Elk are magestic beasts, fun to look at… but they are also (literally) big menaces, particularly frustrated males.
Recently we found some of our apple trees damaged by elk rubbing on them:
And not satisfied with that, last night one broke our new oak tree in the field:
Since it wasn’t completely broken, I thought I’d try repairing it. No guarantees it’ll recover, but it’s worth trying. Several sites recommended putting bolts through the trunk, and using caulk to seal up the breaks, so that’s what I did:
I also added a bit of fencing around it, to make it harder to get to, though it won’t slow down the elk much:
Hopefully it’ll recover!
Oh, and I also saw a coyote in the field:
You just need something really convincing to persuade the elk not to do it again! How about something noisy? Or would that make them cross?
There are noise-makers, but they may be annoying for us. There are sprays and such, which we’ve tried with some success, but are stinky.