When you regularly walk the same trail, it’s pretty easy to notice a change. Some things are really obvious, like having a tree slap leaves in your face in a place that has always been clear trail. I didn’t actually get a face full of leaves, but the possibility was there when this formerly vertical tree changed to a more horizontal attitude.
The tree didn’t make the change of its own accord. A male member of the local White-tail Deer population chose this oak sapling as a prime place to release some aggression and place a scent marker identifying his territorial claim. An antlered buck can quickly debark a small tree.
This tree was doing a good job of competing with its neighbors for a piece of the rapidly closing tree canopy. Lost bark and broken branches are going to be quite a set-back.
You can tell by the healthy green leaves that this tree was successfully capturing a good share of the available sunlight. This is one of those oak hybrids,
Quercus bushii, that are so common at Blue Jay Barrens. Even though it’s common, I’d hate for it to be lost.
Even if it survives the loss of bark, this tree will never return to an upright posture. New growth will develop vertically, but there will be numerous leaders competing to be the new tree top. If a mature tree is eventually produced it will have some deformities that will limit its life expectancy. I’ll probably cut the tree off at the ground this winter and remove a couple of neighboring small cedars to produce a larger hole in the canopy. The established oak root system should produce a rapidly growing stump sprout that could easily make its way back into the canopy in a few years. Assuming a deer doesn’t trash it again, a healthy, mature tree could eventually develop.
Change occurs daily at Blue Jay Barrens. That’s just the way it is with natural systems. I accept that it has to be that way, but I’m still frequently disappointed by some of the changes I notice. The attack by a buck deer upon this small oak is one such occasion. This is the oak that annually supports a population of the uncommon Edwards’ Hairstreak butterfly. It’s unfortunate that the tree had to suffer this act.
A couple of twisted branches would be quickly replaced on most small oaks. This individual has been growing in this inhospitable site for over 30 years and is still less than five feet tall. Those damaged branches took ten or more years to develop.
This isn’t a wound that can be repaired. The torn and shattered wood will dry out and the branches will soon die.
Scrapes like this on the branches can possibly heal. What would have been destroyed are any hairstreak eggs that happened to have been laid in the bark crevices. 
This branch only showed damage at the point of attachment to the trunk. Pressure on the branch caused it to split at the base and tear away. The attached part of the branch may survive, but I doubt that it would be strong enough to last for long.
The top of the tree recently died as a result of periodical cicada damage and two years of drought. Except for the butterflies it supports, this tree has very little to show for several decades of life.
This small cluster of branches is the healthiest section of the tree. These are the only really healthy looking leaves that appeared this season. The damaged limbs already seemed to be in decline, so the deer may have just hurried the inevitable.
The base and main trunk of the tree still seem to be in good shape. Limbs may die, but this part of the tree seems to have always remained healthy. Maybe the hairstreak eggs are in this more deeply furrowed section of bark. I hope that spring finds both tree and butterflies doing well.
