Help Me Trees

[Patriot]

Can anyone give me like trees 101 relative to hunting?

Maples, white oaks, red oaks, ash....

A handful of times I’ve tried to research basic info specific for deer hunting and came out empty handed. I’m looking for the basics that will make me a better deer hunter and make me better at scouting. What do you look for and why? Do you look for different stuff at different times of the year?

Thanks for any help!

 

[gameflogger]

Can anyone give me like trees 101 relative to hunting?

Maples, white oaks, red oaks, ash....

A handful of times I’ve tried to research basic info specific for deer hunting and came out empty handed. I’m looking for the basics that will make me a better deer hunter and make me better at scouting. What do you look for and why? Do you look for different stuff at different times of the year?

Thanks for any help!

Deer love white oaks and water oaks. I usually pick a tree in a good area and fertilize the crap out of the drip line of the tree I plan on hunting. The deer flock to the tree like a feeder after it has been fertilized.

 

[Patriot]

Deer love white oaks and water oaks. I usually pick a tree in a good area and fertilize the crap out of the drip line of the tree I plan on hunting. The deer flock to the tree like a feeder after it has been fertilized.

whats a drip line? When you fertilize it do you just dump a bag of fert at the trunk?

 

[shamus275]

White Oaks generally drop before Reds-and have a higher sugar content which drive the deer nuts. Find the White Oaks. Late in the season the Red becomes the mast choice before they really start hitting the food plots later in the season. This is from my own experience where I hunt in northern Mi.

 

[LarkHarrison243]

I am interested as well.

 

[gcr0003]

White oak is a tree and also a family of trees.

 

[sureshotscott]

This is a good topic.

 

[dalton916]

 

[boyne bowhunter]

I find here on the west coast of northern lower Michigan I seem to follow the mast drops as they're available. Early on, I seem to sit a lot around the wild cherry trees. Then I move toward white oaks then red oaks and finally beech trees to follow the mast drop. Unfortunately the oak trees are becoming rarer and rarer on public land as it is logged. The oaks must fetch a premium price as they are really sought after.

Although it doesn't drop mast like the aforementioned, I also find young poplar stands to be deer magnets while they're holding their leaves. The deer like the cover and really seem to thrive on the fresh leaves. I sit a lot along eges of 5-10 year old clear cuts.

 

[gameflogger]

whats a drip line? When you fertilize it do you just dump a bag of fert at the trunk?

No the drip line is the perimeter of the leaves, the tree’s most critical roots are where the rain falls off the leaves at the outside perimeter of the tree. Basically you want to walk below the farthest reaches of the tree in a circle around it. Sometimes when I want to be covert, I buy the fertilizer spikes and drive them into the ground so they cannot be seen. They usually last a while under the ground.

 

[IkemanTX]

Can anyone give me like trees 101 relative to hunting?

Maples, white oaks, red oaks, ash....

A handful of times I’ve tried to research basic info specific for deer hunting and came out empty handed. I’m looking for the basics that will make me a better deer hunter and make me better at scouting. What do you look for and why? Do you look for different stuff at different times of the year?

Thanks for any help!

This link below is the “end all - be all” for oak identification in the US. White oak varieties come before reds preference wise.... and then regional preferences take over from there.

https://www.fs.fed.us/foresthealth/technology/pdfs/fieldguide.pdf

As far as other trees in your area.... I would call your county biologist. It sounds crazy, but they are almost always happy to help. If you are hunting public land, call the biologist specifically in charge of the property. They are a WEALTH of knowledge and usually very accommodating.

 

[IkemanTX]

I should have read the whole thread before just blindly posting my above post...... so much misunderstanding of oaks!


Red oaks and white oaks are two different taxonomic classifications of oaks. Think of them as “families” of oaks. The white oak family drops acorns the same year the flower (catkin) was fertilized, the red oak family drops acorns the year AFTER the flower (catkin) was fertilized. White oak acorns take a little less than a year to be made/drop, and red oaks take a little less than 2 years to be made/drop.


There is a common misconception that either white oaks or red oaks are “every other year” bearers. This isn’t correct. the truth of the matter is that a late hard frost in spring often kills an acorn crop. For white oaks, it kills THIS year’s acorn crop... (because they flower, germinate, grow, and drop all in the same year).
For red oaks, it kills NEXT year’s acorn crop. (Because they flower, germinate, sit dormant for a year, then fill out, and drop in the second year)
As such, the timing of frosts versus the flowers (catkins) emerging determines wether there is an acorn failure.

White oak family species are lower in tannins..... Red oak family species are higher in tannins. Tannins are bitter... neither deer, nor humans, like bitter flavors. Therefore, white oaks are more preferred by all creatures. Tannins reduce over time, and with exposure to water... so red oaks get less and less bitter over time. That’s why deer will readily hit them later in the year.

There is a specific tree NAMED “White Oak” (Quercus Alba), but don’t confuse it’s identification with the only “white oak” acorn that people talk about deer hitting.

 

[Allegheny Tom]

1st, classify what aspect of deer behavior that you want to study in regards to hunting.

If you are strictly taking about food, then you need to categorize into mast, browse or leaf consumption.
Each species will have an order of preference and TIME of when its food type will be available to deer.

If you are talking rut behavior or scent marking, that may very well be totally different set of species.

You also should identify species that are conducive to edge production. That's where you will find movement patterns.

Late season hunting and high pressure areas may require species that create heavy cover.

Finally, for stands, I like species that retain leaves well into late fall.

Each of these categories could have an individual discussion of their own.

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[IkemanTX]

Also.....
There is no scientific correlation between fertilizing oaks and acorn production. No matter what any salesman tells you.

Don’t trust them.


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[BackSpasm]

Also.....
There is no scientific correlation between fertilizing oaks and acorn production. No matter what any salesman tells you.

Don’t trust them.


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Came here to say this. Dr Craig Harper and colleagues at UT did an extensive study on tree fertilization with multiple products and showed ZERO affect on acorn production or nutrition.


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[JAYBO]

Good visualization, I like pictures. All these words make me sleepy. LOL
Hahahaha

 

[JAYBO]

Also.....
There is no scientific correlation between fertilizing oaks and acorn production. No matter what any salesman tells you.

Don’t trust them.


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Does a wet or dry season impact acorn production and if so, which season is better for production. I am assuming a wet season but I am usually wrong about this stuff.

 

[Exhumis]

Does a wet or dry season impact acorn production and if so, which season is better for production. I am assuming a wet season but I am usually wrong about this stuff.

Typically it's spring frost, summer lack of rain and fall rain that affects it. Here's a good pdf by the forestry service:

https://bit.ly/2wswQ6P

Another good read by Tennessee Ag:

https://bit.ly/2Up4zGp

 

[Exhumis]

Can anyone give me like trees 101 relative to hunting?

Maples, white oaks, red oaks, ash....

A handful of times I’ve tried to research basic info specific for deer hunting and came out empty handed. I’m looking for the basics that will make me a better deer hunter and make me better at scouting. What do you look for and why? Do you look for different stuff at different times of the year?

Thanks for any help!

Here in VA we have wild persimmon trees so I try and hit those early season along with any other fruit bearing trees I can find. Then it's white oaks, especially when the browse has gone brown there food sources are drying up and as others have said they're lower in tannins and not as acidic. I'll also look for other tree nut trees line pecans and walnuts. I've found a couple in my properties and the deer seem to beat those up before red oaks. Finally in the late season I'm looking for my red oaks and whatever greenery is left which is usually found along water sources and sunny spots.

 

[gameflogger]

Also.....
There is no scientific correlation between fertilizing oaks and acorn production. No matter what any salesman tells you.

Don’t trust them.


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Scientific correlation ha! Fertilize one oak tree next to one that you do not fertilize and see which one the deer prefer when the acorns start falling, I do not need a research study to prove what I have witnessed first hand with 2 of the exact same species of oak tree next to each other in the same field. The tree that we fertilized was bare dirt it looked like a dirt track below it while the other tree did have some activity, but not near the same amount. Im not saying that fertilizing the tree will necessarily increase acorn production, I have seen first hand that the deer prefer the acorns dropped from the tree that has been fertilized.