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way too early acorn report

Bone Collector said:
I have been doing some habitat management on my land. Basically clearing old mature forest areas (mostly cedar) and hoping it will grow up thick and nasty to create some possible bedding areas.

Every oak I had to cut, whether it was a red or white had acorn buds between the leaves (basically looked like bb sized acorns, but some were bigger). If we don't have any extreme weather this summer, could be a bumper crop.

this was in Rutherford co.
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I've got a huge red and it's packed. Wilson County on Old Hickory lake.
 
Football Hunter said:
Lots of acorns sometimes means poor hunting, they don't have to look for them.
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Absolutely true. When acorns are everywhere, deer can be anywhere, and don't need to move as much. But I love big acorn crops because that draws more deer to my property. It also spreads them out a bit and provides more locations for hunting.
 
BSK said:
Absolutely true. When acorns are everywhere, deer can be anywhere, and don't need to move as much. But I love big acorn crops because that draws more deer to my property. It also spreads them out a bit and provides more locations for hunting.
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Same here. We found out last year, when there are ZERO acorns, the bucks simply don't show up….even with 25 acres of lush green fields. Plenty of does but no fall range shifters.

I'll take years of good acorn crops all day long. Plenty of carbs….aka abundance of energy. That typically bodes well for higher deer movement and intense rut activity
 
JCDEERMAN said:
Same here. We found out last year, when there are ZERO acorns, the bucks simply don't show up….even with 25 acres of lush green fields. Plenty of does but no fall range shifters.

I'll take years of good acorn crops all day long. Plenty of carbs….aka abundance of energy. That typically bodes well for higher deer movement and intense rut activity
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I second that. We had crazy rut activity in 2021, with a bumper acorn crop. If we hadn't had video cameras running everywhere, we wouldn't have known when the rut was during the total acorn failure last year. We never saw a single chase. Scraping was almost zero as well, and rubbing was virtually zero.
 
BSK said:
I second that. We had crazy rut activity in 2021, with a bumper acorn crop. If we hadn't had video cameras running everywhere, we wouldn't have known when the rut was during the total acorn failure last year. We never saw a single chase. Scraping was almost zero as well, and rubbing was virtually zero.
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2021 was nuts. I couldn't get away from big deer it seemed. I don't know what was going on, but just about every time I went into the woods I was tempted at a big 10pt 3.5 or a 4.5 half rack….or another big deer not quite old enough for my liking - several 3.5yo. They were abundant. Then 2022 hit with the drought 🙄. I had never had higher expectations than in 2022 (from 2021 season)…I was humbled to say the least. Last year was undoubtedly the worst year hunting for me, or atleast mirroring the 2007 season when every deer seemed to of died
 
Football Hunter said:
Lots of acorns sometimes means poor hunting, they don't have to look for them.
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That's exactly what it means on my place. My acreage is nothing but mature hardwoods, predominantly oaks, and surrounded 3 sides by 10,000 acres of state forest that is the same. What few scattered deer I have will be even more scattered on good acorn years. Worse yet, it's a variety of oaks where some begin dropping in October and others drop late winter. There are acorns all deer season long and they're everywhere. Makes for a challenge trying to get on a specific buck.

All that said, I don't mind bumper crops of acorns. Seems to be the years following produce good hunting and big bucks. I suppose it's because the conditions causing good acorns also caused better than normal food everywhere all year, so the deer had an easy healthy year. And that means good antler growth, good momma health, and lots of healthy fawns. I'll gladly endure a rough hunting season ever so often for that benefit.
 
JCDEERMAN said:
2021 was nuts. I couldn't get away from big deer it seemed. I don't know what was going on, but just about every time I went into the woods I was tempted at a big 10pt 3.5 or a 4.5 half rack….or another big deer not quite old enough for my liking - several 3.5yo. They were abundant. Then 2022 hit with the drought 🙄. I had never had higher expectations than in 2022 (from 2021 season)…I was humbled to say the least. Last year was undoubtedly the worst year hunting for me, or atleast mirroring the 2007 season when every deer seemed to of died
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It happens like that sometimes. Deer hunting is full of ebs and flows. The struggle years make me appreciate the great years. Yes it is humbling to say the least. I'm worried this season for me is going to be pretty barren and sporadic. I suspect it'll be luck if I get a good one this year. But I've been doing it long enough to know it'll swing back around in coming years.
 
Ski said:
All that said, I don't mind bumper crops of acorns. Seems to be the years following produce good hunting and big bucks. I suppose it's because the conditions causing good acorns also caused better than normal food everywhere all year, so the deer had an easy healthy year. And that means good antler growth, good momma health, and lots of healthy fawns. I'll gladly endure a rough hunting season ever so often for that benefit.
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Not a coincidence that deer performance (body weights, antler growth, fawn production) peak the year following a big acorn crop. Hard pressed to find a better food source than acorns. They are loaded with fats the deer need to make it through winter in great shape.
 
I need as many acorns as we can get. If we don't have acorns, we don't have deer. Mature hardwoods mainly with some 20 year old clear cut that obviously isn't nearly as thick as it once was. In humphreys.
 
NumberOne said:
I need as many acorns as we can get. If we don't have acorns, we don't have deer. Mature hardwoods mainly with some 20 year old clear cut that obviously isn't nearly as thick as it once was. In humphreys.
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Strange, but I've never seen deer so acorn driven as they are in Humphreys and Hickman counties. Don't know why these locations, but acorns are a huge component of the hunting.
 
Storms blew a bunch of limbs down at my place yesterday. Got to look at a lot of oak branches. Most of the White Oaks look like below. Going to be a big crop. Even found some loaded Mountain Chestnut Oak limbs, and we haven't had a good Mountain Chestnut Oak acorn crop in many years. However, the Red Oaks were almost completely devoid of acorns.
 

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Buzzard Breath said:
My backyard acorn tree has started dropping small acorns. They are literally raining on me as I sit in our swing and admire my mowing.
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Usually that's a sign the tree is dropping the excess nuts. I noticed hickories were doing the same in west TN. I've seen some white oaks dropping small acorns in the Nashville area.
 
BSK said:
Usually that's a sign the tree is dropping the excess nuts. I noticed hickories were doing the same in west TN. I've seen some white oaks dropping small acorns in the Nashville area.
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Think this heat wave is gonna make them drop the majority to early?
 
knightrider said:
Think this heat wave is gonna make them drop the majority to early?
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No, I don't think so, unless we go two months without rain. Most nut-bearing trees set far more nuts than the tree can support to maturity. Mid to late summer they will drop what they can't develop to maturity.
 

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