Chewing On Bamboo Part 1

I had mentioned that we were starting to notice deer and/or elk disturbing the seedlings that we had planted on the hill and that we have been going up there to ‘remind’ the critters that we are monitoring the baby trees.

We seem to have the critters biting and chewing on the tips of the bamboo stakes, these are the ones that are woven through the cages to help hold them safely in place around the seedlings. I have noticed bite marks and ragged edges of the stakes.

Once one or more of the stakes have been pulled out of the ground, the cage follows up the seedling, sometimes hanging mid-air and sometimes completely off the tree making it an easy browsing target. The tree can get mowed off by the chewing or pulled right out of the ground, either way can kill a seedling.

We have started going up the hill twice a day encouraging the critters to meander elsewhere. Using the Gator to drive around the planting sections seems to make enough noise for the foragers to take notice, Mike likes to holler (since he has a loud voice) to imitate the barking noise of a cow, or low to high pitch whooot that gets their attention and he can whistle real loud that they seem to dislike and run from. Even though I have always been told that I am loud and unruly, I am not in the same class as Mike. The critters act as if they can’t hear me.

I was complaining the other day about needing to get a whistle, an air horn or a cannon while I am out in the woods (my complaining can tend to be a little verbose to the point of exaggeration). One of my very dear friends mentioned that I could use a kazoo. A KAZOO of all things, I don’t want to serenade the tree thieves, I want something to scare them with.

Another friend mentioned that whistles were easy to come by even though I could not find any thing besides the plastic mini sized party favor ones at the stores I had visited (I don’t think they could possibly be louder than one of those rolled papers with the cigar tip that people blow out at birthday parties). She started punching at her phone and said she could order an extra large multi-pack of whistles at a very affordable price considering there were enough whistles to supply a small town. I declined, I only have one mouth, I only need one whistle…she found 6 packs, then finally a two pack of whistles or ta-daa, a single pack of a titanium coated, military grade, worlds loudest whistle that cost more than any multi-packs we were looking at!

I think I will go to the local sporting goods store and purchase a single referee signal whistle… More to follow on the next post, Chewing On Bamboo Part 2.