Usually the bark removal on my property is done by pack rats. They strip large sections of bark anywhere they can reach. I've gotten the point that I blame them for nearly all the bark damage.

But this damage extends much to high up the tree. And the marks look like big teeth. So I'm thinking beaver? One passed through a few months ago. I haven't noticed any other signs of it.

I do not think it is beaver. they have more definite teeth marks.

got porkies in that part of kansas?

Not beaver...do you have quill pigs ?

Any sheep near by ?

no sheep.

I've never seen a porcupine, but I'm told the prior owner shot one on this property.

now you have me wondering if some the damage I've been blaming on pack rats might be porcupine also... Is it likely to come back to that same tree to chew some more? Its a hackberry and there's not a lot of them on the property.


Some of what I blame on rats certainly is rats - they build some nests at chest height in the forks of some trees and chew the bark off inside their nest. So that's definately rats. But I guess some of the other damage I blame on rats could be porcupine.

Is there water close by?

yes, that tree less than 10 yards from a creek bed.

That looks like a porky was chewing to me.

looks like high water damage??

hogs do that. Sometimes they do that to trees partially damaged by beavers. Sometimes there will be hairs and dried mud from rubbing, but not always.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

It's beaver, see it all the time in my area.

Whatever did it was eating it, including the exposed roots. Beavers generally cut them down and eat the thin barked limbs to reduce the amount of useless bark in their gut.
I have seen nutria do that kind of damage to wild cherry. It was a very large, heavily leaning tree and they climed way out on it and chewed off all of the bark that they could reach,
I have seen where beaver have girdled several large sweet gum trees in a swamp without any evidence of an attempt to fell them. It was as though they were doing some selective culling to promote the regrowth of what they favored over sweet gum. I don't give beavers credit for that level of intelligence, but if their ancestors for eons did that as habit, I could understand how that trait would give them an upper hand over beavers who didn't pass that trait on.

I say beavah. I walked by a half dozen trees today on my place that is exactly like that. Mine are beavah 100% sure about that. Big cotton woods they do to same thing and looks identical to your pics.

Wonder what did this

Around here that would be beaver for sure, but we don’t have porcupines. That appears to be a hackberry tree, and beaver do like the hackberry. The beavers will also often just remove the bark like that. One old timer told me they do that to kill the tree so the preferred shrubbery can get more sunlight around the water edge. Not having dealt with porkys before, it would seem likely that they prefer similar trees to beavers, but just a guess. Also I always thought porkys tended to eat bark up higher off the ground?

I appreciate all the input guys.

Would anyone care to guess the odds of it returning to the same tree (whether it be beaver or porcupine)?
Next time I'm at the property I'll move a camera to be close to that tree. If it comes back, I'll get video. But I'm trying to decide what traps to set. From what I've read, a salt soaked cloth in a box trap is good for porcupine. Would a duke 550 or 650 work for beaver?

If there is water close by the beavah will be back. If it was on a crick and water has dried up it most likely won't.