I think this is animal damage to culms

Alan_L · **Posted:** Tue Feb 22, 2011 1:42 pm

I'm pretty sure this is animal damage to these culms, as it's on the outer-facing side of the outermost culms:

Does anybody know what animal is doing this? I think it's either deer, squirrels, or cats, but could be wrong.

More on my blog here:
http://www.itsnotworkitsgardening.com/2 ... tible.html

needmore · **Posted:** Tue Feb 22, 2011 2:13 pm

I vote for cats...

David · **Posted:** Tue Feb 22, 2011 2:16 pm

Buck deer rub. It's a constant problem for me. We counted 8 bucks, and 25 does last week. I see this a lot!

foxd · **Posted:** Tue Feb 22, 2011 2:22 pm

I vote for deer.

Alan_L · **Posted:** Tue Feb 22, 2011 3:04 pm

Looking at the photos again, maybe the culms that are completely rubbed tan are deer rubbed, but the ones with smaller, deeper scratches are something else? Unless the antlers have some very sharp points?

foxd · **Posted:** Tue Feb 22, 2011 6:40 pm

The scratches look pretty random, which implies it is not done by the claws of an animal. If it was done by a cat clawing there would be parallel claw marks. I have seen rubbed places like that on my Yellow Groove and we have deer in the area. (We also have cats in the area, but they seem to prefer sharpening their claws on trees and saving the bamboo to eat.

Alan_L · **Posted:** Tue Feb 22, 2011 7:08 pm

From experience on my own legs and arms I don't totally agree with the "parallel marks" from cat scratches, but it's a good point. If they're scratching hard enough to dig into the hard culms, there would probably be more than a single claw penetrating. Plus I'd think that cats would use something wider. All of these culms are less than 1" diameter.

So are deer antlers *that* pointy? Must be.

David · **Posted:** Wed Feb 23, 2011 4:22 am

Their tines are sharp, but what causes the deep scratches are rough tubercles on the sides of the main tines. When they are making rubs they can exert tremendous pressure on what they are rubbing by twisting their antlers from side to side. Antlers are super hard solid bone, and are strong enough to knap flint points and tools, so small trees and bamboo culms don't stand a chance. I've seen bucks making rubs on several occasions, and it looks like they are at war with the poor little trees/culms.

Alan_L · **Posted:** Wed Feb 23, 2011 12:13 pm

Thanks a lot David!

David · **Posted:** Wed Feb 23, 2011 5:53 pm

No prob. If you find a way to avoid them let me know!

Alan_L · **Posted:** Wed Feb 23, 2011 7:13 pm

I wonder if you found something they're rather use than culms... like rebar, or conduit with some texture on it. Pound some of those near the edge of the groves and hopefully they'd use them instead of the culms.

David · **Posted:** Wed Feb 23, 2011 9:46 pm

They like to rub things that turn bright compared to the background. Rubs are part of their communication system during the rut, and so they want them to stand out.

Alan_L · **Posted:** Wed Feb 23, 2011 10:21 pm

white pipe (pvc?) wrapped with black gaffer's tape? or just painted flat black. ?

David · **Posted:** Thu Feb 24, 2011 5:20 pm

Never thought of it but PVC and flat black paint might work.

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I think this is animal damage to culms

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