Poor year for acorns??

[PointBlank]

After hanging treestands the past few weeks, I have found very few oak trees that are producing acorns this year. I know that a lot of trees have yearly cycles where they go from good mast years to bad. I hunt several different farms in different parts of Iowa, but have had the same problem on each place. Has anybody else noticed the same thing this year?? I suppose that the few trees that are active this year will be real hot spots. Besides grain, what else will deer browse on in poor mast years??

 

[16point]

they revery where here
trees are loaded

 

[bukket]

Look for a great big locust tree...I hunt river bottom land that doesn't have a lot of oaks in it and the deer eat locust beans all fall and winter.

 

[Liv4Rut]

all the trees around me have quite few acorns on them too. Also hedge trees aren't a bad place to hunt over later in the year, I've found many sheds around hedge trees where the deer had been rooting through the snow digging them up

 

[blake]

The trees are loaded here in SW Iowa with acorns.

 

[ironwood]

I collected 75 gallons of acorns from one tree a few weeks back and others don't look to have the same volume or any. I need to pay closer attention to mass fruits. They have been a small part of my planning in the past and I don't want to continue over looking these food sorces.

 

[bjkpharmd]

75 gallons Ironwood? You can drop a few on the way to the stand like breadcrumbs and the deer will follow you like a magnet!

 

[blake]

Ironwood,

In my opinion one should pay very close attention to mast crops especially while bow hunting in October.

In good mast crop years the woods floor is covered with this easy food source. This is the time that those bucks are trying to put on some weight prior to the rut and winter. If you are a fall turkey hunter you will also find turkeys utilizing the acorns.

I have in the past hunted and harvested deer under Oak trees well into November.

In my area the deer seem to have little interest in acorns once the snow flies. Either they have eaten all the acorns up by then, or find that they must use up to much energy pawing through the snow for them.

The deer seem to prefer the agriculture crops during the late fall and winter months. Alfalpha fields are good up until there is a hard freeze. Clover fields are a great place to harvest a late season muzzleloader buck. Soy beans and corn are always good places to harvest a deer, however, in my opinion they prefer corn during cold weather. Standing corn if one is lucky enough to find it during the late muzzleloader season is a real hotspot for deer.

 

[BW]

They are loaded pretty good around here. Like the beans and corn.

 

[Old Buck]

In my area the acorn crop is quite sparce, many honey locust are loaded with pods and the legume food plots look great with all the rain this summer. Hunt the food.

Old Buck