For starters, most of my life, the areas I have lived were populated with mesquite trees, or live oaks or cedar trees, or a combination of the three. The only oak trees I have ever been around have been live oaks, both on the coast and in the hill country.
So post oaks and blackjack oaks are new to me. Since we bought our place five years ago, we have lost quite a few both blackjack oaks and post oaks. When we first bought the place, there were numerous dead rotting blackjack oaks on the property. But then we started loosing post oaks one by one. Then with the drought that we have been going through, this past summer, we lost quite a few post oaks. Many of the dead post oaks, I discover they are dead, because they start loosing bark. They will get bare spots that keep getting bigger. When I finally notice bare spots on a tree, it is usually dead or very close to completely dead.
I have never seen oaks/live oaks loose bark right as, or after they die. But our post oaks loose bark right around the time they die and continue to loose most of their bark, after they die, or some of them do. I have never seen any type of tree do this. I just chalked it up as a characteristic of post oaks.
Two days ago, I was out hunting, I chose to sit in my box blind, multiple times in recent weeks, while sitting in the box blind, I have noticed squirrels in a couple of post oaks, that died this past summer. The trees still have their leaves on them, they are covered in leaves, they died rather abruptly. There was a large post oak within 15 yards of the two dead post oaks, that died this past summer. That large post oak, mysteriously died about three years ago, don't really know why. Then another post oak right next to the blind also died, it did some strange stuff before it completely died. I lost some of it's leaves, in the fall, but then during winter, grew new leaves, it had leaves during multiple freezes. Then eventually lost it's leaves. Then grew some of it's leaves back, then died. But the big post oak, that was not far away, just died, at some point. It seemed to be very healthy, till I noticed it did not have any leaves and the bark was coming off of it.
I cut down the large dead oak tree this past spring, I found it was hollowed out, and had a very deep squirrel nest in the tree. The bottom of the nest was probably 8' to 9' off the ground. The entrance to the nest was probably another 4' up. When I cut the tree down, I found the wood was soaked in squirrel urine and poop mix, that made a black liquid that seeped all the way to the base of the tree, in the core of the tree. I wonder if that had something to do with killing the tree. When I cut the tree down, the wood stunk badly, the chainsaw was slinging black liquid everywhere, it was pretty bad. I left all of the tree that was soaked in the black liquid, hoping maybe rain might clean it out of the wood over time. As the wood was, when I cut the tree, down, it was useless for cooking, nor would I have burnt that stuff in a fire place. I am sure it would create one serious stink, that would run you out of the house.
I would bet money the squirrels had a lot to do with the death of that large oak, but I don't know that for sure.
So this summer we lost many post oaks, then I have noticed squirrels in multiple of these dead oaks, near my box blind, but I never really paid any attention to what the squirrels were doing. Two days ago, I was bored and started watching one of these squirrels, turns out this squirrel was chewing the bark off of tree and eating the bark. I watched this squirrel eating bark for about three hours. I later got out of the blind and walked around the property. After I got out, I walked past the tree the squirrel was in, it was still in the tree, as I was looking at the tree, the squirrel just ran up the tree a ways and stayed there. While looking the tree over, I realized the squirrels have stripped almost all of the bark off of that tree, all the way to the top. It's still covered in leaves, it died around August.
The squirrels really seem to prefer the bark off of that one tree, but have also started stripping the other dead oak right next to it. They have it about 1/4 stripped.
Monday, I was out hunting, I also sat in my box blind. When I got there, I only had my deer rifle with me, but have been planning to take my 17 HMR to shoot squirrels with, since I see plenty of them, a lot more of them, than deer. So when I got to the blind, there was a squirrel clinging to a oak tree, about 20 yards from the feeder, between the blind and the feeder. I had already realized I forgot my 17 HMR, planned to drop off the deer rifle in the bind and go back to the house and get the 17 HMR, then saw the squirrel hanging onto the side of the oak. So I left, went back to the house, got the 17 HMR, went back to the bind. Got back to the blind, and the squirrel is still hanging on the side of the same oak tree, in the same spot. So I got into the blind and tried to get off a shot. I quickly realized the squirrel was hanging onto the side of the tree with it's back feet, then hanging down, and around to the other side of the tree and eating bark off of the tree. It did not care about me walking back and forth and climbing into the blind. It took about four attempts, but I was finally able to get off a shot at the squirrel, before it dropped back around the other side of the tree. I got the squirrel, first shot. The tree that squirrel was clinging to and eating the bark off of, is a very healthy looking tree. The other squirrels that were eating bark off of dead trees.
I have heard of porcupines eating bark off of trees and killing them. I am starting to wonder if these squirrels are contributing to the death of our oaks. That part I am not sure about, but I am 100% sure they are the reason that the nearly dead and dead post oaks loose their bark. I have never liked squirrels, I dislike them more, every time I find more of their damage.
So post oaks and blackjack oaks are new to me. Since we bought our place five years ago, we have lost quite a few both blackjack oaks and post oaks. When we first bought the place, there were numerous dead rotting blackjack oaks on the property. But then we started loosing post oaks one by one. Then with the drought that we have been going through, this past summer, we lost quite a few post oaks. Many of the dead post oaks, I discover they are dead, because they start loosing bark. They will get bare spots that keep getting bigger. When I finally notice bare spots on a tree, it is usually dead or very close to completely dead.
I have never seen oaks/live oaks loose bark right as, or after they die. But our post oaks loose bark right around the time they die and continue to loose most of their bark, after they die, or some of them do. I have never seen any type of tree do this. I just chalked it up as a characteristic of post oaks.
Two days ago, I was out hunting, I chose to sit in my box blind, multiple times in recent weeks, while sitting in the box blind, I have noticed squirrels in a couple of post oaks, that died this past summer. The trees still have their leaves on them, they are covered in leaves, they died rather abruptly. There was a large post oak within 15 yards of the two dead post oaks, that died this past summer. That large post oak, mysteriously died about three years ago, don't really know why. Then another post oak right next to the blind also died, it did some strange stuff before it completely died. I lost some of it's leaves, in the fall, but then during winter, grew new leaves, it had leaves during multiple freezes. Then eventually lost it's leaves. Then grew some of it's leaves back, then died. But the big post oak, that was not far away, just died, at some point. It seemed to be very healthy, till I noticed it did not have any leaves and the bark was coming off of it.
I cut down the large dead oak tree this past spring, I found it was hollowed out, and had a very deep squirrel nest in the tree. The bottom of the nest was probably 8' to 9' off the ground. The entrance to the nest was probably another 4' up. When I cut the tree down, I found the wood was soaked in squirrel urine and poop mix, that made a black liquid that seeped all the way to the base of the tree, in the core of the tree. I wonder if that had something to do with killing the tree. When I cut the tree down, the wood stunk badly, the chainsaw was slinging black liquid everywhere, it was pretty bad. I left all of the tree that was soaked in the black liquid, hoping maybe rain might clean it out of the wood over time. As the wood was, when I cut the tree, down, it was useless for cooking, nor would I have burnt that stuff in a fire place. I am sure it would create one serious stink, that would run you out of the house.
I would bet money the squirrels had a lot to do with the death of that large oak, but I don't know that for sure.
So this summer we lost many post oaks, then I have noticed squirrels in multiple of these dead oaks, near my box blind, but I never really paid any attention to what the squirrels were doing. Two days ago, I was bored and started watching one of these squirrels, turns out this squirrel was chewing the bark off of tree and eating the bark. I watched this squirrel eating bark for about three hours. I later got out of the blind and walked around the property. After I got out, I walked past the tree the squirrel was in, it was still in the tree, as I was looking at the tree, the squirrel just ran up the tree a ways and stayed there. While looking the tree over, I realized the squirrels have stripped almost all of the bark off of that tree, all the way to the top. It's still covered in leaves, it died around August.
The squirrels really seem to prefer the bark off of that one tree, but have also started stripping the other dead oak right next to it. They have it about 1/4 stripped.
Monday, I was out hunting, I also sat in my box blind. When I got there, I only had my deer rifle with me, but have been planning to take my 17 HMR to shoot squirrels with, since I see plenty of them, a lot more of them, than deer. So when I got to the blind, there was a squirrel clinging to a oak tree, about 20 yards from the feeder, between the blind and the feeder. I had already realized I forgot my 17 HMR, planned to drop off the deer rifle in the bind and go back to the house and get the 17 HMR, then saw the squirrel hanging onto the side of the oak. So I left, went back to the house, got the 17 HMR, went back to the bind. Got back to the blind, and the squirrel is still hanging on the side of the same oak tree, in the same spot. So I got into the blind and tried to get off a shot. I quickly realized the squirrel was hanging onto the side of the tree with it's back feet, then hanging down, and around to the other side of the tree and eating bark off of the tree. It did not care about me walking back and forth and climbing into the blind. It took about four attempts, but I was finally able to get off a shot at the squirrel, before it dropped back around the other side of the tree. I got the squirrel, first shot. The tree that squirrel was clinging to and eating the bark off of, is a very healthy looking tree. The other squirrels that were eating bark off of dead trees.
I have heard of porcupines eating bark off of trees and killing them. I am starting to wonder if these squirrels are contributing to the death of our oaks. That part I am not sure about, but I am 100% sure they are the reason that the nearly dead and dead post oaks loose their bark. I have never liked squirrels, I dislike them more, every time I find more of their damage.
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