#damaged bark

Here are more tree pictures. I couldn’t decide which I preferred between one and two, as well as between four and five.

Deer damage is a common problem in many parts of the country in the late summer and early fall.  Deer cause these “rubs” when they are removing the velvet from their antlers after they stop growing and when they are in rut.  During the rut they scrape the bark/cambium off the trunks of small trees as a visual signal and mark these spots with scent from glands on their heads.  The damage to trees can be extensive with many of the branches broken off and complete girdling of the trunk tissue.