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I remember the year it was green leafed all over the ridge tops in turkey season. Then we had a HARD freeze. Afterwards it looked like a fire had swept through the tree tops and the leaves fell off.

That year we were hunting well into November with a thick canopy of green leaves. Fall occurred in DECEMBER in places and the rut was pathetic!
 
102 said:
I remember the year it was green leafed all over the ridge tops in turkey season. Then we had a HARD freeze.
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2007, remember it like it was yesterday. I had a terrible deer season, but my best friend had an awesome deer season. He found the few red oaks in the area that had acorns and had deer all over him that fall. Meanwhile, I was struggling to see just a few each day.
 
102 said:
I remember the year it was green leafed all over the ridge tops in turkey season. Then we had a HARD freeze. Afterwards it looked like a fire had swept through the tree tops and the leaves fell off.
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That was 2007. In Middle TN, that year we also experienced the worst EHD outbreak I've ever seen. Brutal late freeze, total loss of the acorn crop, extreme heat and drought in August and September, massive EHD die-off. It was the perfect storm.

That year we had bucks that were so unhealthy their antlers didn't harden properly. When the velvet came off, the tips of all the tines and beams were black and you could dig your fingernails into the antler material.
 
Looking at a real cold pattern the next few weeks. We're going to get some hard freezes in there. We shall see how much of an impact that has. Although the Maples are already tassling in my area, the oaks are not.
 
Creek bottoms said:
White oaks in my area aren't doing anything yet. That could be a blessing with a couple of freezes coming next week. I hope that will delay the white oaks. We need a white oak acorn crop badly this fall.
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Need it really bad! We have had very inadequate acorns starting in 2019. Way overdue for a bumper crop
 
BSK said:
Shorter range models are now all suggesting a freeze the end of next week, around the 10th. GFS has another freeze the following week.
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yep. temps will drop into the mid 30's tomorrow. Didn't look past that too closely, but saw the rain chance next week and assumed cold weather would be behind it. all the trees are budding and blossoming... depending on the severity of the freeze could mess them up pretty bad.
 
My herd usually doesn't start shedding until this time of the year! However, this it was a whole month earlier due to the lack of acorns I believe!
 
Creek bottoms said:
White oaks in my area aren't doing anything yet. That could be a blessing with a couple of freezes coming next week. I hope that will delay the white oaks. We need a white oak acorn crop badly this fall.
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I couldn't agree more. In our area, a second acorn failure in a row would be devastating.
 
I think I posted some stuff about my observations the Fall. I had a theory about the rut that year...or lack thereof...and thought that since it was such an unusual Fall with such a thick canopy in the mature hardwoods we spent most our time, that there wasn't enough light getting to the forest floor to trigger some does or bucks as in a normal year.

Who knows. Just not enough data I guess.

Anyway...food for thought.
 
102 said:
I think I posted some stuff about my observations the Fall. I had a theory about the rut that year...or lack thereof...and thought that since it was such an unusual Fall with such a thick canopy in the mature hardwoods we spent most our time, that there wasn't enough light getting to the forest floor to trigger some does or bucks as in a normal year.

Who knows. Just not enough data I guess.

Anyway...food for thought.
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After this last year, I now have a pretty good idea what happened. The deer in 2007 and 2022 were in such poor shape (locally) that does were physically unable to reach estrus until later in the year. In 2007, peak rutting activity was the first week in December (normally mid-November). In 2022 peak breeding was about 10 days late. Those are the only two years out of the last 35 that we've seen noticeable late breeding, and the only two years where we experienced severe drought, extreme heat and a total acorn failure all combined.
 
We are getting our big freeze this weekend. I think it will actually be good. Basically get a huge reset. The oaks around me haven't started.
 
Was cool here this morning but no frost. Tomorrow morning looks cool again, then weekend. Doesn't look horrible really. I'm feeling optimistic, maybe foolishly but optimistic still.
 
Tuesday and Wednesday I had a slight frost but I don't think it did much. But this coming Saturday and Sunday it looks like cold mid 20s. We have some oaks in bloom I believe. We had no acorns last fall, even the red oaks were empty and that's surprising.

I still do not know if it will be like 07. 07 I think we had an even earlier green up than this season. And plus it was April 7th and 8th I believe while most everything was in bloom.
 
AccuWeather is currently forecasting a low of 21 this Monday morning for Dover.
That usually means high teens out in the county.

Add to this the 2 full COLD days before Monday being forecast for a high @ 40 and lows below freezing, i.e. very cold ground before Sunday night dipping into teens.
Not good.
 
Looks like the seed starts in the basement are going to get yuge before getting planted… all in all, don't mind the cold, I pray every morning it decimated the ticks and mosquitos, but I think they are becoming more resilient.

I'll be praying for everyone's nut & fruit & veggie farms. And for no monstrous droughts in late summer
 
Crazy cold again this morning. Thankfully, I don't see any more freezes this hard in the forecast for the rest of the spring. I see the potential for temps below freezing, but not dropping into the teens. In fact, right now there's a possible freeze in the forecast near April 4.
 

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