Title: Utility of wire cages, tree shelters, and repellants to minimize herbivory to oak by white-tailed deer

Author: Kochenderfer, James N.; Ford, W.Mark

Year: 2008

Publication: Res. Pap. NRS-5. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 8 p.

Abstract: We evaluated the efficacy of exclusion cages and commercially available repellants in deterring white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) herbivory on northern red oak (Quercus rubra) and chestnut oak (Q. montana) stump sprouts and planted red oak seedlings following a commercial clearcut harvest in West Virginia. Our treatments included application of two repellants (Deer Away? and Plantskydd?) for cut stumps and seedlings and wire cages for cut stumps or 1.5-m-tall tree shelters for seedlings. Regardless of treatment, the probability of a stump sprout reaching 1.5 m for both species declined as residual stump diameter increased. The continuous protection from browsing coupled with low material costs makes the use of wire cages around cut stumps a potential alternative to the use of deer repellants or artificial seedling establishment to enhance and maintain oak following regeneration harvests.