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

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. Numbers of chestnut oak stumps and northern red oak stumps with sprouts or northern red oak seedlings surviving over three growing seasons were relatively high and were equitably distributed among treatments. After three growing seasons, only 17 percent of the sheltered northern red oak seedlings reached 1.5 m in height and out of reach of deer whereas no seedlings in the other treatments reached that height. For northern red oak and chestnut oak, more caged stumps, 75 percent and 36 percent, respectively, produced sprouts reaching 1.5 m than did stumps treated with repellants or those left untreated. For northern red oak stumps, 65 percent sprayed with Plantskydd and 58 percent sprayed with Deer Away produced sprouts reaching 1.5 m whereas for chestnut oak stumps, only 25 percent sprayed with Deer Away and 15 percent sprayed with Plantskydd produced sprouts reaching 1.5 m. 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.