Opinion on what made these scratches?

[drewski]

tree marks

the group i was with this weekend tom,field, willey saw these marks also.the track were with the marks.it looks like the very rare mt.beaver.

eat a beaver save a tee

 

[Jim lombard]

Since the trees were all scraped on one side, could it have been the side facing the sun, which could have warmed the tree and and caused something (Bear?) to search for some active insects on this sunwarmed side of the tree.

To answer you Rick, we were in on the North side of the mountain, actually it was very shady in there. There was no noticable bark on the ground either. These trees seemed to be healthy with a good amount of canopy.

The scrapings went up as high as 7 feet on each tree, no higher because beyond that was pretty thick with branches and such. Could a deer reach up that high?

 

[Rick]

Thanks Jim,
After spending so many years in Pest Contrrol, I immediately thought of the the sunlight and it's effect on insects (kinda like clusterflies around the windows on the sunny side of your housde in the dead of winter.)
But it wouldn't be that on the north side.

 

[NH_Mtn_Hiker]

The scrapings went up as high as 7 feet on each tree, no higher because beyond that was pretty thick with branches and such. Could a deer reach up that high?

Easily, I've seen them standing on their hind legs eating from trees many times while scouting and hunting.

 

[Jim lombard]

Thanks for the great answers everyone....so we have:

10-Moose
5-Porcupine
2-Deer
1-Bear
1-Human Pemi Ranger
1-Mt Beaver

I should've done a poll!

 

[carole]

Thanks for the great answers everyone....so we have:

10-Moose
5-Porcupine
2-Deer
1-Bear
1-Human Pemi Ranger
1-Mt Beaver

I should've done a poll!

I'll cast my vote - I say Chewbacca

 

[Rugger]

I think you mean his brother ChewBarka!

 

[chuck]

Could "Wood Devils" have caused it?

Woods Devils
Coos County, New Hampshire

Wood Devils, (wood devils)
Posted to the IVBC - 26 Dec 1996 16:15:30 -0600


"Many years ago I lived up in Coos County in New Hampshire. Some of the old men would talk about things called "wood devils" that live in the woods. There apparently were a lot more of these creatures back in the 1930's than there are now.

These Wood Devils were tall and very skinny. They are gray colored and very hairy. I guess that people saw them mostly when they didn't expect to. They stay in the deep woods. They can run very fast. When a person walked through the woods he would nearly walk into one before he spotted it. They hide by standing upright and still against a tree. As a person approaches it, the creature will stand against the opposite side of the tree. As the person passes it will move so that the tree is always between the person and the tree. If it cannot hide it will still stay perfectly still until it knows the person sees it. They make awful screams. They have a semi human shape, but their faces don't look at all human. I have never seen one, but the people who said they did were regular churchgoers and would strap their kids for lying. I don't think they would carry on discussions of things they made up."

 

[SAR-EMT40]

Could "Wood Devils" have caused it?

I think it is more likely that Chewbarka caused it.

Keith

 

[NH_Mtn_Hiker]

Could "Wood Devils" have caused it?

Woods Devils
Coos County, New Hampshire

Wood Devils, (wood devils)
Posted to the IVBC - 26 Dec 1996 16:15:30 -0600


"Many years ago I lived up in Coos County in New Hampshire. Some of the old men would talk about things called "wood devils" that live in the woods. There apparently were a lot more of these creatures back in the 1930's than there are now.

These Wood Devils were tall and very skinny. They are gray colored and very hairy. I guess that people saw them mostly when they didn't expect to. They stay in the deep woods. They can run very fast. When a person walked through the woods he would nearly walk into one before he spotted it. They hide by standing upright and still against a tree. As a person approaches it, the creature will stand against the opposite side of the tree. As the person passes it will move so that the tree is always between the person and the tree. If it cannot hide it will still stay perfectly still until it knows the person sees it. They make awful screams. They have a semi human shape, but their faces don't look at all human. I have never seen one, but the people who said they did were regular churchgoers and would strap their kids for lying. I don't think they would carry on discussions of things they made up."

Wood devils don't eat bark down next to the ground. I didn't realize they'd confirmed wood devils were in New hampshire.

 

[NH_Mtn_Hiker]

I dissagree that it was a white tailed deer..Firstly if the location were in a lower elevation and different part of the state I was agree possible..We are talking about people seeing this in Baxter, Willey Range, and on the summit of Sandwich Dome. These are elevations above 3000 feet or more. Let me just say there are very very VERY few deer that high up and in that type of environment. I worked for fish and game as well and we looked at distribution of wildlife and deer dont live or really even go through those areas. We need to examine the types of animals that live in boreal or high elevation forests in NE. They are Moose, Bear, Pine marten, bobcat (not as much), Fisher, Porcupine, and maybe one im missing. Has anyone ever even seen deer tracks in the White Mountains besides lower elevations?..I sure havent. Moose and bears outnumber deer in the white mountains by far overall anyway. I still think it was a moose because 1) moose during late fall and winter travel to high elevations with fir and spruce and live throught the winter there. They eat bark off softwoods and needles during this time, they will also eat buds off of deciduous as well. 2) If it were a bear I think it would be a more localized scratching in one area and not bite marks. 3) Possibly a porcupine, but usually they do there stripping much higher up in the trees normally I think. I would bet it were a bull moose getting ready for winter. -Matt L

While bagging Isolation Thanksgiving day, Gaiagirl and I encountered fresh deer tracks, 2 different sets, one at about 3100', the other set at about 3200'. We also came across a Speckled Alder with the same markings as the one in Jim's first post. The tree was right next to the Rocky Branch River.

USGS Speckled Alder fact sheet

The teeth marks on the tree were not consistent with a moose scraping the bark off with his lower teeth, nor were the teeth marks big enough to be those of a moose.

 

[kerry13]

Originally I was thinking porcupine, but most of the porcupine damage I have seen is usually higher in the tree branches. However, last night I caught a small segment of a program on NH public TV. This hunter - outdoor guy had a family camp at Bear Camp Pond or something like, that he had been going to all his life. As he was narrating a hike through the property he identified a tree which had been debarked on one side. Although I couldn't see any scrape marks, it was a quick shot, he described the debarking as bull moose scraping. The scraping appeared to start near ground level and continued up to six or seven feet. The tree did not appear to be as large a diameter but the rest looked identical. I vote for a bull moose.