deer

I was out raking brush from under the trees the other day, it was gorgeous out with a slight breeze and the sun shining.  The next row over, almost glowing, sat a shed.

A four-point shed, which may have come off a nice eight-point (as there were a couple roaming around this year).  We don't find many sheds as nice as this one.  Usually, we find them with the mower, or the squirrels have started chewing on them.  Throughout the years, we've made ourselves a little pile with them.  Saving them for some project.
Deer do roam the Orchard, and, no, we don't allow folks to come out and hunt.  We like taking some time each fall and winter to try our own hand at hunting!
As gorgeous an animal they are, they can devastate an orchard.
This is a three-year-old tree, that they found last November.

They rubbed it raw.  And, the branches...

found below the tree.  Littering the same ground that used to hold their shadow.
Monetarily, we're out a couple hundred dollars (between the cost of the tree, planting the tree, maintenance, etc.).  It's a bummer, but the time is the killer with tree loss.
It took three years to get it there, and now we'll have to take another three years to get it back to where it was in height and size.  We generally start harvesting a few apples at years 4 and 5.  It would have had a little crop this year!