When ground growing goes wrong

[Srt8madness]

Stuck a bald cypress in the ground and chopped its roots at the worst time last year. Yet it survived, persevered, solidered on. Not a ton of growth this year but undoubtedly securing roots.

Enter the horny neighborhood deer, which the moronic neighbors feed. He's got a forest worth of trees, but my one thriving peach, and two of my BCs are (were) his favorite rubbing spot. Tuesday I was walking the yard and found this. He'd broken the branches a week ago, then got aggressive and snapped the damn thing.

/rant

 

[Srt8madness]

Looks like some grass died the past week too

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Venison is tasty. Not that I would encourage out of season hunting, or poaching inside city limits, but a cross bow is silent enough for urban hunting. Dressing out an out of season deer is problematic, but has been done or at least I read that on the internet.

Good news is bald cypress grow fast, the stump will re over and may develop character for having been broken. Peach tree, most are grafted, if breaks are above graft, then recovery is possible. Below the graft you will have the understock, which actually may be fine for Bonsai in the future.

 

[BobbyLane]

on the plus side, you can now label it 'Deer grazed yamadori'

 

[Srt8madness]

LOL! Love it.

The peach tree is still standing, it's a full tree that i was to grow peaches on. I have 2 others kind of struggling along.

I lopped off the break on the BC. It will stunt it (again), but I'm fairly confident it will grow back.

What really gets me is my dragon fruit cacti. The deer will bite it/break it, then spit it out. Sometimes pull out of pots then leave. Ugh! Go eat your corn.

 

[LuZiKui]

on the plus side, you can now label it 'Deer grazed yamadori'

I was just thinking about this the other day. So often the thing that gives yamadori their character is being mistreated (like this BC) for years/decades out in the wild. Like a tree that is grazed on and never allowed to grow larger. Nature is the best artist, maybe this is a blessing!!

 

[19Mateo83]

I agree with Leo. Venison is mighty tasty

 

[Cajunrider]

I agree with Leo. Venison is mighty tasty

Yep. Put a tag on that deer!
PS: If you don't wanna do it, I imagine some coonass would love to have a chance hahaha.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I agree with Leo. Venison is mighty tasty

Deer populations have exploded to very high levels as suburban sprawl has limited areas where hunting is legal. Killing off a few deer is not a conservation "sin". However a friend of a friend ended up doing 3 months in county jail and paying a big fine for hunting out of season inside Village of Gurnee IL. Its a little village of maybe 35,000 people part of the continuous urban sprawl between Chicago and Milwaukee. They have no sense of humor when it comes to using a .357 pistol to take down a deer on a neighbor's front lawn. That's why I suggested a cross bow, its quiet enough you won't wake the neighborhood.

Admittedly, the dude was "kinda dumb", I was glad that he got caught and most importantly, ALL his guns were confiscated that day. I'm sure he 're-armed" after he got out, but he has managed to stay out of the news, and off my radar as a local crazy.

 

[Hack Yeah!]

@Srt8madness , I feel your pain, my neighbor just told me he's ordering 50 lbs/week to feed the deer, all of my grow out material has gotten mowed down this year. And I just recently noticed they had rubbed a larger chisio improved maple

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

You might contact your local city, township or other government, it might be illegal to feed wildlife like deer, especially if chronic wasting is a problem in your area. Though every one hates the tattle tale neighbor.

 

[Emeraldtarpon]

I used to have a dog that would eat the leaves on my zelkovas.
She never touched anything else just LOVED those zelkova leaves.
It never made her crook or anything.
When it was time, she'd literally help me defoliate the zelkovas and then clean up the mess afterwards LOL...it was hilarious.
She's gone now and so has a BIG part of who i was back then.

 

[Emeraldtarpon]

Deer populations have exploded to very high levels as suburban sprawl has limited areas where hunting is legal. Killing off a few deer is not a conservation "sin". However a friend of a friend ended up doing 3 months in county jail and paying a big fine for hunting out of season inside Village of Gurnee IL. Its a little village of maybe 35,000 people part of the continuous urban sprawl between Chicago and Milwaukee. They have no sense of humor when it comes to using a .357 pistol to take down a deer on a neighbor's front lawn. That's why I suggested a cross bow, its quiet enough you won't wake the neighborhood.

Admittedly, the dude was "kinda dumb", I was glad that he got caught and most importantly, ALL his guns were confiscated that day. I'm sure he 're-armed" after he got out, but he has managed to stay out of the news, and off my radar as a local crazy.

 

[yashu]

Stuck a bald cypress in the ground and chopped its roots at the worst time last year. Yet it survived, persevered, solidered on. Not a ton of growth this year but undoubtedly securing roots.

Enter the horny neighborhood deer, which the moronic neighbors feed. He's got a forest worth of trees, but my one thriving peach, and two of my BCs are (were) his favorite rubbing spot. Tuesday I was walking the yard and found this. He'd broken the branches a week ago, then got aggressive and snapped the damn thing.

/rant

I mean… venison is delicious!


Edit* dammit late to the party again!

Is there no hunting in your specific local? That critter would last all of about 2 seconds up here once November rolls around.

 

[yashu]

We also have out of season options for “nuisance animals”. I think a person would just have to prove the animal is impacting their livelihood or subsistence iirc… but that’s up here, ymmv.

 

[Shibui]

Some of the best bonsai are the result of browsing or weather damaged trees. This may slow the thickening a little but may just add loads of potential in the long run.

 

[Cmd5235]

Deer populations have exploded to very high levels as suburban sprawl has limited areas where hunting is legal. Killing off a few deer is not a conservation "sin". However a friend of a friend ended up doing 3 months in county jail and paying a big fine for hunting out of season inside Village of Gurnee IL. Its a little village of maybe 35,000 people part of the continuous urban sprawl between Chicago and Milwaukee. They have no sense of humor when it comes to using a .357 pistol to take down a deer on a neighbor's front lawn. That's why I suggested a cross bow, its quiet enough you won't wake the neighborhood.

Admittedly, the dude was "kinda dumb", I was glad that he got caught and most importantly, ALL his guns were confiscated that day. I'm sure he 're-armed" after he got out, but he has managed to stay out of the news, and off my radar as a local crazy.

You know, I really appreciate your views on this. I worked in public lands (still do) managing a huge deer management program using hunters. Blue tongue disease and CWD were always a concern, but the damage on the ecosystem from the overpopulation was astounding. After 5 years of sustainable hunting, the positive impacts were significant, and even the biggest critics could see the difference. Our herds were smaller, but they were much healthier- less mortality overall. It’s all about balance, and when predators are removed, something has to fill the void. All of our hunters had background checks every year, had to perform shooting qualifications every year, could only use bow/crossbow, had to be in tree stands, had to sign in and out, had to have their buck kills verified for legality, and had to record their positions. I had over 200 hunters in 5,000 acres and very little issues. Ethical, effective, manageable for the tax payer, and it encouraged outdoor sports and activities. Best of all, these hunters were my best informants on people poaching.

 

[Mike Corazzi]

We need more WOLVES !!

 

[Srt8madness]

You might contact your local city, township or other government, it might be illegal to feed wildlife like deer, especially if chronic wasting is a problem in your area. Though every one hates the tattle tale neighbor.

No chronic wasting issues around here. No rules against feeding as far as I know. I do have sympathy for them, we have pushed into their habitat. When I moved out here 20 years ago it was totally woods, now it's neighborhood after neighborhood. Deer are already overpopulated and then add a rapidly shrinking territory...we may be due for something like CWD given those conditions.

My bother lives in the 'burbs in Austin, and a deer gave birth in his front yard one day. I watched the mama deer chase a lady walking 2 dogs, probably a good quarter mile. There aren't even woods around, the deer just mosey about during the day even.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

The white tailed deer population in North America has exploded since European colonization. Current population is 1000 times larger than population prior 1490. Main reason, we killed off the wolves, cougars, Lynx (northern), bobcat (Southern), and otherwise disrupted the normal predator prey relationships. While you and I can't really do much about it, there eventually needs to be something done to change deer population dynamics.

In Illinois, there are a couple experimental plots showing that rare plants can only be restored if deer are excluded. One study area is in the woods adjacent to Oakton Community College, local BNuts should drive by the fenced area in the woods on campus. Especially in spring the wildflowers blooming inside the fence are remarkable. Nothing was planted, merely deer were excluded.

Reintroduction of wolves is most likely impractical, too much social resistance. (farmers will blame every dead chicken and lamb on wolves, even if its coyotes in the area). Coyotes do prey on fawns, but not efficiently enough to make a difference at this point.