@fulldraw
Well-Known Member
There's a difference between pin oak and chinquapin oak. A pin oak is in the red family. Doesn't matter where it grows.
Oak tree identification
- Thread starter agelessssone
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Huntaholic
Well-Known Member
chinquapin is long hand for pin around here. Im not sure what your version of pin oak is?? You can blindfold me and let me smell the sawdust and I can tell you what kind of oak it is, either red or white. As a logger thats all that matters to me, if its red its one price, if its white its another.
Chinquapin and chestnut dont bring quite as much as true white but they all bring better than red.
Pin oak is 100% in the red family. Don't care what the internet says they are not native to Tn. I've studied them for yrs and they are horrible in our area. Some municipalities around here don't allow them to be planted bc of all the problems they have. When a client calls and they have an Oak problem it's almost always a pin oak. They are more of a Ohio , Kentucky , Indiana, tree. They were brought here as a fast grower and bc they grow fast we're desirable. Only after awhile and studying it was found they don't do well with long dry summers or limestone, which is what we have. Most likely and not trying to speak for him but Huntaholic is most likely speaking for the logging guys and they call chinkapins " pins" for short and there lies the confusion. I would highly doubt any logger is cutting a true quercus palustrus " pin oak" out in Tn forests . I'm no expert at all but it is my business but I can smell the wood or sawdust and tell the difference between red and white. Red smells like dog crap and white smells like whisky .
Huntaholic
Well-Known Member
Correct on all fronts! A "pin oak" to a logger is just short for chinquapin oak. Dont know that Ive ever seen what yall are calling a true pin oak?
LY
Well-Known Member
True Pin oaks are rarely found wild in forests in TN and when they are it's usually well drained bottomlands and/or old home sites. They're mostly found planted around parking lots, along highways or yards. I just planted one in a wet area of my yard a couple of years ago myself.
Everyone on here has seen them in a parking lot somewhere, the bottom limbs will be angled down.
Everyone on here has seen them in a parking lot somewhere, the bottom limbs will be angled down.
Pin oaks are widely used as landscaping trees because they grow fast, so they are mostly found in back yards. I have a couple in my yard planted long before I bought the house, that are about 40 years old but they look as big as 100 year old white oak. I don't really have a problem with the two in my yard. The willow oaks, on the other hand, which were the same age but larger yet, I had cut down. Those things are basically giant weeds IMO.
Most houses in Brentwood and Franklin have them in their yards. They have such tight limb configuration there is very little log. I've seen them with limbs on the ground. If you saw one you'd think " that's a scrubby looking big red , somethings wrong with it " . We thin and deadwood alot , hard to climb in bc the limbs are so tight together.
Swampster
Well-Known Member
Here is West Tennessee, people call a several different trees pin oak, and none of them look like what we called a pin oak back home in KY. In my area, a lot of people call willow oaks a pin oak ... but they will also call daffodils and jonquils buttercup.
I've had good luck from I naturalist.
The oaks I was talking about had leaves similar to those in the pics . But the bark was scaly white looking bark nothing I would consider to be in red oak family family but in the white oak family . I'm definitely not a tree expert. From my hunting experience I usually hunted around white oaks early because the white oak acorns seem to rot more quickly than red oak . Hunted red oak later on the year, had an old timer that told me they white oak acorns were sweeter than red oak but hadn't tasted to see 
BSK
Well-Known Member
You may be looking at a Swamp White Oak or Swamp Chestnut Oak, but those grow primarily in wet bottomlands.
Red variety oak acorns have more tannin in them than white variety oak acorns, which makes them taste bitter. However, that tannin prevents the acorn from going to root until spring. White variety acorns have less tannin and are more preferred by deer unless there are no whites or after the white variety go to root (usually in late November or early December depending on rainfall). So deer prefer the white varieties in fall up until the white's go to root in late fall or early winter. After that, the deer subsist on red variety acorns through the winter.I'm definitely not a tree expert. From my hunting experience I usually hunted around white oaks early because the white oak acorns seem to rot more quickly than red oak . Hunted red oak later on the year, had an old timer that told me they white oak acorns were sweeter than red oak but hadn't tasted to see
This makes the white variety oaks more of draw for deer hunters through November, as well as an incredible source of fats for energy during the rut. But red varieties are what carry deer through the winter. Both sets of species play an important role in the fall/winter food source equation.
I have. There's a very noticeable difference. The white oak tastes like a mildly bitter nut. Red oak was nearly as bad as a green persimmon. I'm an idiot. I taste everything in the woods.If the deer eat it then I want to try it too. Hardly ever swallow anything but am always tasting. Never had the balls to try nettles though, and deer love them.
BSK
Well-Known Member
How does ragweed taste? Deer sure eat the snot out of it!
Like a tart, bitter piece of weed in a yuppy artisan salad my wife eats at Panera Bread. I've never eaten the flower or seeds though.
Huntaholic
Well-Known Member
Ive watched deer in TX eat mesquite trees and prickly pear cactus. Im gonna pass on tasting those
Hahaha prickly pear is actually pretty darn good. And mesquite beans are toxic as I understand it, probably not a great idea to eat. I sure like smoking with the wood though!
BSK
Well-Known Member
Prickly pear is quite good, if fixed properly. Prickly pear jelly is excellent.
How is that any different than learning from books? I applaud a young person that is passionate and uses books or the internet to gain knowledge.
Deer will eat just about anything ... what about tasting sawbrairs ...
