Those are deer 'scrapes' - yes, these fun, happy woodland creatures just love to find a small tree and rub their antlers along them, stripping the bark. They do it during the rut - here, this usually happens in November with the mule deer, but you may be further enough north that it happens earlier.

Some buck did that to my fruit trees one year, every one of a dozen of them. All but one died. I still find rubs around by shrubs and bushes when they manage to come in during the late fall.

You can try to tape it with that paper tree tape - it might help. I dunno if they will come back to the same tree, you might spray it with something yucky smelling - like an egg - just in case.

Thanks! Now to try and keep them from coming back!