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Acorn Confusion

I scouted last week and today. Where I hunt acorns have been and are falling. I went to my favorite white oaks last week and saw no signs of deer feeding. White acorns are filet mignon to deer.

I scouted some new area today and found pin oaks falling, but no deer sign that they are feeding on the acorns. I returned to my white oaks that I check lasted week, found more acorns on the ground, but no signs of deer feeding.

I am in a dilemma as to why the deer are not feeding on them. Could there me so much browse that the deer are not feeding on acorns yet (we still have a lot of green leaves and grass) ?

This is a rhetorical question for Bowsite.com, but anyone got any ideas as what is happening ? I'm all ears !!

Your favorite white oaks are probably not the only ones dropping. This is what happened in an area I hunted this season. White oak acorns everywhere so the deer don’t go far to find them. Check trees that are close to thick cover, bedding areas.

The deer will hit specific trees when there are lots of acorns. Look around and find the trees with most sign under them. Set up on the tree. They will hit it for a couple of days before they move on to the next. Don’t waste your time with a setup on trees with little sign under them. Stay mobile and hunt the trees that they are hitting. You’ll have two maybe three days on those sets. Use midday to search new trees for potential sets.

They do have specific trees they prefer. But I'd say with the leaves hanging on as long as they have, and being in this color phase they are, the soft mast that deer absolutely goes bonkers over before it dries out, is still available and fertile. It's November and this is the latest I have ever seen foliage change and foliage still this thick. We didn't get our first frost until the second week of October. This whole year was warm, wet, and things just haven't dried up and died out by normal dates. Let the soft mast dry up and I'll bet you start seeing the deer on those acorns.

No help here Greg, we had a spotty acorn crop and the deer are on them as soon as they hit the ground. They drop at different times and it keeps me guessing. With the wind we had today and thunderstorms tonight I imagine there will be even more on the ground.

They probably are on an early dropper that you haven’t found yet .....stay the course.

The closer to bedding cover you can find the better also.

All that said sometimes the tannins can run higher some years so the HOT tree can vary also.

With all the rain we have had, acorns still in trees are rotten!

I spent a whole season here in Bama hunting over nothing but acorns the entire season. From Oct. 15th. to Jan. 31st. What I found in this year and many other years since is that deer will feed on acorns the entire season. Swamp chestnuts and overcups are some early droppers and the white oaks followed by post oaks and reds. Many more trees to name but water oaks and pin and even post will seem to hang on later. I have seen white oaks hang on in Dec. (No set rule) That said, deer have different taste buds and they don't know that we have decided they prefer which is white oaks. I have sat on a tree raining whites oaks while deer fed under a red oak 80 yards away. Deer are browsers by nature and will travel around in an area hitting several feed spots. Maybe it's to keep predators guessing or maybe they like a variety or both. I know that they prefer freshly dropped acorns over the ones laying on the ground already. Or the sound of acorns hitting the ground is attracting to them. Squirrels often give deer away and I always try to find the trees dropping with fresh sign under them. I don't really care what type tree they are because the deer don't know the rules anyway. Hope this helps.

Great, interesting perspectives. The oak trees that I am hunting surrounds an approx 30 acre pine thicket (a known bedding area). Hopefully, I will get this challenge figured out soon.

Deer need lots of vitamin K to help coagulation for fall and winter. Green leaves are where it’s at right now

Gather a few from trees where they are not feeding. Then, gather a few from trees where they are. Cut both in half and taste them. You will probably get your answer. Magnet trees often vary from one year to the next.

Break open a few acorns and see if they are wormy or rotten. If they are, the deer likely will not eat them

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