honey locust trees?

[Guest swampfox]

On the Exturkinator turkey call auction forum, Rhino mentioned that he was scouting some honey locust trees in preperation for deer season. I don't believe we have many honey locust trees in SC. What makes them good for deer hunting? Perhaps Rhino or someone else can inform me.

By the way, I have only 55 days until the whitetail rifle and bow season!

[Guest bowhuntr_15]

I dont really know why they like them, but here in Oklahoma where I hunt I killed a really nice buck while he was eatin them. And seen a couple other nice bucks by them aways off!!

[buckee]

We don't have them here, but here's a good tip

http://www.thejump.net/hunting/plant-id/honey-locust.htm

[wtnhunt]

Have quite a few honey locusts around here. Deer eat the pods from the honey locust trees.

[Rhino]

Basically the bean pods from honey locust trees are deer candy. I'm heading down to scout for some more productive trees this weekend and I'll take some pics of some that are loaded with bean pods. They are easy to recognize and their bean pods grow early but take the summer (or longer in some cases) to mature to get rip.

I've found some productive honey locust trees to be real hot spots during the beginning of bow season. At that time our fall food plots haven't sprouted yet and very few oak trees are dropping acorns. That makes those early dropping honey locust trees real hot spots that deer will seek out.

Unlike other soft mast trees essentially nothing but deer will eat the succulent bean pods from honey locust trees. Another soft mast tree bowhunters are familiar with is persimmon trees. They are also attactive to deer but just about every other critter in the woods eats persimmons too. I've see coons, fox, hogs, and even armadillos eat persimmons. That leaves a lot less mast at ground level for deer to feed on. Having a choice between the 2, I'll hunt a honey locust tree over a persimmon tree any day.

The bad news about honey locust trees is each tree won't produce bean pods every year and they don't all drop their mast at the same time. I've found certain trees drop early while others drop later. I've killed deer as early as opening day of bow season feeding under honey locust trees that dropped early and as late as New Years Eve on a late dropping tree. I've actually made a list over the years of area locations of honey locust noting particular trees that drop during bow season, especially the ones that start dropping right before bow season opens. That list has now grown to 72 areas (not individual trees) where these trees are located throughout our 2800 acre hunting club. In some cases there may be only a couple of trees in a noted area while others may have 8 to 10.

Last year I put a trail camera on an early dropping honey locust tree during the week before opening day. No bait to lure in the deer except the bean pods that dropped from 1 tree. I got at least 102 picks (all I still have saved) in 6 days including a couple of mature bucks. Unfortunately, I got busted during opening week by one of those bucks so he lived to get bigger for this coming season. Also because I had those bucks coming to that tree, I passed up does from that stand. Unfortunately, that tree didn't produce this year but there are always others that will so I'm looking at all of them I can, provided one of my hunting buddies hasn't already hung a stand on them.

BTW, several years back I ran into one of the guides at a local sporting goods store from Tara/Willow which is a guided hunting operation here in MS around mid October. He told me they had already killed 17 P&Y bucks that season all from hunting productive honey locust trees.

Here's a picture of each of those mature bucks I talked about that came to this tree last year. You can see some bean pods on the ground. The 1st buck is the one that busted me last year.

Here's one of a young buck and a doe with a bean pod hanging out of the young buck's mouth. Looks like got a big cigar in his mouth.

[Bownarow]

I never would have guessed it either but they sure to munch 'em up. If I find one that is hot at the beginning of the year, you can bet I'll spend a few evenings hunting over it.

[Rhino]

BTW, it's pretty obvious to see if they are eating the pods. It's typical fo find a lot of deer droppings along with partially chewed bean pods under a tree that is getting hit hard.

[RangerClay]

On the Exturkinator turkey call auction forum, Rhino mentioned that he was scouting some honey locust trees in preperation for deer season. I don't believe we have many honey locust trees in SC. What makes them good for deer hunting? Perhaps Rhino or someone else can inform me.

By the way, I have only 55 days until the whitetail rifle and bow season!

Wish you lived closer Swampfox. I could give you all the seedlings you need. Honey locust grow extremely fast. The one I planted in the yard for the Mrs is 6 years old this summer. It is 35 feet tall and 7 in dia. You have to fence them in till they are too tall for the deer to brouse on them.

[BKE]

I'm in a similar situation as swampfox (not knowing if we have many in this area), actually I don't know if we have any here in northern Ga. (just across the river from S.C.). If anyone knows would you please reply so I can keep an eye out. And if you do, thank you.

[Rhino]

They are very distinctive looking trees. Rather than try to explain what they look, I'll take some close up pictures of the bark, trees, new bean pods, etc. so you'll get to see what they look like first hand. When I get back home with the pics, I'll post them here under this topic we're on now.

Be patient though, I can't go scouting honey locust trees again until Friday morning and I won't be home until Saturday evening. My camp is 85 miles from my house and although we have all the conforts of home there we don't have a computer there and I don't own a laptop.

This is one of those times I wished I had taken some pictures last fall showing just how heavy the deer droppings were under some of these honey locust trees that my close hunting buddies and I were hunting over. It would literally give you that look on your face. :D

[Guest swampfox]

Thanks for all the info. It seems that some (probably non-deer hunters) think that these trees needs to be irradicated as pest plants.

http://www.nrw.qld.gov.au/factsheets/pdf/pest/pp47.pdf

[Rhino]

Pretty interesting reading swampfox. A shame the photographs are a pit fuzzy.

I can't help but question what they consider to be a fast growing tree and compared to what? All pine trees grow at a much faster rate than honey locust but honey locust trees certainly do grow at a faster rate than an oak. I've never seen what they refer to as an dense thicket of honey locust like they refer to in that article but I have seen dense thickets of black locust trees.

Black locust trees can and sometimes are mistaken for a honey locust tree. Black locust trees do grow at an extremely fast rate, produce shorter thorns than a honey locust, do create dense thorny thickets, has similar looking leaves, but produces no mast crop at all that's useful to game. It does make a very small bean pod similar to a mimosa tree. About the only thing it's used for is making fense post. Like honey locust it has opposite paired leaflets per leaf but they are oval shapped where the leaflets of a honey locust are longer and less than half the diameter of black locust leaflets.

Also although the tree trunks on both trees produce thorns, the black locust tree makes single thorns while the honey locust tree makes a 3 to 5 cluster group of thorns. The bark of a honey locust tree is also harder and has a scaly bark appearance (similar to a scaly bark hickory tree for you northerners) while the bark of the black locust is not as hard and doesn't have the scaly bark appearce at all.

[Guest swampfox]

Upon closer inspection, the article whose link I posted is from Queensland, Australia. Perhaps these trees are different there and do pose a threat to the landscape.

After seeing your photos, Rhino, I want to plant a few honey locusts in southwestern SC near my treestand.

[VermontHunter]

Late Season Soft Mast

Deer love the meat and seeds in locust pods. Look for them late in the season, and chances are the deer will have found them too.Finally, there is one soft mast item that becomes available quite late–on the cusp between fall and winter. This is the pods of the honey locust. Long after leaves have fallen, the long, slightly curved black pods cling to the trees. When they do fall though, deer flock to them to eat both the large seeds and the sweet meat surrounding the seeds. It is almost impossible to miss the honey locust tree. Clusters of menacing thorns adorn its trunk and limbs, while the ranks of hanging pods can be discerned by a knowing eye from a great distance.

From the fruits of early fall until the last locust pod falls before a stormy winter blast, some type of soft mast beckons deer. Certainly hunters should continue to pay close heed to the various types of oak mast, beech nuts, corn, and various types of browse, but if you haven’t done so, make a point of including soft mast in your hunting this fall. The real “secret” is finding what soft mast is available and then giving it every bit as much attention as you would a scrape line or well-used travel corridor.

http://www.dto.com/hunting/article.jsp?articleid=700

[Washi]

I hunt near a honey locust (I think it is) quite a bit but have never seen deer eating the pods. I hunt there because deer travel through a lot. They will graze on the grass but leave the pods alone. Wierd.

[Rhino]

Not really that wierd Washi. For whatever reason the bean pods from some trees are just a lot dryer than others. Deer won't hardly touch those extremely dry bean pods. They sure will munch down on the ones that have moisture to them though. The good ones have a sweet smell to them when cracked open when they are right for the deer.

Good article Luke but puzzles me why he refers to them as a late season soft mast source. I agree some drop later but I really prefer to focus on hunting the ones that drop early over the later dropping honey locust trees. Later there's just more food sources of mast for the deer to choose from down here. Once the oaks start dropping acorns in abundance preferred oak trees will get a lot of the deer's attention too along with other fall food sources. Down here there are a lot of different oaks with varying times that they drop acorns through then end of December.

[VermontHunter]

Good article Luke but puzzles me why he refers to them as a late season soft mast source.

Al, I think he's referring to the time of year in months. As hunters we think of it more in terms of early hunting season....

I don't have any experience with this species of plant,, I haven't ever seen any Honey Locust up here in the North East,, but we do have Locust Trees tho ... just not this species...

[Washi]

Could also be partly because we have tons of white oaks.

[Tominator]

Interesting to note, that the locust trees are just monster legumes believe it or not; just like clover, peas, beans, etc.

Also, the picture Luke posted appears to be the pod of a trumpet vine, not locust pod.

[VermontHunter]

Also, the picture Luke posted appears to be the pod of a trumpet vine, not locust pod.

I don't know Chris, I got that photo from biology.clc.uc.edu ( http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dhoney%2Blocust%26toggle%3D1%26cop%3Dmss%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dyfp-t-501%26b%3D41&w=172&h=120&imgurl=biology.clc.uc.edu%2FFankhauser%2FBuds_and_Bark%2Ftreebuds%2Fthmb%2Fthmb_Honey_Locust_Pod_P2061423.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fbiology.clc.uc.edu%2FFankhauser%2FBuds_and_Bark%2Ftreebuds%2Fthmb&size=10.8kB&name=thmb_Honey_Locust_Pod_P2061423.jpg&p=honey+locust&type=jpeg&no=42&tt=2,621&oid=0a039110aaf1b17c&ei=UTF-8 )

Like I said I'm not familiar with this particular species ,, but we do have a Locust variety here in Vermont tho ..

[Rhino]

Update for current honey locust tree photos

I'm back from doing a little more scouting for these trees.

Here are a couple of the pics of the crowns of 2 productive honey locust trees. The bean pods are easily seen in both of these, especially the one on the left where I could position myself with the sun at my back.

Here's a couple of pics of what to look for the distinctive bark on the trunk of a honey locust tree. As you can see the older trees don't always have a lot of thorns on them. Obviously the picture shows one that does and 2 that don't.

If you have to search through a wooded area with a limited view of the canopy of the trees chances are you'll notice the distinctive bark of the honey locust first. Then you'll be searching for a good position to view the canopy of the tree to see if it produced this year. That's what I had to do on the double trunked tree on the left and took the pic below of its canopy showing a good crop of bean pods.

I'll be keeping tabs on this one as the season comes around.

[VermontHunter]

Those are some great pics Al.. Hopefully one of those tree's will be a lucky one for ya...

[Rhino]

I've actually got others I'm more excited about Luke. They happen to be located near or on the intersection of multiple trails or funnels. Some having a history of dropping bean pods right around the opening day of bowseason. Put that kind of combination together and it should spell ACTION!!

[Tominator]

I don't know Chris, I got that photo from biology.clc.uc.edu ( http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dhoney%2Blocust%26toggle%3D1%26cop%3Dmss%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dyfp-t-501%26b%3D41&w=172&h=120&imgurl=biology.clc.uc.edu%2FFankhauser%2FBuds_and_Bark%2Ftreebuds%2Fthmb%2Fthmb_Honey_Locust_Pod_P2061423.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fbiology.clc.uc.edu%2FFankhauser%2FBuds_and_Bark%2Ftreebuds%2Fthmb&size=10.8kB&name=thmb_Honey_Locust_Pod_P2061423.jpg&p=honey+locust&type=jpeg&no=42&tt=2,621&oid=0a039110aaf1b17c&ei=UTF-8 )

Like I said I'm not familiar with this particular species ,, but we do have a Locust variety here in Vermont tho ..

Yeah, that first picture you posted is definitely a honey locust pod.

This is a locust pod.

This is a trumpet vine pod.

[VermontHunter]

SHEESH !! Chris,, when I first glanced at that top picture I thought it was a SNAKE ... :D