Might be beavers. Porcupines perhaps?

tj

Looks like beaver damage to me. Porcupine damage tends to go much further up the trunk instead of being confined to the base.

wonder where this is

7b, Ozark foothills. Pretty sure all the damage was done overnight. The cambium was moist when I first noticed it early this am. It already appears to be drying out.

Not deer. Odd that the outer bark was removed but the inner bark seemingly not even touched. Beavers typically at least chew into the wood somewhat.

The tree was visited again last night. The damaged area about doubled. Wish now I’d set up a game camera. Never seen anything like this before.

are we absolutely sure we can rule out neighborhood thugs ..???

Before a game cam you need some heavy wire fencing. Any pix of the new damage?

tj

No chance this is vandalism. I’m out of town for a couple of days and will post new pics after my return.

A pileated woodpecker can chop off alot of bark, tho I've never seen damage from them look like that. Edit -- pic of damage from a pileated woodpecker. Impressive, but not quite a match.

Searching, it does look most like porcupine damage.

Some good info at this link:

https://forestry.usu.edu/news/utah-forest-facts/identifying-preventing-porcupine-damage-to-trees

Came home to this additional damage to the tree after 2 nights away. More bark removed at the top and bottom of the wound.

Original damage calloused over and looks like gnaw marks in the new wounded area. Interestingly, while more bark has been removed, the pile of bark strips at the tree’s base is smaller; eaten I assume.

Sorry to say, tho it might live a while on stored food, I doubt your sweetgum will survive, unless it sprouts from the base.

I set up a couple of game cameras around the tree last night. No recorded visits. I'll leave them up for a few more and report back if anything is captured.

@bengz6westmd, Yes, I'm guessing this tree's a goner. No doubt there'll be replacements. We have lots of them on our property.

Gotta be porcupine

Thanks for the update.

tj