I sold some land with pecan trees on it in East Texas a few years ago, and something strange happened a year or so later. Girdling cuts appeared on several of the trees. These cuts did not go all the way around the trees, but the fact that some trees had multiple cuts in random places made the damage big. The cuts as best I can remember were about 3" wide, very even as if done by a machine and went through the bark and into the wood to a total depth of about 1-1.25" as best I can remember. Does anyone know of pileated woodpeckers doing that kind of damage? The woodpeckers had been hanging around there for a few years, but I had never seen them pecking my trees. The man who bought the place said he had not seen any wood chips near the tree trunks. I suspected that a person did it with some tool that I am not familiar with. In my opinion, the cuts were too clean and even to be the work of animals. Some of the cuts were ten or twelve feet above the ground and on the main trunk and the limbs. There were beavers in the area, but a lot of these cuts were well up into the trees. Any suggestions or ideas?
WA
