Grrrr. From 300 to 1 in 3 months

[Justme]

I am livid this morning and need to vent somewhere where I cannot hurt someone or something. Thanks in advance for all your understanding.
Our little 5 variety apple tree really outdid itself this year for the first time. It's produced a few apples before but this year I have counted at least 300, really, little apples. Well after June drop and then me pulling off many more and then the later variety branch finally blooming my last count was still close to 100 on the tree. I knew I should probably take some more of but also know the squirl population would probably take a few more so left it as it was. Sure enough squirls have gotten a few. Yesterday afternoon all looked well with probably about 80 apples. This morning 1 and it way uptop on a thin little branch and is only a little itty bitty thing since it's on the branch that is the last to flower. Raccoons are my guess. There's nothing on the ground any where around so they must have been really busy. They were in my popcorn night before last but left at least half of every ear they pulled. Guess pop corn may be a little hard to their tastes.
I usually don't mind sharing with the wild life but the keyword is SHARING. Guess next year I will invest in some electric fence and be stingy.

On a good note I did make some pectin from the apples that fell off or I pulled off. And since my family doesn't eat jams and jellies much that will last a while.

 

[Wannabefree]

Ohhhhhhh, I'd be mad too Sorry you lost them all Maybe next year will be better with some electric fencing and maybe bird netting or something. Animals have been looking for more food this year due to the drought conditions, but that still stinks :/

 

[k15n1]

I recommend the live-trap-and-cowtank method. I know there are ethical considerations for some people, but it's a pragmatic solution. If nothing is done to control the population of pests, you'll have more of them in a year's time. Better to get it over with now.

 

[the funny farm6]

luckly we havent had trouble with coons for a couple of years, there have been huge outbreaks of rabies and distemper withen the coon and stray cat population. but is it possable to get a good farm dog? with my dogs a coon wouldnt dare to make an apperence on my property. (or any other type of critter for that matter)

 

[terri9630]

No trace of any of the fruits? Are you sure you don't have a 2 legged problem? I can't imagine coons eating that much and not making a mess. Never knew one to clean up after itself.

 

[shaner]

No trace of any of the fruits? Are you sure you don't have a 2 legged problem? I can't imagine coons eating that much and not making a mess. Never knew one to clean up after itself.

i was thinking this same thing most of the time they eat part of whatever they eat then grab a fresh one , in a corn field they do this pull some down naw on it awhile then go to the next stalk?

 

[Justme]

Like the live trap idea but in general around all the critters have gotten smart to that idea. We did finally get one a few years ago that had gotten especially adept at getting into stored feed even with snap lock lids on the buckets. We finally trapped the little sucker and carried him off over 15 miles as the crow flies across the marsh and very wide river. Took him a whole total of three weeks to get back. Had to clean out a locked metal cabinet and stored the food there.

We have a dog but she stays inside at night. It would be a nightmare to convince her to stay outside at night now and she would basically just bark all night and no one would get sleep.

And no I'm not positive it was coons. One day I gotta get me a game cam. But the telltale signs in the popcorn of several ears pulled and half eaten makes me think so. It is possible that the squirrels have come and gotten them in the early morning before I got out there. And we do have more than our share of them in the area even with neighbor using them for target practice daily. I also thought of deer. But it's always been rare that we get one inside the fence and lately we've put up extensions to the accessible areas to carry it up to about 12 feet because of the chickens. I would be extremely surprised if it were a two legger. We are in a neighborhood but to climb the fence there are only a few spots that you could get across without leaving signs because the fence is so grown over and those spots are made more dificult by the extensions we have. Plus if they entered from the gates near the house the dog would alert us. Nothing comes near the house at night except the cat that she doesn't know about. And those gates are very dificult to latch properly unless you really pay attention and know what you are doing and they have not been unlatched. Not to mention that even the largest apples were not near ripe yet with some of them that are of the later variety not being any more than a ping pong ball yet all were gone and would have required a ladder to get to. Plus the next door neighbor has several fruit trees in his front yard right at the road very easy access yet his hasn't been stripped yet. I would think a two legger would have hit those first.



The more I think about it I am leaning toward squirls. You are right coons would usually leave at least some bits and wouldn't carry off that many so quickly. Next bog storm we have that knocks down another nest might reveal a bucketload of apples too.
Other than about three, No there are no signs of any of the apples. Not eaten, whole or little bits.

 

[Justme]

BTW any suggestions as to how to go about securing a tree from the varmits? It's about eight foot tall now and probably five wide. Netting doesn't work the squirls chew right through it so it would have to be metal and or electric. I hate the thought of building a cage around the tree but that is the only thing I can think of.

 

[terri9630]

I don't have any idea of how to fight squirrels except shoot them.

 

[fair weather chicken]

we lost 41 3 week old broilers to coons. had to move them into the yard. we sell these birds and this was a major hit. anyway that's why they call it farming.