Scouted food sources today

[Powerhouse]

Finally go to do a little scouting today, I usually have it done by the end of August but not this year. The area I hunt is primarily pines with a few areas that have mixed oaks, white, red , water and pin. My son and I usually set up on the transition between oak and pines based on where the red and white oak acorns are falling, and it's always a very good set up till just before Thanksgiving.

I scoured the woods today and found no sign of any acorns at all, except for on the water oaks. I have always had my best luck over red oaks, my son prefers whites, but there are none to be found. I have never seen there be none, even in the years we were having the drought. They were slim those years, but they were still there.

Has anyone else seen the same thing or is it just in my area (Polk Co.)?

 

[MacTavish]

With all the rain we have had this summer there should be a bumper crop of acorns. Maybe you need to shake the trees a little to get them to fall.

 

[Bobby Helms]

I am seeing a few acorns this year,but nothing like last year.The extra browse will feed the deer for a while.Then they will start hitting the fields and the food plots.Check your smaller red oaks and white oaks.I have found some acorns on these trees.Other than that Vinson Mtn is pretty bare.i hope the winter is not hard.We will have to feed the wildlife to keep them around and healthy if it gets real cold.Vinson Mtn Polk County

 

[Powerhouse]

I am seeing a few acorns this year,but nothing like last year.The extra browse will feed the deer for a while.Then they will start hitting the fields and the food plots.Check your smaller red oaks and white oaks.I have found some acorns on these trees.Other than that Vinson Mtn is pretty bare.i hope the winter is not hard.We will have to feed the wildlife to keep them around and healthy if it gets real cold.Vinson Mtn Polk County

I checked most everything there was, from 8" diameter on up. It was near dusk when I went and I may have missed some but I doubt it. I did find a spot totaling about one acre that is covered in water oaks full of acorns. If I can be there when they start dropping it should be promising.

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With all the rain we have had this summer there should be a bumper crop of acorns. Maybe you need to shake the trees a little to get them to fall.

You would think so, but there is very little to shake out.

 

[the_great_white]

there is a decent amount of acorns on my lease this year in jones county, the only problem is they are so small.....about the size of peas......

 

[howl]

There are factors that may not be obvious. Oaks are pollinated by wind. Heavy rain can impede pollination. Also, red oaks require two years to develop and drop acorns. White oaks do it in one.

 

[Powerhouse]

I don't know why I didn't think about the rains keeping the pollen knocked down, we had a lot of it this year. I already knew about red oaks only producing every other year, but it just struck me odd that only the water oaks are doing anything.

 

[Trout Slayer]

I noticed fewer acorns on one of my hunting properties this year too so I did some research and this is what I found out...

"Like many trees, oaks have irregular cycles of boom and bust. Boom times, called “mast years,” occur every 2-5 years, with few acorns in between.
Strangely, mast years are not simply resource-driven. Sure, a wet, cool spring can affect pollination and a hot, dry summer can affect acorn maturation. But annual rainfall and temperature fluctuations are much smaller in magnitude than acorn crop sizes. In other words, weather variables cannot account for the excessive, over-the-top, nutty production of acorns in a mast year.
So what does trigger a mast year? Scientists have proposed a range of explanations—from environmental triggers to chemical signaling to pollen availability—but our understanding is hazy and the fact is that we simply don’t know yet.
So what does trigger a mast year? Scientists have proposed a range of explanations—from environmental triggers to chemical signaling to pollen availability—but our understanding is hazy and the fact is that we simply don’t know yet.
Boom and bust cycles of acorn production do have an evolutionary benefit for oak trees through “predator satiation.” The idea goes like this: in a mast year, predators (chipmunks, squirrels, turkeys, blue jays, deer, bear, etc.) can’t eat all the acorns, leaving some nuts for growing into future oak trees. Years of lean acorn production keep predator populations low, so there are fewer animals to eat all the seeds in a mast year. Ultimately, a higher proportion of nuts overall escape the jaws of hungry animals.
Whatever the reasons and mechanisms behind acorn cycles, mast years do have ecological consequences for years to come. More acorns, for example, may mean more deer and mice. Unhappily, more deer and mice may mean more ticks and, possibly, more incidences of Lyme disease.
Many animals depend upon the highly-nutritious acorn for survival. Oak trees, meanwhile, depend upon boom and bust cycles, and a few uneaten acorns, for theirs."


...I think, at least on my property, that last year was a mast year due to the number of acorns that dropped. It sounded like it was raining in my woods for a solid month and felt like you were walking on marbles. This year there are some acorns but only a fraction of what last year produced. Strange thing also is that what acorns are apparent seem to be dropping a little earlier this year too. Makes the food plots a little more important this year.

Good luck!

 

[Powerhouse]

Just read your post TS. All of that does make sense, somewhat at least. On the two properties I hunt we haven't had a boom year since right before the drought started, so we're due one soon.

I also noticed like you that the acorns that are there are already dropping. Some of these were still holding on to them at Thanksgiving last year.

 

[Codyology]

All the acorns where I'm hunting is massive. Enough the deer have been staying away from the huge corn fields.