What animal is eating my maple bark!

[Mvhomesteader]

My son noticed several trees, all small caliper, with wounds as in the picture, generally low on the trunk. There was one tree where an area of bark was removed at about 5'.

Who is the likely culprit? Porcupine? Squirrels? Deer? I'm 1000' from a stream and have never seen beavers this far up hill. Someone will pay a price for this transgression.

[Pdiamond]

looks like beaver chews to me.

[heus]

Although at first look I would be inclined to say porcupine, I am calling pileated woodpeckers. These are the big ones. I have a pair at my sugarhouse right now. They have an 8" red maple almost girdled. I think they are marking their territory,as opposed to looking for bugs, because I was able to sit inside and through the window witness them pecking at an almost perpendicular angle to the tree to flake off the bark. The tree is 100% alive with no rot. The reason I feel its territorial is because it is right next to a window. They see their reflections, fly into the window, then peck the tree.20200412_180939.jpg

[Brian]

that is porcupine chews.

[Bruce L]

That’s porcupine,dealt with them before. Beaver would have the tree like an hourglass,pileated woodpecker wouldn’t go all the way around,plus there would be large chunks of wood laying around. Look up in the tops of trees mid morning or mid afternoon on a sunny day,you will find the porcupine there sunning himself and nibbling on the twigs. Scout around you may find his home,be a big old tree with a hollow in it and there will be droppings at the base.

[Hop Kiln Road]

A porky. A pileated would have asked permission first. This transcendentalist proselytizer knocked on our door for a week but I knew better than to answer it.

Pileated 09.jpg

[Russell Lampron]

Looks like quill pig to me.

[Zucker Lager]

I have damage every year from porcupines They like the maples and red oaks. They usually strip off the bark all the way around a branch, killing it, but in my case are always up in the crown of the trees. Jay

Porcupine Damage (1).jpg Porcupine Damage (2).jpg Porcupine Damage (3).jpg

[DrTimPerkins]

Definitely porcupine. Solution is the same as that for squirrels...high velocity lead poisoning.

[Mvhomesteader]

Thanks to all for commenting. Porcupine seems to be the consensus, though I do have pileated woodpeckers in the yard. I'll set up a game cam and do some searching. We've had a porcupine frequent our yard every summer and he/she has not been a problem, though last year he/she pruned our mulberry tree heavily and I don't want them in the apple trees.