CamoGuy Posted October 13, 2003 Report Share Posted October 13, 2003 Last year I walked down an old logging road on public property that was lined on both sides with white and red oak and even a few chestnut here and there. Walking on that road was dangerous because the ground was so covered with nuts that at times my feet wanted to "skate" down the hill. A few days ago I took my son squirrel hunting in the area and we made a stop by that old road. I was amazed to see that there was not a single acorn or chestnut on the road. I walked a good 100 yards down it without seeing a single nut. I have heard alot of locals say that there was no mast this year but I found the total void of nuts to be a little suprising. Has anybody else noticed a total lack of mast in their area? BTW, I am located in southeastern West Virginia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archerjg Posted October 14, 2003 Report Share Posted October 14, 2003 Re: Is There Mast In Your Area? They are all over the place, but they are being eaten as fast as they can be gotten to. Archerjg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus Posted October 14, 2003 Report Share Posted October 14, 2003 Re: Is There Mast In Your Area? There is some acorns out at our place, but not like it was last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinger-Hunter Posted October 14, 2003 Report Share Posted October 14, 2003 Re: Is There Mast In Your Area? I'm curious as to what the main reasons are that cause acorns to not be available. I'm not sure the weather was that extreme this year beside a few days of hard rain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted October 14, 2003 Report Share Posted October 14, 2003 Re: Is There Mast In Your Area? Oaks definately do not produce the same amount of mast every year. Drought conditions can cause low levels of mast. Typically after a good year of heavy mast crops, the next year or two will be significantly less. The mid atlantic had the hurricane last month that brought down a lot of mast early. If you hunt an area with minimal mast and you can find a good batch of white oaks with nuts, you should have a good hunting spot. If not look at the secondary food sources and you will find deer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mountaineer Posted October 14, 2003 Report Share Posted October 14, 2003 Re: Is There Mast In Your Area? They came late this year for us, but we didnt get as many as we did last year. They barely missed the frost this year, I bet it still got alot of them though. Last year was loaded with acorns, the bear ate them all though, one day you would come across a flat loaded with acorns on the ground, then come back the next day, see claw marks up a couple oak's, and all the acorns would be gone on the ground. Pretty wild stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BowHunterNH Posted October 14, 2003 Report Share Posted October 14, 2003 Re: Is There Mast In Your Area? Up in northern NH the mast crop is very sparse although we have found a few acorns. Because of this the bear kill has been very high as they are roaming to find food. In some ways this is good because if you can find a few good trees the deer will eventually be there especially with the cold weather coming on. I also hunt in Massachusetts and went in the woods last week to find the ground covered with both white and red acorns. It is definately a strange year for the mast production. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramie Posted October 14, 2003 Report Share Posted October 14, 2003 Re: Is There Mast In Your Area? We are quite the contrary! We have the best production of acorns ive ever seen. The ground is quite literally littered with them. Last year there weren't nearly this many and you could sit around oaks and just wait on the deer. This year there are so many the deer dont need to travel into dangerous routes to eat. At times it sounds like rain when you in the trees. They are really thick! I was talking to a taxidermist yesterday and he told me they had cleaned a deer that was completely packed solid with acorns. They are going to get REALLY fat this fall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvbowhunter Posted October 14, 2003 Report Share Posted October 14, 2003 Re: Is There Mast In Your Area? Not alot of mast in southern WV either.....I have done alot of scouting and seen a few red oaks with acorns but no white oak.....beechnut hit in places as did hickory and walnuts that should keep the squirrel hunters happy.....soft mast like apples hit great but I have not seen any wild grape yet, I guess hunters will have to hunt the mast till it's gone or hunt near grassy areas....or hunt over bait (legal in WV for deer). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wishinone Posted October 14, 2003 Report Share Posted October 14, 2003 Re: Is There Mast In Your Area? We have quite a bit of acorns in spots, but nothing like last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted October 14, 2003 Report Share Posted October 14, 2003 Re: Is There Mast In Your Area? Yep, but not like last year. We have a good acorn crop but the persimmons and honey locust pods didn't make like last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdoc Posted October 14, 2003 Report Share Posted October 14, 2003 Re: Is There Mast In Your Area? jeramie---that is funny--here in central ok we still have a great mast crop but nothing like last year---last year was one of the largest i have seen in 10 years-----the white oaks are doing great but the red oaks are not doing as well this year---still plenty of acorns for the deer. todd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WVHunter129 Posted July 27, 2005 Report Share Posted July 27, 2005 Re: Is There Mast In Your Area? Camoguy, the mast was spotty this past year. Here in Fayette Co on my hunting club property we had acorns left and right, in fact when they started falling in September our corn feeders became useless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted July 27, 2005 Report Share Posted July 27, 2005 Re: Is There Mast In Your Area? Diggin' in the wood pile again I see. Mast crop should be better this year. It was horrible last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted July 27, 2005 Report Share Posted July 27, 2005 Re: Is There Mast In Your Area? In my neck of the woods there's usually a lot of soft mast and hard mast. The soft mast is mainly persimmon and honey locust and can be seen long before hard mast (acorns) are visible. We have an overabundance of honey locust pods this year. The persimmons I've seen are sort of spotty this year. I glassed some whiteoaks a little over a week ago and the acorns are still too small down here to tell anything about their abundance in the trees yet. Same with most of the red oaks. The best time to start glassing trees down here for acorns is around the end of the 1st week of August so it won't be long before I'm glassing oak trees. In the mean time I'll finish setting up a few stands on some soft mass food sources so I can concentrate on hard mast in a couple of weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest clayton819 Posted July 27, 2005 Report Share Posted July 27, 2005 Re: Is There Mast In Your Area? we had that problem a few years back in nh no acorns anywhere. there where very few deer seen or takin around where there would normally be acorns. but this year you cant step on the ground without stepin on one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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