Forums46
Topics538,020
Posts9,731,894
Members87,055
|
Most Online25,604 Feb 12th, 2024
|
|
|
What did this to this cedar tree?
#6778521
05/30/17 02:32 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 73
chicklitter
OP
Outdoorsman
|
OP
Outdoorsman
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 73 |
This past weekend when we were out at our place and gathering up game cams, I noticed this tree that had been broken. It wasn't broken on Saturday, but was when I went back out to that particular feeder late Sunday morning. Not only is the tree broken, but there are all kinds of what look like claw marks, some hair clinging to branches, and lots of small broken limbs on the ground underneath and around the tree. The break occurred at eye level for me, and I'm 5'2" so about 5 feet off the ground. The marks, though, go all the way down to the ground. Our land is in Val Verde County, just north of Comstock off of 1024. The entire tree, standing in between it and the feeder: Sorry it's sideways, but a close up of the main break: Hair clinging to the tree: [img] http://aubreygross.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_2120.jpg[/img]
Last edited by chicklitter; 05/30/17 02:33 PM.
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: chicklitter]
#6778543
05/30/17 02:53 PM
|
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 15,645
QuitShootinYoungBucks
THF Celebrity
|
THF Celebrity
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 15,645 |
Do you have a bull on the place? Our neighbor's Angus bull took one apart that was twice that size. You'd have thought he used a dozer on it.
However, the break appears to have been initiated by weight from above. Bear, maybe? Big fat bear ran up the tree and it gave out?
https://web.archive.org/web/20170223065011/http:/www.rrdvegas.com/silencer-cleaning.html
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: chicklitter]
#6778544
05/30/17 02:54 PM
|
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 3,793
Wytex
Extreme Tracker
|
Extreme Tracker
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 3,793 |
Looks like an elk rub to me, any in your area? They will leave either dark colored hairs or some buffy colored ones. What other big game is around there? Maybe an exotic rub.
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: chicklitter]
#6778545
05/30/17 02:55 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 73
chicklitter
OP
Outdoorsman
|
OP
Outdoorsman
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 73 |
No bulls. And we're fenced, so we haven't seen any wild hogs, either (although I think the damage would be a little high up for a wild hog).
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: Wytex]
#6778555
05/30/17 02:58 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 73
chicklitter
OP
Outdoorsman
|
OP
Outdoorsman
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 73 |
Looks like an elk rub to me, any in your area? They will leave either dark colored hairs or some buffy colored ones. What other big game is around there? Maybe an exotic rub. Some neighbors have caught axis and aoudad on their game cams, and there are a couple of herds of wild goats that will make the rounds. That being said, we've never seen any of the above on our game cams. We're also low fenced, which I know doesn't matter for a lot of things, but does for some. I think there might be some elk in the general vicinity (like, within 50 miles or so), but I have yet to see or hear about any in our particular area.
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: QuitShootinYoungBucks]
#6778563
05/30/17 03:04 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 73
chicklitter
OP
Outdoorsman
|
OP
Outdoorsman
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 73 |
Do you have a bull on the place? Our neighbor's Angus bull took one apart that was twice that size. You'd have thought he used a dozer on it.
However, the break appears to have been initiated by weight from above. Bear, maybe? Big fat bear ran up the tree and it gave out? That's what I was thinking about the break, too, that it was caused by weight on it. I suspect bear (we know there's at least one in the area because several neighbors have caught it on game cams), but have yet to catch it on the game cam. When we were out there about a month ago I noticed a lot of rocks that had been overturned, enough that I commented on it to my husband because it looked like something had just picked them up and moved them. And for the past couple of months I've been noticing a lot of sotol dug up, but figured that could have been many different animals.
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: chicklitter]
#6778568
05/30/17 03:09 PM
|
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 13,614
1860.colt
emoji colt.45
|
emoji colt.45
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 13,614 |
back in me caveman days, came apone sign like that quite often... check area for bigfoot prints... no not sasquatch that theary been beat ta death... woolymammoth rub...
i'm postaddic
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: chicklitter]
#6778569
05/30/17 03:09 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 65,526
SnakeWrangler
THF Celebrity
|
THF Celebrity
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 65,526 |
I've seen goats climb trees?
I believe in science and I’m an insufferable [censored] Actually, BBC is pretty damn good "You Cannot Simultaneously Be Politically Correct And Intellectually Honest!"
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: chicklitter]
#6778589
05/30/17 03:27 PM
|
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,177
sallysue
Veteran Tracker
|
Veteran Tracker
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,177 |
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: chicklitter]
#6778617
05/30/17 04:12 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 2,316
White Falcon
Veteran Tracker
|
Veteran Tracker
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 2,316 |
Looks like a big cat was using it for a scratching post and it broke due to his weight.
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: chicklitter]
#6778625
05/30/17 04:20 PM
|
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 14,950
don k
THF Celebrity
|
THF Celebrity
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 14,950 |
Lightning then after it was down animals rubbed on it.
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: chicklitter]
#6778628
05/30/17 04:22 PM
|
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 338
Ntgrty
Bird Dog
|
Bird Dog
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 338 |
Whatever it was I would be wearing a side arm going out to the area
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: chicklitter]
#6778645
05/30/17 04:35 PM
|
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 13,203
CCBIRDDOGMAN
Bird Herder
|
Bird Herder
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 13,203 |
Haven't had it in years but never spit any out. I am a sucker for happy endings and strapped cowboys.
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: Ntgrty]
#6778650
05/30/17 04:41 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 73
chicklitter
OP
Outdoorsman
|
OP
Outdoorsman
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 73 |
Whatever it was I would be wearing a side arm going out to the area We're always armed when we're out and about on the ranch. Between snakes and the possibility of running into other things (mountain lions, illegals), our guns are like American Express--we don't leave home without them.
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: chicklitter]
#6778661
05/30/17 04:49 PM
|
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 3,793
Wytex
Extreme Tracker
|
Extreme Tracker
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 3,793 |
Gather some of the hairs and show them to your biologist in the area. Bears will mark trees with scratches up here and haven't seen them break them off like that. The hair will be the key. Bears will definitely turn over rocks and logs looking for food. They usually leave distinct claw marks on trees. The marks look like antler rubbing but hard to say, no tracks on the ground?
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: chicklitter]
#6778669
05/30/17 04:55 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 7,402
TooLow
THF Trophy Hunter
|
THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 7,402 |
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: chicklitter]
#6778720
05/30/17 06:02 PM
|
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 43
txhunter1
Light Foot
|
Light Foot
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 43 |
Chicklitter the neighbor to the west of us saw the black bear a few weeks ago. Hopefully he doesn't destroy any of yours or our feeders. We were out there this weekend doing dozer work but no signs of the bear on our place. We did have our bbq pit destroyed a few months ago but we blamed it on the wind blowing it off the porch. Maybe bear but not for sure so going with wind. oh and the windwill is not working by us. Just a heads up if you need water. They should be fixing it soon
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: chicklitter]
#6778757
05/30/17 06:38 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 73
chicklitter
OP
Outdoorsman
|
OP
Outdoorsman
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 73 |
txhunter1, thanks for the windmill update. We tried to get water from the electric pump on Saturday but it kept losing pressure. Hopefully they have the windmill fixed soon (that thing breaks far too often, just a heads up, but Bill's usually pretty good about getting it fixed). One of the guys that lives off of Ward Ranch saw the bear on his trail cam a few weeks back, and so did someone that has a place across the road from them. From what he was saying, it looks like the bear might have crossed over to our side of the canyon. Either that, or there's more than one bear out there (which wouldn't surprise me...VWR covers a lot of land and the Pecos isn't exactly far away). Our feeders are fine, other than the stupid raccoons spinning all the corn out of one of them. This tree, on the other hand, isn't doing so great.
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: Wytex]
#6778760
05/30/17 06:42 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 73
chicklitter
OP
Outdoorsman
|
OP
Outdoorsman
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 73 |
Gather some of the hairs and show them to your biologist in the area. Bears will mark trees with scratches up here and haven't seen them break them off like that. The hair will be the key. Bears will definitely turn over rocks and logs looking for food. They usually leave distinct claw marks on trees. The marks look like antler rubbing but hard to say, no tracks on the ground? There's a crazy mishmash of tracks around that tree, and they've all been stepped on so that they're pretty much indistinguishable unfortunately.
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: chicklitter]
#6778778
05/30/17 06:56 PM
|
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 43
txhunter1
Light Foot
|
Light Foot
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 43 |
Ive been using duke dog proof traps for the raccoons. Work great with just small marshmallows. Caught 3 the first time but havent set them again. No pics of coons at that location for a month.
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: txhunter1]
#6778797
05/30/17 07:14 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 73
chicklitter
OP
Outdoorsman
|
OP
Outdoorsman
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 73 |
Ive been using duke dog proof traps for the raccoons. Work great with just small marshmallows. Caught 3 the first time but havent set them again. No pics of coons at that location for a month. I'm going to have to look into those. The raccoons have gotten ridiculous. Granted, it probably doesn't help that the deer have also figured out how to spin the feeders and make corn come out (we keep them low enough for me to be able to fill them, which means they're not incredibly high off the ground).
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: chicklitter]
#6778863
05/30/17 08:25 PM
|
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 334
doogie
Bird Dog
|
Bird Dog
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 334 |
Do you have any illegals in your area?
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: chicklitter]
#6778891
05/30/17 09:09 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 73
chicklitter
OP
Outdoorsman
|
OP
Outdoorsman
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 73 |
I need some eye bleach now.
|
|
|
Re: What did this to this cedar tree?
[Re: chicklitter]
#6779135
05/31/17 12:26 AM
|
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 13,614
1860.colt
emoji colt.45
|
emoji colt.45
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 13,614 |
set up a cam & let us know the results ... that one pic looks like lightning hit it...
i'm postaddic
|
|
|
Moderated by bigbob_ftw, CCBIRDDOGMAN, Chickenman, Derek, DeRico, Duck_Hunter, hetman, jeh7mmmag, JustWingem, kmon11, kry226, kwrhuntinglab, Payne, pertnear, rifleman, sig226fan (Rguns.com), Superduty, TreeBass, txcornhusker
|