Acorns

[BSK]

I haven't been able to check any White Oaks, but in the Nashville area, Sawtooth and the Red family of oaks have acorns this year.

 

[TheLBLman]

But still too early to assume there will be any "good" acorns?

 

[BSK]

But still too early to assume there will be any "good" acorns?

Correct. The killer of acorns already set is a late summer drought, particularly August and September.

 

[tellico4x4]

Noticed red oaks last week in Wayne & yesterday at home in NW AL.

 

[BigAl]

I haven't checked anything. Don't really want to in this heat.

 

[Carlos Viagra]

I haven't checked anything. Don't really want to in this heat.

Around here it's cooled down to 78 by 19:30.

 

[Creek bottoms]

Things look promising. We'll need some summer rains. It's been 2 1/2 weeks now in my neck of the woods.

 

[tellico4x4]

 

[Bear15]

I know acorns are great for my deer, but I'm a food plot guy so I hate heavy acorn years. Last year was near record acorn crop on my white oaks even as dry as it was in late summer/early fall.Typically when I have a big acorn year the next year doesn't have many. Thats my hope. I love watching em walk into those plots instead of eating acorns from their bed.

 

[backyardtndeer]

It has been very wet here so far. Several of my white oaks are loaded again this year.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

The past 2 years I've discovered I know nothing about deer. We've had both extremes - 2022 was the driest year I can remember and the first year in my life I never found 1 acorn (on 600+ acres). I thought they'd be all over the place looking for food. No, they didn't even leave their summer range in my area. In contrast, 2023, more acorns I can remember in my life. I thought they'd have an abundance of energy chasing does all over. Nope, didn't move at all - didn't have to. I now just hope for average acorn years.

 

[BSK]

The past 2 years I've discovered I know nothing about deer. We've had both extremes - 2022 was the driest year I can remember and the first year in my life I never found 1 acorn (on 600+ acres). I thought they'd be all over the place looking for food. No, they didn't even leave their summer range in my area.

This is what we experienced, and to extremes. My place is rugged ridge-and-hollow hardwoods surrounded on almost all sides by huge agricultural bottomlands. In 2022, the deer never left the bottomlands. hardly a deer on my place, primarily because our food plots failed from the drought. And no acorns. Not one.

In contrast, 2023, more acorns I can remember in my life. I thought they'd have an abundance of energy chasing does all over. Nope, didn't move at all - didn't have to. I now just hope for average acorn years.

We had the largest acorn crop I can remember last year, but we DID see a lot of movement. In fact, we experienced the highest sighting rate of older bucks we've ever experienced in almost 40 years. We didn't necessarily have that many more older bucks using the place (a total of 24 instead of the average of 18, but 24 is not a record), but they were moving like crazy. The strange thing was, even with all the acorns, they were hitting the food plots like crazy.

 

[BSK]

I know acorns are great for my deer, but I'm a food plot guy so I hate heavy acorn years. Last year was near record acorn crop on my white oaks even as dry as it was in late summer/early fall.Typically when I have a big acorn year the next year doesn't have many. Thats my hope. I love watching em walk into those plots instead of eating acorns from their bed.

If I hunted an area of hardwoods surrounded by hundreds of acres of similar hardwoods, I would hate big acorn crops too. Nothing to concentrate deer movement and deer wouldn't need to move far to feed. But being a big patch of hardwoods surrounded by agricultural bottomlands, I love a big acorn crop! Once the crops have been harvested in the bottoms, all those big-antlered ag deer flood my acorn-producing hardwoods!

 

[Ski]

The past 2 years I've discovered I know nothing about deer. We've had both extremes - 2022 was the driest year I can remember and the first year in my life I never found 1 acorn (on 600+ acres). I thought they'd be all over the place looking for food. No, they didn't even leave their summer range in my area. In contrast, 2023, more acorns I can remember in my life. I thought they'd have an abundance of energy chasing does all over. Nope, didn't move at all - didn't have to. I now just hope for average acorn years.

Every time I've thought I knew something about deer, I was proven a fool. Almost all of the deer "common knowledge" is loose tendency, not concrete. I think that's why so many people can have such drastically different opinions. I know for sure on my property there is almost never a repeated, exact, predictable pattern. Every season is completely different.

 

[BSK]

Every time I've thought I knew something about deer, I was proven a fool. Almost all of the deer "common knowledge" is loose tendency, not concrete. I think that's why so many people can have such drastically different opinions. I know for sure on my property there is almost never a repeated, exact, predictable pattern. Every season is completely different.

This time 10,000! Every time I think I have deer figured out, they prove me wrong. That's what makes hunting and managing deer so frustrating and enlightening.

 

[Snake]

I'm seeing very small and dropping on this big white oak at the house , they are all over the house and driveway. Is there something wrong with this tree ? We've had enough rain .

 

[redblood]

We are pretty dry in southern middle tennessee. I have been seeing big hickorieswell loaded on my daily runs but cant telll sbout the oaks yet. We really need a good rain here

 

[knightrider]

Trees are loaded here in the east again, while good for the deer sure makes for tough hunting when they dont have to move to eat

 

[BSK]

We are pretty dry in southern middle tennessee. I have been seeing big hickorieswell loaded on my daily runs but cant telll sbout the oaks yet. We really need a good rain here

Like in the past couple of dry summers, I'm seeing hickories drop nuts now. The trees can't carry to maturity what they set due to the dry conditions.

 

[Biggun4214]

Sounds like you guys need bears to help eat the acorn crop so deer will move more.

 

[BSK]

Sounds like you guys need bears to help eat the acorn crop so deer will move more.

Ummm, no thank you!

 

[backyardtndeer]

Sounds like you guys need bears to help eat the acorn crop so deer will move more.

Will pass on the bears. I don't mind heavy acorn crops, have done pretty well killing decent deer when we have had heavy acorn crops.

While out walking the other day, noticed a persimmon tree that has dropped a crap load of fruit, all about quarter sized or slightly bigger. Had been really wet here up until a couple weeks ago, and suddenly gone dry and hot, wonder if that has caused the tree to drop prematurely?

 

[BSK]

Will pass on the bears. I don't mind heavy acorn crops, have done pretty well killing decent deer when we have had heavy acorn crops.

While out walking the other day, noticed a persimmon tree that has dropped a crap load of fruit, all about quarter sized or slightly bigger. Had been really wet here up until a couple weeks ago, and suddenly gone dry and hot, wonder if that has caused the tree to drop prematurely?

Yes. When fruit/nut trees are stressed, they drop all the extra fruit they won't be able to carry to maturity under those conditions.

 

[Creek bottoms]

I hope for a big acorn crop to keep the turkeys in the woods.

 

[MickThompson]

The past 2 years I've discovered I know nothing about deer. We've had both extremes - 2022 was the driest year I can remember and the first year in my life I never found 1 acorn (on 600+ acres). I thought they'd be all over the place looking for food. No, they didn't even leave their summer range in my area. In contrast, 2023, more acorns I can remember in my life. I thought they'd have an abundance of energy chasing does all over. Nope, didn't move at all - didn't have to. I now just hope for average acorn years.

That's the tricky thing- do average years even exist for masting species like oaks? From what I see there are bust years, near bust years, and varying degrees of boom years.

 

[BSK]

That's the tricky thing- do average years even exist for masting species like oaks? From what I see there are bust years, near bust years, and varying degrees of boom years.

Seems that way, doesn't it?

But I've been giving our local acorn crop a somewhat arbitrary "grade" every year for 37 years. The grade is based on the percent of the ground with acorns in combination with the density of acorns. The grade runs from 0 (no acorns at all) to 10 (the bumper crop from Hell). I consider anything from 0-2 to be a bust, while a grade of 8-10 is a bumper crop. Anything 3-7 is an intermediate crop. Analyzing the grades over the last 37 years, the percent of years that fall into "bust, "bumper" or "intermediate" crop years fall about where you expect for a random distribution, albeit with a slight advantage towards bumper years.

 

[knightrider]

Sounds like you guys need bears to help eat the acorn crop so deer will move more.

Nope, you can have everyone of them back that the local warden has so graciously kicked out on people who dont want them!!!

 

[backyardtndeer]

Yes. When fruit/nut trees are stressed, they drop all the extra fruit they won't be able to carry to maturity under those conditions.

I figured as much. I will have to take a ride on the 4 wheeler on a cooler day and check some of my other persimmon trees. I have noticed some hickory nuts that have already fallen as well, hope the same doesn't happen with acorns.

 

[BSK]

I figured as much. I will have to take a ride on the 4 wheeler on a cooler day and check some of my other persimmon trees. I have noticed some hickory nuts that have already fallen as well, hope the same doesn't happen with acorns.

I'm hearing from hunters in Middle TN that are seeing persimmons shedding fruit.

 

[lafn96]

The strange thing was, even with all the acorns, they were hitting the food plots like crazy.

Acorns are pretty low in minerals; is the assumption that your plots had something they weren't getting from all the acorns? Any idea what it was that they were craving?