IDEAS FROM CLUB MEMBERS ON PREVENTING MOOSE FROM BROWSING ON APPLE TREES

Burt and Cindy Durham have been using human hair to discourage browsing moose since 1993, but never got a chance to see how it worked until this winter. They harvest hair from the hairbrush, spin it into a very loose yarm, and tie it around the upper twigs of each tree. This year, for the first time, a moose wandered through their young orchard in Talkcetna, and browsed all 22 of their apple trees. The hair worked. The moose ate each twig down to the hair. When the moose got some hair in its mouth, it spat out both the hair and the twig, and moved on to a new tree.

 

Jay Dearborn of Palmer wraps the upper twigs with a piece of aluminum foil. It seems to work—probably bothers their fillings.