I had a few spare minutes today and a wild hair, so I found a small willow tree and hauled it out to my new farm and “planted” it in the corner of a pasture on a heavily traveled deer trail. I’ve not done one of these before, but I’ve read about them for a couple years, so I thought I’d give it a try. Some call this a “Treecoy”. The tree itself is about three and a half inch diameter and roughly twelve feet tall. I knew the area I wanted to put it, because it is traveled frequently and it’s close enough to cover to allow the deer to feel secure yet out in the open enough it should be nearly impossible to resist the temptation to thrash it.
I’m a bit worried that having the fork will allow the bucks to pull the tree out, but only time will tell. I used a post hole digger and set the tree about four feet deep, leaving about eight feet exposed. The ground was mostly clay, so digging wasn’t the easiest but I was able to pack the trunk in tightly, so hopefully it will hold up to some abuse. I used my knife to make cuts and gouges in the bark simulating the start of a rub, then I cleared away a small circle on the back side of the tree under a low branch to start a mock scrape.
I hung a camera in the edge of the timber hoping to catch some bucks taking advantage of this new sign post. I’ll give it a few days then head back there and see how they’re doing with it, and hopefully have some pictures to share.
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