I’m doing some splitting this afternoon, and in the middle of an 8 inch limb is thin rope (think paracord) and duct tape.....ah, things we find in wood...
You know of course, duct tape will even fix.......duct tape. Looks like it's been there for a minute or two.
The way it’s wound in there, I’m thinking the limb had a split in it a long time ago and they tied the cord around it and then duct taped it. Obviously it worked! I don’t know the growth rate of the tree, but I’d venture a guess and say it must have been done at least 20 years ago based on the location of the tape and rope, and how much wood grew around it over time.
Maybe, but whether that or like @VOLKEVIN’s thought about a break, people tie trees up for various reasons, yes? Some folks don’t want their trees to run away.... or tie to stakes to keep ‘em growing straight... ya know, so they don’t wander towards something they’re not.... right yooperdave?
That's a pretty good way to fix a limb judging by how much longer it lasted after the repair. I've found a bunch of cord and tape on tree limbs up here. Took me a minute to figure it out - when I came across the remnants of a beer can that was the giveaway. The kids were taping or tying cans to the trees to shoot BBs at.