Sorry.

Sometimes one persons idea of kidding, might not fall with in the parameters of what another person might consider kidding.

I would be willing to bet that all of us have either subjects or limits on subjects, that we do not like to be kidded about

While all of us may share a sense of humor, it is not the same sense of humor from one person to the next.

I just have a problem when anyone starts making comments about me being drunk or using drugs.

I have never tried any drugs, and everyone on here knows or should know I like to drink.

That does not mean I want anybody to start accusing me of being drunk or high, because of the way my posts/responses are worded.

But I still don't think it was a beaver.

You know, if you look at the picture carefully, you can see the animal that did it in the picture.

If I would have known that a rare African White Beaver had possibly been involved, I might have thought it had been done by a beaver!!!
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NOT!!!

I think he hit the tree with his 4 wheeler after a few to many and hes trying to play it off to the insurance man.

Guy, I resemble that remark!

Besides, if you look real close, you'll see that I have all my teeth...well, the ones that count anyway, and they would have left evidence of that fact.

That don't mean I don't chew on sweetgum now and then, just didn't chew on these particlar trees...

NOTE: If y'all would like to try it: Find a a good sweetgum tree about 8 inches in diameter or more, chew the bark off in an area about the size of Kent or Randy's brain (about 3 inches) and let it stand for a week. When you go back just gnaw off the fresh gum. MMMMM gooooood!

Takes pics of your job and post here...

That really looks like a beaver to me. They get pretty dang big sometimes. I bet if you look around you will find some pointed stumps. Probably you'll find some more trees just like that one. Beaver don't usually cut down a tree that big, they just eat the bark up as far as they can reach. Lots of times they will eat all the way around a tree. And the beaver here in Polk County do seem to prefer Sweetgum trees. You said there was water near by. If you check that water you will probably find a pile of sticks that look something like the photo below. Usually Beaver lodges are out in the water this one just happened to be on the bank between two sloughs.



I guess I should have read more of the thread. I see you have already found more trees that look a lot like that one. I also see by the photo of the water that it's high water. Beaver will hit new territory when the water gets up high.

We have had Beaver and Otter here in East Texas for many years. My hunting lease happens to have a really nice creek flowing through it. I saw my first Otter in the creek back in the 70's. I can't remember exactly when I saw my first beaver dam, but I think it was around 1985 or so.

BTW.. Beaver live on tree bark.

uhh..beavers don't eat tree bark. They chew thru it to get at the wood. And they really don't care for that either...they're wanting to drop the tree so they can get the little branches and twigs above..that's where the nutritious
stuff is.

Where's the proof Chaos!?

If...and this is a big IF...there is livestock around, especially horses, then IF, they are craving a nutrient they can't find anywhere else, they'll chew on bark. I know they'll eat sweetgum and cottonwood bark.

I think we all need to define our words a little better, so (since we're all liking this identification thread so much) I'll start out by saying that I don't mean that the beavers are ingesting the bark od inner bark. I used "chew" because I'm a backwoodsman... and just say things like that. The evidence that they don't ingest it is laying at the foot of the tree.

The portion of the close-up pic that shows a tear in the trunk could be the beaver gnawing with the side of its mouth. Who knows -he could've had a toothache. But many times you'll not see a perfect bite mark on the trunk of the trees they're trying to fell for their dams.

Next...

That...uh....might have been the beaver, Bob....uh hu...that could have been the beaver....

Here's what The Mammals of Texas - Online Edition has to say about what Beaver eat and why there are big chucks of the outer bark found on the ground by the tree.

"Beavers feed on a variety of vegetation, but the inner bark of willows and cottonwood seems to be their mainstay. In summer a number of herbaceous aquatic plants and sedges are eaten. In central Texas, where willows are absent, beavers in winter utilize as first choice such trees as button willow, juniper, and pecan and rely heavily on Bermuda grass, beard grass, ragweed, and yellow water lily in summer. Thus, the plants eaten and their order of preference depend in large measure on availability."

It Could Be A Beaver Dam,

But I Don't Think Its A Damn Beaver.

CHC.. I'm serious about this. When the water gets low in late summer, if it ever does this year, I would like to invite you on a little field trip. We can do some research on beaver. I really don't know what this high water is doing to all those trees Rita took down but we should still be able to get to the creek and some sloughs.

I vote for beaver... did the water get high in this area? I worked with trees for a few years and we had beavers doig the same things to our trees. the sound of rushing water triggers a response in beavers to cut trees and dam things up. We filled a lake one time with a fire hose and the suckers started cutting trees down around where the hose was entering the pond.. Maybe the water was high during flooing and the beaver got that high up.. Just a thought..

I appreciate the offer of a field trip, but I have been in and around beavers for 30+ years, up to and including trying to hand raise orphaned? baby beavers at the zoo.

I ain't saying it isn't a beaver, I am just saying I don't believe it is.

The evidence in the pictures don't look like all the beaver sign I have ever seen. It does however look like bark loss I have seen on trees that were miles from the closest beaver habitat.

Just because there are beavers in the area where this happened, that does not guarantee that they are what caused this.

A person should never be too quick to paint themselves into a corner when there are other possibilities for why something is the way it is.

When I first saw the pics, I thought Beaver as well. I did a google search for "Beavers bark trees" then clicked on the "Images" option at the top, and saw a lot of pics very similar. I hope we get more pics later from cauzinchaos.
Beavers

...and there he stood. A solitary figure, silouetted against the setting sun...screaming from the top of his lungs....IT AIN'T NO FREAKING BEAVER! This caused the marks... ,,,,,,and this is what pulled the bark off...

Are two people saying the same thing Solitary???????

Collectively or Individually????

Haven't had a chance to go look at the trees since last week. Will do so this evening and will take pictures. Will be interesting to see the changes.

This area is a swamp area, but it does not get too deep. We went through it in the polaris ranger and the rhino, and didn't get our feet wet. This water feeds into a pond that does have beaver on it. We do have horses on this property, however they do not come down to this area very much, if they had of done this, there would have been torn up ground and such, and there was not any. We thought maybe raccoons pulling off the bark... and eating the bugs underneath, we do have a few up by the house that are rather big. I did as suggested and tried to pull off some bark, but couldn't.

Anyways... will take more pics this evening and will post them tomorrow. Thanks for the help guys....

took pictures last night... I think whatever was there had done all it is gonna do and is gone... here are the pictures of the 2 trees now.. Once again.. no tracks anywhere.





and now they have this white stuff on them

could not peel any of the bark off by hand, no signs of tracks, hair or anything

I went up and down on both sides of the fence going into this area and no other trees have been damaged.. although I did find one tree... in the swamp area.. it may have been above water before we got all the rain we have had this spring..

here is a pic of it... (and of a frog... there are frogs everywhere!!!)

Questions:

In picture 1 are those cracks that are appearing in the trunk?

In the pictures with the white hair-like projections, are those just appearing on the trunk, or are they coming out of holes that have been bored into the trunk?

I think the white round things are called shoestring fungus, which that's not the scientific name, I'm sure. It's the first sign of "white rot".