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sinking3
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Indeed. How about the bare bark a foot and half up from the ground on some of the brush? Browse also just a different creature, rabbit. It is always hard to picture snow depth in the summer.
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UncleMoose
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Ah, ha! Thanks Bannock (and others) for solving this mystery for me. My wife and I noticed this also last summer on Malberg. We were puzzled because the line simply looked too high to be a high water line. Now it makes total sense.
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marsonite
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No, it's too high for that. Trust us, it's a browse line.
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silverback
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Probably a couple nice bucks in the area.
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RoJoYo
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One of the fellas with me thought it might be related to the level of ice and accumulated snow during winter...sounds plausible I presume...what does anyone else think about that as a possibility?
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cowdoc
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Winter browse line. When the lakes are froze, it's easier for the deer and moose to feed from the lake side on the ice cuz the snow is deeper in the woods.
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tg
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indeed a browse line
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HighPlainsDrifter
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The "browse line" has my vote also. You see it on many lakes. On page 190 of Wilderness days, Sig Olson speaks of it.
RoJoYo, I have seen the area that you show. It looks like it has been pruned by the hand of a skilled gardener.
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bapabear
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I agree with Bannock. It resembles the row of arbor vitae in my backyard. This shows how high the deer can reach from standing on the ice or shoreline.
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RoJoYo
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I don't doubt that it could be a browse line at all. It's just that I'm only familiar with a browse line as it applies to one major tree or bush or a couple in an area at most. This 'line' was the entire southeastern shore of Koma that could be seen from our campsite...a really long line to say the least.
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lsvanderploeg
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Might have been high water at one point that caused the lower branches to stop growing. That would be my only guess.
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RoJoYo
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Just got home earlier this week from 7 days in EP 37 up to Koma and Malberg lakes....it was a great time...first time I have ever been in that early...and we got it all. I'm working on pics and trip report now and hope to post it/them soon. I do have one question for the board. On Koma we noticed a very evident horizontal 'line' on the pine trees that ran the length of the lake where the trees came down to the water's edge. Question is...what causes this very evident feature? Take a look at the pic ... it's worth a thousand words of me trying to explain it. Thanks everyone.
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ktoivola
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I see the line you are talking about, and I have seen it on other lakes with Cedars on the shore. I think Bannock is right about browsing on the cedars by deer...
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Bannock
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I don't see it, but it is probably a browse line. It is from deer browing in the winter. The line represents the height they can reach. It is evident at the water's edge because 1) you're looking at it across an open area, and 2) the lake, and therefore the shoreline, is level so the browse height are the same and creates a line.
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Jiimaan
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Arbor Vitae = "Tree of life" also known as white cedar is a favorite deer browse in the Northwoods. The line you're seeing is a result of deer reaching as far as they can up the tree to eat the leaves.
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rlhedlund
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A browse line typically is distinct across the whole area. When I look at the pictures, I see small trees green all the way down to the ground. My theory is that the larger, older trees are simply bare of branches up to the height you are seeing. As they are all same species, they have similar growth characteristics.
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Ho Ho
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Sure looks like a browse line on cedars to me.
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