Easier said than done....but I've heard Dr. Craig Harper say it...."land managers need to manage for no acorn years and when the acorns do develop it's a bonus"
So how? Forest Stand Improvement, open the canopy, hack-n-squirt to kill less desirable trees and where possible, create burn units.... studies show that opening the canopy followed by prescribed burning can create 10x the amount of forage for deer verses a closed canopy forest.....yes back to back years with a total acorn crop failure is terrible for wildlife....but they will survive....but how can we manage the habitat where they actually can flourish during the no acorn years?.... sunlight to the forest floor, prescribed fire, herbicide application, food plots....again, not always easy and and bigger more lush food plots get expensive quick.....and as for fire, I spoke with our local TN Forestry Technician Tuesday about assistance with creating burn units and prescribed fire on our property....he said I needed to get on the list and that they were probably one year out on the waiting list....so....for now we are going to try to create as much early successional growth as possible with the bush hog and herbicide application...and we will certainly plant warn season food plots followed by cool season plots as the budgets allow.
