1998 Annual Report for FNC98-205
Deer Damage Abatement Research Project
Summary
As deer populations increase, loss of young trees to deer predation is becoming a major problem in establishing agroforestry practices.
Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of sessile baling twine in reducing deer damage to young trees.
The producer loosely wrapped the top six inches of the leaders on 50 three-foot oak and walnut trees with sessile twine. Another 50 trees were left unwrapped. Trees wrapped with sessile in September 1998 were checked for damange in mid-February and mid-March of 1999.
The producer also compared sessile twine fencing, electric fencing and a control strip for tree damanage on approximately 300 saplings.
Results: By March 17, 1999, sessile-wrapped trees exhibited 7.8 percent leader damange versus 52 percent leader damage on controls. Both plots exhibited about 85 percent lateral limb damage. The damage assessment in the fenced areas is on-going, and the project was extended one year for additional data collections.