Where have my apples gone?

 


Hi. My first post is a puzzle. My apples have disappeared! I have two
trees,
about four years old. One day last week, there were all my
apples - gone. Well,
all except for a few at the top of each tree, from
about five feet upwards. The
grass underneath the trees was trampled and
there were no apples on the ground.

I know the obvious answer is kids and if I can't find another I'll have
to
settle for that. The problem is that, for various reasons, I think
it's unlikely
in this case. Based on the height of the apples that were
left, they would have
been very small kids - too young for the usual
profile of apple-takers. And I
just know the neighbourhood and the kids
and my garden would be very hard to get
into, especially for small kids,
has never been "visited" before and there were
no signs of entry.

So - is there an animal that takes apples? Foxes? There are foxes in
the
neighbourhood. I believe foxes are omnivorous and the height of the
apples left
would fit the fox theory.

Any other ideas? Has anybody else had this experience? Thanks for any
information/suggestions.

Hector.




--
Hector Hound

 

Hector Hound wrote:

Well, foxes are somewhat omnivorous. I've watched one teaching its kit how
to pick up mulberries that had fallen on my driveway but I kind of doubt
that foxes would have been picking your apples. My first guess about a
culprit would be deer. In my mother's yard are several apple trees and
every autumn morning at sunrise we can see anything up to four deer eating
fallen apples from the ground. If they run out of fallen apples then they
will pick them from the tree while standing on all-fours and when the easy
ones are gone they will stand on their hind legs to get more. Five or six
feet seems about right for the height.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

 

wrote:


I don't know if the foxes got the apples, but they like them. I
volunteered at a wildlife rehab that had a pretty tame fox there and
he like all kinds of fruit and nuts, as well as everyone's favorite
(including the possums) vanilla wafers.

Kate

 

On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:59:35 -0500, kate@notme.com wrote:


Deer like them.  I have seen them stand on their back haunches to get
apples.  I thought dogs were strictly carnivores (never had a
dog--always wanted one) but I have seen them eat pears and apples, not
sure if that is good for them though.  Caught a skunk using a slice of
apple, but actually trying to catch a muskrat.  Personally, I love
apples and they are currently in season.

 

Phisherman wrote:
snip...

Dogs are very adaptable and one which is well-socialized to humans is
likely to try many "human" foods. I had a golden lab which had very human
tastes. For example she liked pizza with any sort of topping including
jalapeño peppers. She like beer although I did limit her intake to far less
than she would have wanted. On the gardening side (keeping this on-topic)
she learned that she really loved sugar snap peas which I offered her as we
walked through the raised beds. This was cute until she decided that while
I was away she should pick her own which involved tearing down the vines
and stripping them. She also dug up beets and since I never saw any lying
about I'm assuming she was eating them. Probably her favorite human food
was ice cream sandwiches and whenever I brought some from the store I got
one, my wife got one, and Brandy got one (and she would have gladly eaten
ours too).

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com