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Browsed Acorns - What Sign Do You Look For?

Droppings, tracks, preferably large ones. If the acorns are falling with caps on I look for v notches in the caps to confirm that it is deer feeding on them.
Got any pics of what you are referring to?
 
I live in an area where oak is the dominant tree species. I’d say 85% oak, 14% pine, and 1% other. Deer seek out white oak acorns as they’re not as bitter as other oaks. During years of bumper acorn crops (such as this year) hunting can be tough because they have no reason to move. In times when acorns are scarce, hunting is phenomenal as they’re always on the move.
 
It seems just hunting fresh sign is universal. Deer leave sign behind, indisputable. Concentration is the key.

These super concentrated primary oaks around here are rare. Really rare. We have butt tons of oaks and deer usually have quite a buffet. I've found a couple handfuls of really hot oaks in my lifetime and those occurences are generally years when the mast crop is spotty. It is definitely a density matter.

In this region oaks are super important but this notion of finding the magic oak tree, I would keep it in a back pocket but it I wouldn't bank on it.
 
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I've had superb hunts hunting hot oaks. As Womack says when you find it it'll take your breath away and you won't be able to mistake it. The poop is basically steaming and everywhere, and most often I bump the does that bed right next to it.
The only exception I'll add in my experience is if your trying to get a mature buck this way, that tree better be in, surrounded by, or in very close proximity to dense security cover and/or bedding. If I find a hot tree in the middle of open timber I won't sit it no matter how incredible the sign is. A weary buck will not be there in daylight
 
So this was interesting timing for me. I had been thinking on this topic as my hunting area is loaded with acorns. I read this thread yesterday and found the part about the acorn caps with the v notch very interesting. Today we went to a thing called forest school with the kids and I noticed acorns under a big oak tree. Something in the red oak family. I started noticing all these empty acorn caps and picked a few up. Low and behold they have notches in all the caps.
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Well I have a live update here. This timing is really amazing lol. We came to a local park tonight to hang out with the kids. I watched seven deer come out across the way and stand under a tree and feed on something in the ground for a while. As soon as they moved off I walked over to investigate. It was some type of oak in the white family and had acorn caps everywhere underneath it. There was very few acorns left on the ground. They were deer tracks everywhere. These acorns were a little smaller than my previous post and the caps didn’t have a notch in them but some of them were cracked a little bit.
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Well I have a live update here. This timing is really amazing lol. We came to a local park tonight to hang out with the kids. I watched seven deer come out across the way and stand under a tree and feed on something in the ground for a while. As soon as they moved off I walked over to investigate. It was some type of oak in the white family and had acorn caps everywhere underneath it. There was very few acorns left on the ground. They were deer tracks everywhere. These acorns were a little smaller than my previous post and the caps didn’t have a notch in them but some of them were cracked a little bit.
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I've never subscribed to the notch theory. I think the goobers gobble them up however they can.

@elk yinzer im not going to say "magic trees" are for sure a thing in your area, but I will say that one local properties there are literal thousands of acres of woodland with water and other oaks being the dominant tree. It may take several days of searching but I have found obvious feed trees in these areas. Acorns for miles but that 1 tree was the favorite for a couple of days.

They are hard to find. I only found a few by accident. Once I started looking for them I still don't always find them. But the ROI I get from hunting them when I do find them is high enough that I look for them until our late January rut kicks in.
 
I'm interested to know what critter clips the caps like that. I've always thought it was deer popping the nut out from the cap with their front teeth. I don't know for sure.
 
Droppings, tracks, preferably large ones. If the acorns are falling with caps on I look for v notches in the caps to confirm that it is deer feeding on them.
So the v notch confirms that it is a deer eating them not a squirrel. I found some yesterday with the v notch and just want to confirm this!!!!!!
 
So the v notch confirms that it is a deer eating them not a squirrel. I found some yesterday with the v notch and just want to confirm this!!!!!!
I don’t think a squirrels mouth is big enough to create a Mark like that. In my experience definitely a deer doing that while crunching down.
 
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