900 trees damaged by deer at Evans City Christmas tree farm

EVANS CITY, Pa. — Families are preparing to spend their weekends picking out their favorite Christmas trees but leading up to the season, hundreds of deer have damaged a farm in Evans City where they are sold.

Pine Hills Farm has been a small family-owned tree farm for about 80 years.

“I’ve been doing this since I was about 15 and it’s really a family business. We take pride in doing this,” said manager Adam Bossel.

Bossel said they have been preparing for their opening weekend and expect hundreds of families.

“It’s really important to us to see the same faces year over year,” said Bossel.

This year, they are experiencing a setback. 900 of the trees they planted were destroyed by deer.

“The deer came right in the beginning of spring and basically ate all the little saplings so that puts us further behind,” said Bossel.

Because of those damaged trees, there is a limited supply of Frazier fur, Bruce spruce and concolor fir trees.

“When we go out and do this and put so much time and effort in planting and raising these trees to go out and see this type of damage it really is heartbreaking for us,” said Bossel.

Bossel said it will take several years to recover. In the meantime, they had to replant over the fall which they normally do not do and will plant again in the spring so they have trees for years to come.

“Because they really like that experience to go out and choose and cut their tree and have that time with their families,” said Bossel.

Many families have already tagged trees for this season and management recommends families arrive early at the farm this weekend to make sure they get the tree they want because they are expected to sell out quickly.

The farm is using a natural spray on the trees to deter deer from eating them so that it can help their inventory.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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