Well how is the crop in your area. I can find none this year on two different farms.
Loaded with reds. They dont eat them much around me til Thanksgiving.
Acorns...what acorns? The oaks close to me seem like they produced nothing or very few.
Everything is loaded around here. Every time I mow my lawn it sounds like I'm mowing the driveway. White oak, red oak, hickory nuts, and walnuts. Squirrels are fats as pigs. Just wish the better half would let me pluck a few of those fats tree rats around the house.
Troy
That is surprising, it rained all summer in Tennessee.There are so many acorns this year that it's going to be difficult to find the deer, they won't be traveling very far.
The trees are loaded on my farm here in WV. Plenty for them to eat.
Tom
The burr oaks around here are absolutely loaded. Some of the immature acorns have been hitting the ground.
Wow, I am surprised.
The water oaks here are loaded, but I think white oaks are going to be few and far between. I did find one white oak that was loaded but it was on the edge of our food plot so I don't know if the fertilizer had anything to do with it.
Very spotty in my area of the Hudson Valley. I found a couple of white oaks that are really dropping and the deer are hammering them.Hopefully they will still be dropping when it opens here in two weeks. TonyZ.
Very few in Delaware. Last year was a bumper crop and actually made it hard to hunt as deer had so many food options. I've seen a few reds, but no whites to speak of.
they hit pretty heavy in the hills around here, nothing has dropped yet but i found several big whiteoaks just full of those "as big as your big toe" white oak acorns this Sunday.. it seems statewide we have a good crop this year.. I hope its not too good to where the deer dont have to move much...
Here in Ohio good. Or at least in my yard
Went out in back last night to put the cam under the apple tree and a young doe was eating her fill on the back of the property.
"Gonna be a good day, tater"
White oaks (shagbark) are raining heavy right now, look up in the trees and it looks like bunches of grapes. Reds are pretty loaded also but they're holding tight still. Earlier this year the reds were dropping small acorns, this puzzled me, asked a fella in the know and he explained that the trees were so loaded that they are shedding the immature ones to keep the bigger nuts.
I will report for Southwest Missouri. Acorn crop is good to excellent, reds, the tasty white oaks, and the chinkapins are loaded also. Animals will have a nice food source this winter. Mike
Live Oaks are doing well in Central Texas. I wish I had more Shin and Reds Oaks to get the deer excited.
Post oaks are producing well in my area of Southern Oklahoma. Small, but lots of them. Red oaks a little shy this year.
Chris
Almost non existent in central Florida. I'm hoping something starts dropping toward Halloween.
QuoteOriginally posted by bigbadjon:
Almost non existent in central Florida. I'm hoping something starts dropping toward Halloween.
X2 they were sparse in my area last year too.
I went to check on some whites this afternoon and theyre falling. Deer and squirrels are feeding on them heavy.
I'm loaded down with Pin Oak acorns right now. I'm sure we will have plenty of red oaks as well when I get out looking in a couple days.
Plenty of acorns here only still on the tree. Persimmons are falling and will be my plan next week. Lots of crabapples as well that should be dropping in maybe 2-3 weeks. RC
A fair crop of reds and whites, but the chestnut oaks are excellent and falling like rain.
I have seen a lot on the ground already. We don't open for another 2 weeks.
Some by me but not as many as the past two years.
We were covered in acorns for the last two years.
Last year we had zero. This year tons, reds and whites.
It's still hard to tell around here. Nothing is dropping yet, but using binos I can tell some of the white oaks are bearing. I don't think it's gonna be a bumper year, but if you find the right spot it's better.
have not found a one, last 2 years were loaded, this year nuthin.
It seems hit or miss by me which I guess is god, easier to narrow down active feeding. Funny, I cant see them in the trees but see some on the ground beneath the trees.
Sucks around here. Not to mentioned they made it legal to bait this year. Been in the woods for the last two days, and I don't have a clue where the deer are. The guys on the property next to ours have put feeders out. Not for sure how that affects things but it is not looking good so far.
Dropping good here at my place.....watched a doe feeding 30 yards behind my rhinehart tonight..lol
It was funny to watch her.....an acorn would drop every few minutes....and she had to find the one that just rained down....instead of concentrating on all the others that were already on the ground.
Yeah the past two years we were loaded but nothing this year. Have talked to a few others around here also and they haven't found any.
I bet if I find a tree dropping it will be a no brainer place to set up.
No white oak acorns or adequate apple crop. I have looking at all the white oaks I fertilized in the spring. We had a crazy amount of rain this summer. (Record highs) Usually when we have a bad apple crop it is due to a late frost in May. I do not know if that would affect the acorn crop.
My dads farm has nuts but thats about it. All my other spots are slim to none. Walked a couple miles the other day and nothing worth talking about.
It's raining White Oak Acorns in my neck of the woods. The white oaks are just loaded. I don't know about the reds. The apples are loaded also. I saw 2 different bucks in the white oaks on 2 hunts.
Aint seen one acorn over here in the sand box haha. But I will be home friday finally! Hopefully I will find some while scouting when I get home.
TJ,
Sounds like a late frost got your acorn blooms.... happened here a few years back when on April 22nd I think it was we had a 25 degree night !!! When I say no acorns, I mean NO acorns that year. We had to move all our stands and started hunted thickets with honesuckle and briars. Splashed 6 deer once we moved. Deer seemed as fat as ever, pretty amazing how adaptable they really are. We have also had some record drought conditions over the past 5 year cycle and even on our hottest driest year the acorns that year were unbelieveable ! A biologist told me that drought would actually stimulate acorn production due to nature trying to preserve the species.
This year has been totally opposite.... we have had record rainfall this year and acorn crop looks good. I think we are close to 60" of rain last time I checked !!! Good luck my friend, I am sure you will kill a KY giant, acorns or no acorns...... :notworthy:
Nothing in New Mexico drought killed the crop
Not so good in Central FL. I hunt out near Frostproof. The large tress are not dropping yet. The smaller scub oaks seem to have a few but not many.
Looks like there will be a lot of stalking for the piggies vs my tree stand this opening for me.
QuoteOriginally posted by NoCams:
TJ,
Sounds like a late frost got your acorn blooms.... happened here a few years back when on April 22nd I think it was we had a 25 degree night !!! When I say no acorns, I mean NO acorns that year. We had to move all our stands and started hunted thickets with honesuckle and briars. Splashed 6 deer once we moved. Deer seemed as fat as ever, pretty amazing how adaptable they really are. We have also had some record drought conditions over the past 5 year cycle and even on our hottest driest year the acorns that year were unbelieveable ! A biologist told me that drought would actually stimulate acorn production due to nature trying to preserve the species.
This year has been totally opposite.... we have had record rainfall this year and acorn crop looks good. I think we are close to 60" of rain last time I checked !!! Good luck my friend, I am sure you will kill a KY giant, acorns or no acorns...... :notworthy:
Late Frost, very interesting NoCams. I will look into that to see when our last frost was. Not to many days pass where I can't learn something from this great site.
QuoteOriginally posted by Izzy:
Loaded with reds. They dont eat them much around me til Thanksgiving.
Same here
Im in the Elizabethtown area TJ. The white oak acorns are pretty much not out there. I have seen a few big trees with some on them but they were around residential areas. Looks like the red oaks are gonna produce ok this year.
What I like to call a very good huntable crop in southern Middle TN. Not every tree is loaded but most less than 25 year old white oaks have some acorns and a few trees are just loaded. Makes for good hunting conditions where there is plenty of mast crop, however, it is spread out enough where game has to move a little to eat. Begger lice rag weed and other forbs are excellent right now. Other than just looking at an acorn on the ground, cut you a few open and check them for quality. Lot of rot in many of the white oaks and swamp oaks. Red oaks not falling much but what have fell early look to have good quality.
More eastward on the Plateau the Chestnut Oak mast is a bumper crop, but it doesn't matter because nothing will eat them unless it is the last thing left in the woods. White oak crop is good where it hit and spotty in other areas.
No acorns on my farm here in Kentucky either....hopefully i missed one and it starts dropping...definatly know where the deer will be for sure.
Adam,
Don't want to disagree with you but most of the deer we gut we always find some of those huge chestnut oak acorns in them. I realize they prefer the sweeter, lower tannin white oak but they do eat a fair amount of red acorns too. I have a giant chestnut oak in the yard and they started falling this week. You are correct sir about checking the acorns too..... they might look good until you cut a few open..... :readit:
And TJ...... speaking of learning from this site, yes learn something here everytime almost. Love me some Tradgang..... :archer2:
Tom,
Got back from church this morning and hit the hills in search of a hot white oak, nothing. Walked 6 ridges out and found 2 big old red oaks that had dropped a few and nothing had touched them. Only found 1 old pile of deer poop also. Not good. never laid eyes on a single squirrel either. They left last year and basically didn't return.
Another strange thing is that I put some corn out in 3 different locations and its hardly been touched. Its got me stumped. I guess I am going to have to travel some to maybe find some hot trees.
I did about a 3 mile loop behind the house today and found one little spot where deer were feeding on acorns.
Deer sign is very slim in the woods. They are holed up in the standing corn behind my house and a pond in there.. no need to come out.
I did find two big white oaks where squirrels were cutting the acorns..real big ones..when they fall it will be good.
Spoke with my cousins husband yesterday evening and asked him if he had seen any loaded white oaks and he said he hadn't laid an eye on one. Said he see a few chestnut oaks that had some but that was it. Plenty of beech and Hickory though. He stays in the woods with his squirrel dogs so I figured he'd know if there were any around for sure.
Yeah Jeff, the hickory's on my place are loaded also. No shortage of squirrels this year either.
Where I hunt here in Georgia white oaks are bare - water and turkey oaks (always steady producers) are normal, turkey oaks really plump and ripe though and are about to drop. Post oaks (very rare around here) are loaded! Happens to be about a dozen in one very sandy, open area few people hunt. Not sharing this exact spot with anyone! :D
TJ,
I work on a horse farm in Woodford County. There's a big White Oak right outside the office door that's loaded. The yard deer are up there every day.
I keep telling the boss somebody needs to do something about this but his wife objects. There's a little fork horn I see almost every day.
Hickories are loaded there too and Walnuts are hanging full. I haven't been able to hunt yet due to sickness in the office so I don't know how it is in my hunting spot but the office is crawling with deer.
Marvin, its time you take offensive action. Sneek in after dark and nip off the owners wifes flowers and then after about a week of that ask if you can hunt them. Works every time!
QuoteOriginally posted by KentuckyTJ:
Marvin, its time you take offensive action. Sneek in after dark and nip off the owners wifes flowers and then after about a week of that ask if you can hunt them. Works every time!
:biglaugh:
They have been falling for a while, and the deer are hammering them, thats where I was saturday, watching the deer comming out of some oaks, and almost got him.
TJ,
I hadn't thought of that. Good idea.
We had a doe hit in front of the farm this morning. Ther's a spot I've been watching that is just over a rise and a part of the rock fence fell down making it a perfect crossing spot. I always slow down when I come through there. The other guy didn't.
Two really nice bucks and six does in the paddock behind the office this morning. I'm going to have to find a new place to work. This is killing me.
Marvin, if the nut tree's are raining them down. Take a bucket or two and scoop them up and place them in an already hot tree for an exciting hunt or two. I've been known to scoop them up at my daughters school. There are three huge white oak tree's there that pour them out most years.
PS. parks are a great place to harvest acorns as well....ummmmm I would think! :goldtooth:
After loosing my last oak due to sandy last year I can say my neighbors oaks are screaming with acorns...Squirrels are having a feast day all day and nite...Now if they could only allow hunting on my end of long island... :bigsmyl: