I’m exploring options for 2 gateways to cover as much of our small city as possible. At the moment we are looking at elevations and planning potential locations. There might be a couple of options for mounting on some old pine trees to clear some topography. How bad of an idea is it to mount a gateway to a tree?
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I see no issue other than some squirrels 
. Please be aware that the canopy may add some attenuation and stay as far away from the tree or branches with your antenna.
If it can’t be done the way it should be done do it the way it can be done.
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I’d also add bird poo. Much as we love them (and put up bird feeders) we’re having to continually clean our car to try and prevent the acidic “guano” damaging things.
I can tell you leaf coverage does make a bif difference to lorawan in general, I am finding my distances and locations picking up signals in Winter are very different (better) than those when there is full leaf cover - keep in mind this is often down to a signal going via hundred of trees along a given horizon.
It would be interesting to see your results, I don’t think there would be issues with it being in a single tree but more from does the signal then have to travel via woods along the horizon.
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Also, from similar discussions in the Geocaching community: Don’t do harm to the tree. That means, no screws into the trunk or branches, and also be careful with zip ties as they tend to become ingrown after some time. This poses a certain difficulty as the gateway has to be tightened to the tree somehow.
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