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white oaks

I have. One Spring I put out a bag of 13-13-13 around each of about a dozen White Oaks in my back yard. I definitely noticed deer hanging out under my trees that Fall a lot more than normal. Often there would be 5 or 6 to a dozen deer at a time. I have a few White Oaks in the woods that I'm going to do the same to in the next few weeks to see if I can duplicate this sucess.
 
Thanks,that's what I was thinking of trying.Got a stand with 3 mature white oaks in bow range close to water.Think I will try it on them.
 
Football Hunter said:
I don't know if it works or not,seems like it would,I know the prevailing belief on here is that is does not help.
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Well, it's not going to make deer stand under your oaks eating acorns all day long of course but I do think it causes a noticeable increase in activity. Well worth spending about $14 or $15 per tree for a few oaks in areas close to your stand. Maybe the reason it worked so well for me that one year is that I put a bag per tree around about 15 trees in less than 2 acres. Deer might not notice it so much with just a tree or two? Deer useage of the acorns could be measured with trail cameras by fertilizing some trees and not others the same year but you never know how much the location of a specific tree is affecting deer useage when you look at the pictures. Anyhow, I'll have one more year of info this Fall as to how effective it is.
 
It works,started doing it a couple of years ago after leaving a bag of fertalizer a the base of an oak tree in the edge of my yard all fall and winter just by accident and when things started blooming it was the 1st to bloom,the greenest and was loaded with acorns.So i started diong it with a few of white oaks on the farm i hunt.I just take the bag lay it up against the tree a cut it full of holes and let the rain do the rest.
 
If you decide to fertilize perhaps do a test, fertilize some and not others and keep tabs on what happens. I have heard some say the fertilizer is amazing and other professionals I respect say it will make the tree grow faster but won't help with acorn production except due to the larger tree.
 
I had a few persimmon trees and wild apple trees on our Tree Farm that deer didn't touch the fruit and the fruit would lay there till they dissolved in spring. After I limed and started fertilizing around the Persimmon trees to grow winter wheat I noticed the Persimmon fruit now disappears quickly. A year ago I limed around the wild apple trees and the next crop of fruit quickly disappeared so I'm becoming a believer. The apples were only eaten one other time in 20 years - during an acorn failure. I recently applied another bag of lime to the wild apple trees.
 
Yup, no evidence it helps. I don't bother. Why spend time and energy on something that has a very, very low probability of producing positive results? If time/money are limited, spend them on management practices that are known to produce results.
 

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