To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] groundhog - beaver recipes
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 14:55:14 -0800
The dogged persistence and blind optimism of NAFEXers is inspiring!
Bill
> We have a similar problem with deer - real pests here in SE Texas where
> they roam by the hundreds. We have to fence every fruit tree
> individually. This doesn't look that good, is costly, and takes a lot
> of time and energy.
>
> The females move through all year, eating off the branches and leaves
> until there is nothing left but the vertical trunk. Then, during
> rutting season, the males come through and scrape all of the bark off
> the entire circumference of the trunk with their antlers, gouging the
> underlying wood, and break off any remaining limbs, thus killing the
> tree.
>
> The joke is on the deer however, because the gophers often kill the
> trees by eating the roots before the deer can get to them.