Damn Raccoons!!

[Cabin Fever]

There's no hard mast on my property or the surrounding properties. I planted 60-70 gobbler sawtooth oaks and chinese chestnuts 3-4 years ago. (Chose them, because they are much quicker producing than other varieties) I was told to put them in tree tubes, as this would protect them from deer browsing, protect against harsh winter weather, and it would extend their growing season, as they act as mini-greenhouses. I spent a small fortune, between the trees and tubes! I ran out of tree tubes, so the ones that went without indeed ended up browsed to death, as the deer ate every bud and twig, killing the small trees (3-4').

Every year since planting, yellow jackets get inside the tree tubes, one way or another, and build nests. The raccoons see the tree tubes as their personal "yellow jacket larvae feeders"! They just destroy them to get to the larvae, and the process, kill the young trees! They use those needle like teeth to pierce the plastic and tear a hole to get to the nests/larvae! If I'm quick enough to respond, the trees may survive, until the next attack! For one reason or another, I may have ~8 trees that have survived! I just made my rounds today and I bet the raccoons tore down another ~15 tubes and killed another 12 or so trees! I am sick, thinking about all the money and labor that I've invested, only to have these &^%$#@* raccoons destroy everything! I have officially put them on my shit-list and hope to recoup some of my lost $$$ from their hides this fall!

I removed the remaining tree tubes today...

[burmjohn]

Sheez, that sucks. Amazing what happens in the woods.

[Pat Rockets]

If you planted trees in my living room, and i could eat something nutricious outta the deal..id do that too..lol..bummer, maybe next time..get to trappin or shootin em durrin the season .all you can do

[G-Man]

did u have mesh over the tops?, have used tubes for years and have had good luck with them.ever a problem with wasps or coon, of course i do allow trapping for coon on my property, and the trapper takes quite a few every year...

[Cabin Fever]

Yep, used the mesh tops. Most of my tubes are vented, so there are many "slits" on the sides. The yellow jackets either get in through the vents/slits, sneak in up through the bottom, or get in through the holes that the raccoons made. Very frustrating! I invested so much money and labor into planting all those trees myself, trying to benefit the habitat, then to have it all destroyed by stupid raccoons!

[Paula]

amazing what they do

[G-Man]

try putting a pinch of sevin dust in each tube, will kill bees and hornets on contact...lasts quite a while...

[SplitG2]

Cabin, sorry for the loss of your trees. I now what it takes to plant them. It sure does stink.

[G-Man]

you can always make a cage of welded 2x4 welded wire in a diameter of about 1 1/2 ft. keeps deer from browsing and rubbing since you removed the tubes...

[Joeambro25]

start trapping!

[silent death]

use moth balls they hate them we use to have problems with raccoons on our porch and we put moth balls out and havent seen them since. they would come up on the porch after the catfood

[BillJohnson]

we have a herd of penned whitetails here and the small trees in their pen are fenced off, four T bar stakes and some page wire is all it takes, pretty cheap even at tractor supply.make a pen 6 or 8 feet square and they'll forget the trees. if you have trees in aline or near each other you could probably do one large pen around them like we do with our berry bushes, etc

I can send you photos but its pretty easy to picture in your mind. I think?