A certain buck around our place just made my wife's hit list. :D Recently my grandson and I were getting ready to take a feeder and trail cam down to the creek and my wife was working in the yard and called me over. She said "this tree wasn't this way a couple of days ago".
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16183/rub1.jpg)
My grandson and I both said "cool, we can just set up the trail cam on the corner of the house". She didn't think it was cool. I didn't either after I saw he had shredded it all the way around, effectively girdling it. DanG thing cost me $90 last fall.
I peeled off a narrow strip of bark long enough to bridge the gap between the bark at the bottom and the bark at the top and kinda spliced it into the top and bottom bark and then wrapped some string around it. Wrapped a wet rag around it and am going to get some wax today to try to seal up the bark graft.
My son was up and he said he had never seen that done, didn't know whether it would work or not. He graduated with a forestry degree and is a private lands specialist with fish and game. He said a drastic fix might be to cut the tree off above and below the girdle and make a vee notch and point to fit together just like a graft, then seal it and give it physical support. He said if it took it would be weak for a few years, but would probably gain close to full strength eventually. He said another option was to try what I am doing now, and if it doesn't take, there will be some sprouts in the live portion of the trunk and just to pick the best sprout and cut off the dead tree and all the other sprouts. He said it would grow pretty fast because it would be trying to catch up with the roots.
Any other ideas out there?
By the way, if my wife sees that deer before I do, she will probably get her first deer, as she is pretty steamed and told me to leave a gun where she can get to it. :D
Sorry to see the tree that way. Have the same trouble around here with the prize trees....not so much the scrub ones. :)
If your grafting works, better write it up as I think it might make the record books. ;D
Didn't read what kind of tree it is. Some do better than others, but I'd get a new one now and replant it. I think that one is a goner. ::) ::)
I think you are exactly right. I don't think my present fix has any chance. I might think about the extreme fix, and maybed use the half lap joint instead of the vee notch. I would know by next spring, and still have time to replant.
I take it she is not wanting to wait for firearms season in Kansas. When does it open Dec 1st I am guessing.
That's why I hid the guns. I don't think she is interested in either venison or season dates. This is pure revenge.
Well sorry for the little tree but its kinda funny!!
RB hunter, halflingers or belgiums??
Belgians.
The sprout route is probably the only hope.
Like em
I agree that the sprout is my best hope. Don't have anything to lose by trying a splice, as I can always cut it off next spring. I did the vee notch thing and sealed it up with beeswax and supported it. Wife might make me pull it up anyway and buy a new one. It had a year warranty so will call the nursery, but I would be surprised if they covered deer damage.