Guest Danbo Posted September 5, 2006 Report Share Posted September 5, 2006 I noticed today that one of my Oak trees is dropping acorns. Many are still in the tree, but some have fallen. My butternut and walnuts are also starting. It seems a bit early this year. Gerneally,what month do the Acorns fall? And when to the deer change from the crops to the acorns? Late Oct. during the rut or sooner? I'm up in Central NY. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted September 5, 2006 Report Share Posted September 5, 2006 Re: Acorns... With all the oaks here normally we see them start dropping at the earliest in September. Think about the heaviest amount of acorns to fall is usually in October here. Have been seeing a few on the ground here and there already this year. They will continue to drop well on into the fall. The deer will start hitting the acorns when they find them. If they have other food available and have not found the acorns yet, it is only a matter of time before they find them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest luckyman4 Posted September 5, 2006 Report Share Posted September 5, 2006 Re: Acorns... I always thought acorns dropped later, too, mostly because I only hunted Oak woods during the Souther Tier Gun season. Last year I scouted a ridge loaded with Oaks all summer long, and noticed they do start dropping acorns about this time of year. Also, the hickory nuts are always on the ground during bow season, so what you are seeing seems pretty normal. As far as switching from crops to mast, its been my experience that deer feed on the mast earlier in the evening (or later in the morning), as they are filtering through the woods on the way to crop fields (or coming from crop fields). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pabowhunt Posted September 5, 2006 Report Share Posted September 5, 2006 Re: Acorns... I'm not as far north as you are but the acorns have been falling here for the past few weeks. I've also been seeing deer feeding on them. I did see that on some trees they didn't mature and are brown and rotted inside. Other trees they are big healthy and the deer are really chowing them up. It does seem a little early but we had good rain in the spring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerClay Posted September 5, 2006 Report Share Posted September 5, 2006 Re: Acorns... I have a ton of hickory on my property and the nuts have been dropping for two weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWiggely Posted September 5, 2006 Report Share Posted September 5, 2006 Re: Acorns... Danbo, they are dropping here in Cattaraugus county too. But it is nice to see that there is a very large mast this year. Wigs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted September 5, 2006 Report Share Posted September 5, 2006 Re: Acorns... [ QUOTE ] I have a ton of hickory on my property and the nuts have been dropping for two weeks. [/ QUOTE ] Have never noticed deer to eat hickory nuts here. They are pretty plentiful around here too, only thing I have noticed eating the hickory nuts is squirrels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Danbo Posted September 5, 2006 Report Share Posted September 5, 2006 Re: Acorns... I am also interested to know if the deer leave the crops for the mast, as you may read in the outdoor articles, and then back to the crops? I've read that they may "suddenly" change their pattern for the acorns and then a week or two later, when the acorns are gone, move back into the crops. Sound fishy. Has anyone noticed this and when? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWiggely Posted September 5, 2006 Report Share Posted September 5, 2006 Re: Acorns... Yes, I have noticed it, every year. When the majority of the acorns start dropping, not just a few here and there, the deer around here will leave the corn for the acorn for a week or two then hit the corn again right near harvest time. WIgs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted September 5, 2006 Report Share Posted September 5, 2006 Re: Acorns... Our property is loaded with all sorts of oaks, both red and white. Along the river and back into the rolling hardwoods there are hundreds of mature oaks on this property. My experience with acorns has been that when there is an overabundance that the deer are very difficult to hunt, due to being unable to pattern them here in any way whatsoever. They almost seem to wander aimlessly. As for the deer changing their patterns when they find a preferred food, YES I do believe that will hold true somewhat and may last for varying lengths of time depending on how much available food is where they are and how much is left where they were. Deer do still have to have water though, in the woods where there are oaks, they will most likely already have cover where they feel safe, but if you are in an area where there are limited water sources, keying in on a water source may be the best way to hunt otherwise tough to pattern animals when there is a good mast production. In areas where there is plenty of water sources nearby as in our situation where the winding river wraps around a good portion of the back of our property, that makes patterning just about impossible. Usually around here anyways in my experience, the crops are most often out by the time the acorns are falling heavy, and while some deer may be picking leftovers from those harvested fields, they often around this time of the year in this area begin to find other food sources. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sskybnd Posted September 5, 2006 Report Share Posted September 5, 2006 Re: Acorns... wtnhunt maybe thats why they seem to be wandering all over my land, i went up sunday, and did find acorns on the ground, but thought it was to early for them to drop, we have not crops any where around, this is cattle country more hay fields and an occasional garden. so after they eat the mast my food plot should be good ???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted September 5, 2006 Report Share Posted September 5, 2006 Re: Acorns... [ QUOTE ] wtnhunt maybe thats why they seem to be wandering all over my land, i went up sunday, and did find acorns on the ground, but thought it was to early for them to drop, we have not crops any where around, this is cattle country more hay fields and an occasional garden. so after they eat the mast my food plot should be good ???? [/ QUOTE ] We do see an increase in activity here in our plots after the farmers harvest their crops. Corn and beans in this area usually starts getting harvested between this time of the year and mid October. Quite a bit of acres in ag crops in this area, beans, corn or cotton. Years with lesser acorn production we see more activity in the plots, and the deer do seem to be able to be pretty well patterned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nwmobuckfan Posted September 6, 2006 Report Share Posted September 6, 2006 Re: Acorns... I set up my camera over an oak tree in my front yard. Noticed the acorns falling about 2 weeks ago. Sure enough got lots of does and fawns eating them. One morning saw a doe and her fawns hitting the same tree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhine16 Posted September 12, 2006 Report Share Posted September 12, 2006 Re: Acorns... Ours usually don't drop til late september at the earliest, but they have been dropping for a week or so.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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