Damn Bears !!!

The weather is getting warmer and I decided I better get my apple trees pruned before the buds get too big. As I started pruning I noticed several of the trees had broken limbs along the main trunk; I thought this may have been snow damage or raccoons...



Then I saw the claw marks and knew it was a bear(s). These claw marks are 10 to 12 feet off the ground. Note the size of the broken limb in the upper right of the photo.



I'm not sure when this happened, but most of the damaged trees were the late winter apples that stay on the trees during the winter.



This may explain why one of the apple trees had fallen over. I had blamed the wind for the fallen tree, but it may have been a bear in the tree.