Damaged tree - what to do?

ki_buxt

Woke up this morning to find our Black Beauty Magnolia in this state. We have deer, elk and badgers amongst other animals in the area. Any idea what could have done this? The earth around the tree has been dug in, and tree branches broken as you can see in the pictures. The bark appears chewed, and we are unsure what we should do. Should we cover over the damaged bark (and how, with what?), or just leave it be? Grateful as always for any advice! 

Posy

That's sad! Elk are a bit outside our experience but I fear the magnolia may have had it. I'm not aware of any treatment you could apply but you will obviously have to protect any replacement. For now you could just wait and see if there is enough left to recover. In my garden I put up fencing to stop badgers, the cats deter rabbits but there are no deer. I hope someone else, who does, can help.

Dovefromabove

I suspect that may be a deer (or even an elk) scent marking or rubbing it's antlers ... it wouldn't normally happen in the UK until later in the year ... not sure about where you are.  Or it could be badger damage.

If you are determined to protect your trees against deer etc this is the only sort of thing that will do it, but it's not  cheap 

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/583853469/steel-tree-guards-metal-estate-fencing?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Search_UK_DSA_GGL_Main_General&utm_ag=UK-EN_DSA-General&utm_custom1=e54918ce-a706-4a65-99ba-e6bc125adfc1&utm_content=go_149164831_9465558751_270824442896_dsa-19959388920_c_&utm_custom2=149164831&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqs2wk_7s6QIVBfhRCh2KyA3IEAAYBiAAEgINCvD_BwE