Behind white oak acorns, go...
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2nd Most Overrated Deer Food
- Thread starter elk yinzer
- Start date
My case.
The deer go nuts for them, yes.
But massively overrated, imo, for two reasons:
From a hunting perspective, you can't rely on them at all. They produce the least frequently of the four common oak types in my parts (white, red, pin, chestnut...in taxonomy by practical sense). I'd say a good crop around every 3-4 years.
From a ecology perspective, they are way more ephemeral. The acorns are on the ground at most a couple weeks before they start rotting and the deer move on. Meanwhile the deer are still out here munching on last fall's reds for months, they get more palatable after laying on the ground awhile and pack on key weight when they are more needed.
The deer go nuts for them, yes.
But massively overrated, imo, for two reasons:
From a hunting perspective, you can't rely on them at all. They produce the least frequently of the four common oak types in my parts (white, red, pin, chestnut...in taxonomy by practical sense). I'd say a good crop around every 3-4 years.
From a ecology perspective, they are way more ephemeral. The acorns are on the ground at most a couple weeks before they start rotting and the deer move on. Meanwhile the deer are still out here munching on last fall's reds for months, they get more palatable after laying on the ground awhile and pack on key weight when they are more needed.
mast crop generally.
Just so hard to walk away from an acorn tree pawed to bare dirt with deer crap in everywhere.
Just so hard to walk away from an acorn tree pawed to bare dirt with deer crap in everywhere.
I don't know if I would say overrated, but I think it all depends on the abundance of.
This year in SW Va. it seems if it were a oak tree it produced and dropped acorns. So I was seeing more sign on other food sources, such as CRP.
And while there were acorns on the ground the vegetation on the hill tops I was hunting was eaten bare to the ground.
Also someone from saddlehunter posted some time back his area was loaded with persimmons and the deer wouldn't touch them. I'm thinking no way! Around here if you find a persimmon tree that's producing you could splash on some old spice, sit underneath it and harvest a deer.
This year in SW Va. it seems if it were a oak tree it produced and dropped acorns. So I was seeing more sign on other food sources, such as CRP.
And while there were acorns on the ground the vegetation on the hill tops I was hunting was eaten bare to the ground.
Also someone from saddlehunter posted some time back his area was loaded with persimmons and the deer wouldn't touch them. I'm thinking no way! Around here if you find a persimmon tree that's producing you could splash on some old spice, sit underneath it and harvest a deer.
You may be referring to one of my post. I hunted an area in KY that the deer didnt touch persimmons. Weirdest thing I have ever seen related to deer food for sure.
I could argue the 2nd most overrated deer food is persimmon. Sure they can be jam up good for killin a deer when they are right. But they also are a huge draw for hogs, bears, coons, possums, other hunters.
Dont disagree with naming white oaks (alba's) either but for a little different reason. They are generally pretty consistent here but will throw a bumper crop every 3-4 years. The problem here is a lot of areas are so predominant with them that even on just a decent mast year there are so many acorns it can be very difficult to key on them and the deer hardly need to move to feed.
Dont disagree with naming white oaks (alba's) either but for a little different reason. They are generally pretty consistent here but will throw a bumper crop every 3-4 years. The problem here is a lot of areas are so predominant with them that even on just a decent mast year there are so many acorns it can be very difficult to key on them and the deer hardly need to move to feed.
Interesting topic. Curious to see what others contribute.
Any food source could be considered overrated if a hunter focuses on it to much. You have to figure out the best food for the time and place your hunting. I think food plots can be overrated because people over hunt them and burn out their properties.
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Our persimmons seem like a real slow burn from my experience in KY. Some trees will begin dropping in mid- late September and often still be holding some fruit well into December. Deer eat them, but there's not the sense of urgency like when a white oak is real hot. I don't remember ever intentionally killing over a persimmon. Seems like a different scenario for the guys in the South.
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So back in Jersey, when I was a kid, we did a lot of baiting in the Pines. The deer loved apples. There wasn't an apple tree for miles and miles but they loved them. Close to home we got permission on a farm that had pear trees but no apple trees. We'd pick them up and use them for bait. The deer tore up the pears. We had bait piles in both locations w/ apples and pears. On the farm, they would eat the pears and not the apples. In the Pines, they would eat the apples and not the pears.
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There is so much for deer to eat most of us could do better learning about native weeds and grasses but at the end of the day, I try to focus mostly on overall
Movement patterns and find funnels and other terrain features that will force movement. That’s been more consistent for me in the long run.
Movement patterns and find funnels and other terrain features that will force movement. That’s been more consistent for me in the long run.
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Just kind of an interesting thing, there’s a camera I have out this year where deer are eating red acorns in one little spot maybe 10’x15’ that I can see… multiple deer almost every day for at least two months. I visit that spot today and there’s still some acorns left and the caps are so thick almost no soil shows.
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On one of the properties I hunt and have helped
My friend manage, we planted 50+ sawtooth oaks parallel to two small <30 ft. deep drainages that run together eventually. One is directly north south the other is northwest southeast they both flow north. Anyway the deer like these sawtooth oak acorns in the late summer early fall (September) but what likes them even more and have essentially ruined many of the upper branches of these trees are black bears!!! The acorns have a soft spiny exterior shell almost like a giant beech it and kind of like a horse chestnut but very soft. They get to about the size of a fifty cent piece. Bears absolutely love them.
If you’re looking for a species that produces good mast in a relatively short period of time compared to other mast bearing trees, consider the sawtooth oak. We were getting acorns within 8 years after planting and consistent and purposeful game consumption activity at them within 10-12 years after planting. They were simply bare-root shoots that we planted. We tied them off to support poles with grow tubes for the first 8 years. The first five years we just had grow tubes over them with a bamboo or 1” -1.5” square scrap wood pounded in next to them to prevent the grow tube from blowing away.
My friend manage, we planted 50+ sawtooth oaks parallel to two small <30 ft. deep drainages that run together eventually. One is directly north south the other is northwest southeast they both flow north. Anyway the deer like these sawtooth oak acorns in the late summer early fall (September) but what likes them even more and have essentially ruined many of the upper branches of these trees are black bears!!! The acorns have a soft spiny exterior shell almost like a giant beech it and kind of like a horse chestnut but very soft. They get to about the size of a fifty cent piece. Bears absolutely love them.
If you’re looking for a species that produces good mast in a relatively short period of time compared to other mast bearing trees, consider the sawtooth oak. We were getting acorns within 8 years after planting and consistent and purposeful game consumption activity at them within 10-12 years after planting. They were simply bare-root shoots that we planted. We tied them off to support poles with grow tubes for the first 8 years. The first five years we just had grow tubes over them with a bamboo or 1” -1.5” square scrap wood pounded in next to them to prevent the grow tube from blowing away.
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Dwarf Chinkapin (sp?) Oak is another oak that produces acorns at a very early age. I had a few acorns on some in as little as 3 years. Very dependable too. It's a white oak that bears acorns every year.
And I have yet to find any weevils in them. Not sure if they are resistant to weevils but I have not found any.
A lot of hunters dont know that weevils can heavily effect acorns. Thousands of acorns can lay on the ground, untouched by deer because every single nut has a tiny white worm inside. Always crack open a few acorns and look for weevils. If you find worms, then move on because the deer ain't gonna eat there.
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Never knew this!!! What can you do to treat them? Will it effect naturally occurring oaks as well?
As far as I know, there isn't much that can be done about oak weevils.
I will admit that I don't know a lot about them...their biology, are they native, do they need certain conditions to invade, are they attracted to a specific individual tree??? Many questions that I don't know the answer. But I absolutely do know that weevils are common in my area and deer won't touch an acorn with a weevil in it.
I'd also be curious to hear if anyone has ever found weevils in DCO acorns. I have not.
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We created great cover breaks and also an attractant to more upland birds like grouse and woodcock by planting Larch in close proximity to each other. Fast growing with a path or two through the core of these has created a great travelway for all species of game. We planted them I an old cow pasture section that was devoid of game for years. It’s such a beautiful spot on this property especially in the spring I told
my wife Id like a few of my ashes sprinkled on the hillside next to them overlooking a small valley when I die.
my wife Id like a few of my ashes sprinkled on the hillside next to them overlooking a small valley when I die.
What I’ve found on my local red oaks is that the acorns that drop with the caps still attached usually have weevils and the acorns that drop clear of the caps typically don’t. It’s usually a mixed bag on the ground of good and bad acorns so I wouldn’t automatically disregard a tree if I find a few weevils. Although eventually the deer will probably eat all the good ones and only the bad will be left.
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I just checked 10 or so that I planted in 2017/18… the bases get thick fast and the tubes were too tight, holding moisture… now have two that I’m not sure if the bark can recover, other than that a nice little fast growing stand. Lesson learned though gotta keep an eye on tubes as trees grow.