damage done.

Sorry, I see.

The trees will usually still grow unless they are properly hammered and killed but you will end up with twin leaders and / or a more bushy thing which isn’t what you want, especially in commercial timber.

I think a couple hares are actually worse than a couple deer in young trees, they just work along lines of planting nipping tops off everything. You can easy tell the difference between the two

When the trees are a wee bit bigger you will see the trees ‘sided up’ where they have been browsed back.

A lot of failure, more so in recent ‘boom’ years is also down to poor establishment as well and planting at bad times of year / conditions.

 

[Greenmist]

The tree is the cheapest part, stakes and guards are both more expensive than the plant, so I plant three times as many trees and don't use guards or stakes, some get nibbled. I also think some species are more interesting to deer for different reason, where I am, fraying seems more prevalent on soft woods, oak and as I'm finding black poplar do benefit from guards, they are especially fond of the poplar leaves

 

[FISH BOY]

Looks like a well established tree.

Well spotted.

Was purely to show damage.

 

[rem284]

Do bears sh1t in the woods? Shoot them hard as you can to suppress the numbers to reduce damage levels to an acceptable levels

 

[sillbeam]

Do bears sh1t in the woods? Shoot them hard as you can to suppress the numbers to reduce damage levels to an acceptable levels

The fella I was talking to doesn't shoot them hard and hasn't seen significant damage, in fact it wasn't even noticeable.....but I do see where you're coming from

 

[rem284]

The fella I was talking to doesn't shoot them hard and hasn't seen significant damage, in fact it wasn't even noticeable.....but I do see where you're coming from

Whatever works, the damage levels are the important things in commercial forestry. Mine is circa 2%

 

[slider]

I don't think it's a myth but more interested to know if there's irreversible damage done.

Absolutely. They nibble the dominant tiller of young trees causing them to "tiller" and therefore loose shape. Even once they are older deer can damage and kill trees by bark stripping while fraying the trees in an effort to remove velvet from antlers.

 

[Treedave]

Yes deer damage young trees. If the leader is taken out (browsed) on young conifers then, if it survives, the tree will recover with two leaders that turn into two stems. This ruins them from the view point of timber. Biomass at best or thinned out later at a loss. Unfortunately the best bit to eat is the young leader/branch tips before they harden off.
Hardwoods are similar, but can recover to provide timber. You just have to accept the kink in the base of the stem. Unfortunately the lowest part of the stem is the most valuable part for timber. This is assuming that the browsing is light enough for the trees to physically progress, if not you end up with the carpets of small trees etc that look like they get a regular attention from a strimmer. An easy way to spot the timber damage issue is by looking at coppiced hazel that has had some browsed, the stems are kinked, reducing the useable product from that plant. The undamaged hazel will be straighter, longer and thicker ie more useable product.

I know a head gardener at a Lake District estate /group of hotels where there is a roe problem, and they’re pulling their hair out. They’ve used multiple paint on deterrents but being the lakes the rain soon washes it off. They’ve had some success in the gardens with ultra sonic deterrents, but it has a limited range and only moves the problem to a different area. Shooting is not an option due to topographical issues, high footfall and the reputational risk that at trip advisor review can cause. All I can do for them is regular “dog walks” through the deer holding areas of the estate which moves the deer on to the neighbours that are either ambivalent or able to shoot them.

 

[Ruby Tuesday 2]

All I will say is if you use tubes get the right bloody size whenever I see new planting done in my area which is full of fallow they put 4 foot tubes on and wonder why the get browsed off.

 

[Jagdmatch]

See quite a lot of damage on recently planted fruit trees, mainly when the buds are coming out(fallow and sika) and the usual roe browsing on unprotected trees.

 

[Dan Newcombe]

Right enough, I saw a bit of planting that was done on an estate as an experiment with a lot of roe kicking around.

Sitka Spruce planted outside a fence no protection at all and they grew pretty well, barely any browsing damage (but Sitka is pretty resistant to browsing, it’s the other trees in the scheme that tend to get hammered)