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

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.




Well, foxes are somewhat omnivorous. I've watched one teaching its kit how

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.




Around here, deer are the culprits. Look for droppings and hoof prints.

Hector Hound wrote:
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.




Around here, deer are the culprits. Look for droppings and hoof prints.

Hector Hound wrote:
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.




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.

Hector Hound wrote:
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.




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

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.

Hi. My first post is a puzzle. My apples have disappeared! I have two


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.

On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:11:01 -0400, John McGaw <Nobody at (no spam) Nowh.ere
wrote:

Hector Hound wrote:
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.




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.

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 12:12:02 -0400, Frank
frankperiodlogullo at (no spam) comcast.net> wrote:

Hector Hound wrote:
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.




Around here, deer are the culprits. Look for droppings and hoof prints.


I can't imagine that 4 year old apple trees are very large and have
many apples... those are mere saplings. One would certainly know
whether there were deer about, if there are there'd be no need for
this post... in fact were there deer not only would there be no
apples, there'd be no trees, they'd have long ago eaten them.

If not the neighbor's kids perhaps the neighbor picked some...
couldn't take more than a couple minutes to harvest a couple four year
old trees... I have 2 seven year old apple trees, they're barely 1 1/2
caliper and barely 8' tall.

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.




It's a lot of work, but I use two Havaharts to remove most of the

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.