What could do this? Yesterday my son was in our woods getting rid of old dead trees. He noticed a tree thats

Question

bark was stripped off from about 6 ft up all the way to the top of the tree about 17 to 20 foot. The bark on the bottom of the tree was fine and untouched. It was a cedar tree. The bark was missing too, none on the ground. It was a whole side of the tree, not just a strip. We laughed and said Chupacabra, but really what could it be?

Answer 1

Do you have porcupines where you live?

Sounds exactly like that sort of thing. Can see it all the time walking in any forest up here.

Answer 2

This is another unexplainable event Lad

No Idea with that phenomenon

Answer 3

I'll go along with Lee J, my guess would be lightning.

Answer 4

Sounds like the damage cased be a lightening strike.

As the current travels through the tree to the ground, the bark is blasted away from the trunk.

Answer 5

It was Duke! Everyone knows puppies like bark!

Answer 6

In CT I've seen squirrels strip bark off dead cedars--standing or cut and in piles--probably to line their nests.  

Answer 7

Sounds like you have a troll building a nest

nearby.