Favorite acorns?

[dburt]

My dad has always told me that out of a hundred oaks, sometimes you'll find one where the deer just flock to. Scouting this last week after a hunt I found one. A white oak, amidst innumerable others, with a big community scrape, multiple rubs, and probably 20 piles of droppings of all size (that weren't already covered by leaves). What makes a spot like this? Is it actually that some trees produce better tasting acorns? I know deer prefer some varieties over others, like white and chinquapin, but what else could make them find a favorite feeding area like this? Regardless, I went straight to walmart and picked up a $50 trail cam for that spot. :)

(Except for a large uprooted tree 10 yards away that made the area more open, it wasn't that much different than any surrounding forest...gentle sloped ridge just 40 yards from a logging road near a small lake. No persimmons or other food that I noticed.)

 

[Good time Charlie]

We have a few of them on the property,They are Big white oaks.
I call them boundary oaks, back in the day they were used to mark property.
But for whatever reason the deer will flock to them.
We have one up at the mailboxes ,and just the other day the neighbor seen 20 eating under it.
I put a cam on the fence out from the mailbox to see what is eating at night.
I don't think anyone will bother the cam ,we are way back ..3 miles from pavement.
Lot of white oaks here in my part of the state..I look for some Big Bucks to fall this year,maybe I will even get out and hunt a day or so.

 

[Mike Belt]

When you find out let the rest of us know.

 

[Rob-HC Hunter]

My question is did you pick out a tree to get in?????


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[dburt]

My question is did you pick out a tree to get in?????

Yes and no. I hunted it later that evening but didn't have much time to get me a real good tree. I chose a nearby white with some good cover that worked well for my south wind, but once up in the tree I didn't have as many open shots as I thought I would. There's a tree just in front (beech?) that I thought I could climb above, but it's still in the way all but one good open area. So it was a good scout hunt, but I either need a new tree or need to do a little work thinning out some stuff in the way.

 

[Winchester]

I call them "killing trees" and they are ALWAYS in existence somewhere in years when acorns are plentiful. Sometimes it takes hours of walking to find one, other times I can find them pretty quick. I think its a combination of being in the right spot Geographically and maybe the acorns are a lil sweeter for whatever reason vs others of the same variety. Myself and those I hunt with have killed literally hundreds of deer with a bow under these "killing trees". I very rarely climb just in a cluster of oaks dropping, I'm always looking for more of a sure thing!!

 

[muddyboots]

Yep they are preferred trees. Why I don't know but when u find one it's awesome. In my neck of the woods they don't carry from year to year. Pursuit hunter wrote some good stuff about them in his blog.

 

[dburt]

Frustrating update: Just got back to this spot today (west TN, close to in laws so I'm not here all the time) and went and pulled the camera. There were still droppings maybe a day or two old, but definitely not as many. Scrapes are still being used but again a day or two old from the look of freshly fallen leaves. Sat down to find out what's coming thru this feeding area, and my excitement was totally squelched due to a malfunctioning camera. Only pics were when I was setting it up - batteries are dead, literally didn't take a single pic after I walked off. And the pics were horrible at that. I have a couple cheap cams from Wildgame Innovations and they are just fine, still on the same batteries two years later, take great pics, reliable, seem accurate as far as their advertised range of motion...this Moultrie Gamespy is a piece of junk (or at least this one is and many other reviewers feel similarly). Taking it back for another entry level WGI.

On top of that, had a very difficult hunt yesterday. We couldn't take my buddy's car on the road we thought we could, so my hike in to where I wanted to set up was 1,500 yards. Sat on a really nice saddle, and though I was bested by some weird wind, I enjoyed the hunt but didn't see a thing. Hiked back out in the dark, then on a dirt road for a while...ended up walking more than 2.5 miles with my tree stand (and it aint aluminum). Still all good, but on the way back home throat started getting sore, and came down with a full fledged cold by the middle of the night.

Was hoping some great pics were gonna cheer me up today. Oh well, have plenty to be thankful for - hopefully I'll feel well enough by tomorrow to at least get out in the woods for a bit.