What did this?

[Huntress13]

Thin sapling all tore up from the ground, to over 6 feet up. Wasn't this way during regular rut season.

Deer or something else eating the bark?

20200125_092047.jpg

[Huntress13]

Another pic

20200125_092036.jpg

[Dewey]

Hard to tell for sure but looks small enough that a buck could have bent it down while thrashing his antlers across it. I have seen quite a few like that especially with the strips of bark hanging off. It’s not uncommon to see a buck rubbing after the rut. I find fresh rubs with bark shavings on top of the snow well into winter sometimes.

[Huntress13]

Yes it is small and the top of it was still bent, hung up in a thorn apple branch next to it.

[Horizontal Hunter]

When I see bark stripping like that I usually think porcupine.

It could also be bear, squirrel, or even a moose. The tooth marks tell the tail.

Bob

[Huntress13]

When I see bark stripping like that I usually think porcupine.

It could also be bear, squirrel, or even a moose. The tooth marks tell the tail.

Bob

Interesting. We don't have moose here and bears are rare. Raccoons, possum, squirrels, fisher. Haven't seen any porcupines on game cams. I will look more closely for tooth marks, there didn't seem to be any at first glance.

[stash59]

It's kinda hard to tell from your pics. But I'm leaning away from a buck rub. The bark appears to be coming off all on one side. Usually a tree torn up that far up it's height, has damage all the way around it at some point. And or has the top cracked or broken off. Seen similar looking trees that were from some type of animal, other than a bucks antlers, stripping the bark off. Also have seen some types of trees that that's what seemed to happen as they died.

[Horizontal Hunter]

When I see bark stripping like that I usually think porcupine.

It could also be bear, squirrel, or even a moose. The tooth marks tell the tail.

Bob

Interesting. We don't have moose here and bears are rare. Raccoons, possum, squirrels, fisher. Haven't seen any porcupines on game cams. I will look more closely for tooth marks, there didn't seem to be any at first glance.

The way the bark is shredded in strips like that makes me lean towards a squirrel.

In the first picture it looks like there are some teeth marks on the trunk in the bottom right of the picture.

Bob

[raisins]

It's kinda hard to tell from your pics. But I'm leaning away from a buck rub. The bark appears to be coming off all on one side. Usually a tree torn up that far up it's height, has damage all the way around it at some point. And or has the top cracked or broken off. Seen similar looking trees that were from some type of animal, other than a bucks antlers, stripping the bark off. Also have seen some types of trees that that's what seemed to happen as they died.

Yeah, I see all sorts of things that look like rubs from a distance but upon closer inspection is a disease or just something that happened and maybe not due to an animal.

[peteherbst]

I’ve set up trail cams in tubs like this and they tend to be squirrels tearing up the bark. I’m in southern Wisconsin so it may be different by location.