The American Beagler Forum

I was running dogs this morning and came upon a permanent deer stand that was laying on its side. The compartment section had been boxed in with 1/4 inch treated plywood. The plywood was lying horizontally about six inches off the ground. Rabbits had been chewing the salt treated wood and had eaten about four square feet of the plywood. I've been told that salt treated wood was also treated with arsenic. Could our deer hunting antics be poisoning our rabbits? Has anyone else seen this?

Squirrels are more than likely your culprits, I doubt the rabbits gnawed off 4 square feet of plywood.

Big Dog

I agree with Big Dog, it was probably squirrels. I have stands in trees that have been chewed on that I know was not a rabbit!

hounddog

I have seen racoons eat away ends of houses... do you have racoons or skunks? Carolyn

The stand is located on top of a hill in a huge cutover. The pines have grown to about 12 feet in height. Briars are very thick and rabbit dropings are scattered around the stand. Its just not a place for squirrels. Rabbits may not have eaten the wood but it sure looks like they did.

Deer droping look like rabbit droppings only bigger.Are they have been deer?

The droppings I referred to is rabbit droppings however deer are in the area and I'm sure if I had been looking for deer sign I would have found deer droppings. I'm convinced rabbits ate the wood for the salt content.

If your convinced it was rabbits, then I would say that stand has been laying there for a year or probably even 2 for just rabbits to have done that much damage to it. I think the damage to the rabbit population would be so minimal its not much to worry about. Especially if they've been chewing on it that long and are still around.

"The plywood was lying horizontally about six inches off the ground."

If the plywood was 6" off the ground and droppings all around it I'd guess they are using it as a "brushpile" for shelter. But I have also seen our tame rabbits eat thier hutches too.

That's how I estimated the time. I know I have to replace the wood around the door of our hutch every 3 to 4 years. and it is 4 sq. ft. w/ one rabbit chewing on it. He'll get about half of it chewed away and I'll replace.

I've seen this first hand.

The property in question was 24,000 acres of 2-10 year old pines, no hardwoods left. No squirrels for miles.

THese were box blinds on the ground and it was not uncommon to run rabbits out getting in the blinds.

I don't think it hurt them. Our Valentine Hunt had been on that property for the first two years and there is no shortage of rabbits there.

any porcupines in the vicinity???

I had been told by a builder that treated lumber didn't produce toxicity unless it was burned. There are also 2 types of treated lumber old and new. The new stuff doesn't have the arsenic in it (so I have been told).

One other thing, if there was a problem with them eating the wood, I wouldn't think they would have gnawed off so much of it. Mother Nature is pretty smart... it doesn't usually take too long for animals to figure out if something is bad or not.

Emery

I would have to ask the same question as timberdoodle. Any porcupines in the area? They are known for chewing plywood, for the glue in it. Salt would be a bonus.

Richard Gould

There's no porcupines here and I would guess the stand has been on the ground at least 4 years.