2019 mast drop

[whacko]

Couple of woods walks the last few days. Acorns and hickory nuts look very large and plentiful in Merrimack valley.

 

[bdb]

Yeah, I saw a bunch dropped up in southern NH this past weekend. I hope it isn't a bumper crop this year but it looks to be from what I have seen so far.

 

[76Too]

Can you educate me on what, if anything, this means? More food for deer/moose/squirrels early? What’s the significance?

 

[bdb]

When there is a huge acorn crop the deer tend not to move around as much. They can stay in places they feel safe and have plenty of food. I just find it harder to hunt them when they have tons of acorns to feed on.

 

[whacko]

Can you educate me on what, if anything, this means? More food for deer/moose/squirrels early? What’s the significance?

It means more food for the deer, squirrels, and turkey mainly. It's a sign that the deer herd will be healthy. 2017 was a big acorn mast drop....the deer we harvested that year were quite fat and healthy. Hunters like to discuss/track the environmental impacts on the herd year to year. Snow pack is also a hot topic. Heavy mast drop can be negated by heavy snow in early winter because the deer and turkeys have a hard time getting to them under the snow. Also heavy crust on top of a snow pack is bad for deer as well......deer sink in.....coyotes dont so it's an advantage for predation under those conditions. Best case scenario for deer and turkey is bumper mast drop and light snow throughout the winter.

But....also what bdb said.....it can be tougher to pinpoint the deer during the season during a bumper crop because there is food literally everywhere. Oaks tend to produce acorns in varying amounts and sizes year to year. Some years you see tons of acorns but they are tiny and "dried up". Some years they are large and green but small amounts. Some years they are large and green and plentiful.....this year looks like large and plentiful from what I'm seeing in the woods right now. The deer should be fat and happy come November this season.

2017 my wife bagged a buck early morning....she interrupted his breakfast......when we dressed it out it had acorns falling out of his mouth and his gut was bloated with green mash from acorns.

 

[ssbob]

a good mast crop can be to your advantage find the acorns -find the deer let mother nature show you the way

 

[HorizontalHunter]

a good mast crop can be to your advantage find the acorns -find the deer let mother nature show you the way

When there is a good mast crop like it appears there is going to be year you will find that not all acorns are created equally. I’m not talking about whites vs reds. There is much much more to it.

This is a great primer on acorns:
ACORNS - Everything you need to know for deer hunting or bowhunting

While knowing preference is a good start there still is much more to it.

We all know that deer prefer white acorns to reds due to the tannins. (Well mostly anyway)

When it comes to white acorns all trees aren’t created equal. I have seen them walk past a grove of white oaks that were dropping to go to a different group of white oaks to feed. Different trees produce different tasting acorns and the deer prefer some over others. Whether it’s the soil content or genetics I have no idea why but it is true.

Pursuit Hunting did a great 3 part series on it years ago:

Pursuit Hunting: The Dominant Tree - Part 1 Definition
Pursuit Hunting: The Dominant Tree - Part 2 Identification
Pursuit Hunting: The Dominant Tree - Part 3 Size Does Matter

I have also found that just like us different deer like different things. One year I shot a buck and his rumen was filled with red acorns. It was a huge mast year and there were still a lot of whites on the ground but he liked the reds.

Beyond the taste the type of surrounding cover also matters. Deer will eat reds in great security cover over whites in the open hardwoods during the day. Especially the older wiser deer.

Bob

 

[Mark from MA]

When there is a good mast crop like it appears there is going to be year you will find that not all acorns are created equally. I’m not talking about whites vs reds. There is much much more to it.

This is a great primer on acorns:
ACORNS - Everything you need to know for deer hunting or bowhunting

While knowing preference is a good start there still is much more to it.

We all know that deer prefer white acorns to reds due to the tannins. (Well mostly anyway)

When it comes to white acorns all trees aren’t created equal. I have seen them walk past a grove of white oaks that were dropping to go to a different group of white oaks to feed. Different trees produce different tasting acorns and the deer prefer some over others. Whether it’s the soil content or genetics I have no idea why but it is true.

Pursuit Hunting did a great 3 part series on it years ago:

Pursuit Hunting: The Dominant Tree - Part 1 Definition
Pursuit Hunting: The Dominant Tree - Part 2 Identification
Pursuit Hunting: The Dominant Tree - Part 3 Size Does Matter

I have also found that just like us different deer like different things. One year I shot a buck and his rumen was filled with red acorns. It was a huge mast year and there were still a lot of whites on the ground but he liked the reds.

Beyond the taste the type of surrounding cover also matters. Deer will eat reds in great security cover over whites in the open hardwoods during the day. Especially the older wiser deer.

Bob

This totally.

I'll add one caveat.....finding fresh acorns are one thing. Acorns falling now won't be fresh......and I've seen years where acorns falling now was a bad year. Whites generally fall in September, Reds a bit later.

But mainly, I don't look for acorns, I look for fresh droppings in the acorns. Droppings that are be light colored brown, wet, not black, and huge will interest me.
Think borderline Moose shit size. Then I know a large deer is feeding in the area. That's where I will put a camera to monitor. Just because there is a large shit, and acorns means nothing. It must be visited during the day or edge of light, at least a few times, if its solid noctournal, its useless. If its edge of light, Ill set the stand as close to bedding as I possibly can. In the early season (Mid Sept-first Oct) the buck will be feeding close, after that, they tend to start to disperse.

 

[smokey-seven]

Deer will eat reds in great security cover over whites in the open hardwoods during the day. Especially the older wiser deer.

That is exactly why they are older and wiser and not dumb and dead.

 

[HorizontalHunter]

There is much more to a deers diet than acorns.

What I listed below is from a chart on page 15 of the article I linked below.

Preferred and Staple Plant Species
Under this category would fall apples, agricultural crops, lawn grass, and suburban landscaping. In forests, there are hundreds of preferred and staple food plants. Some of these, selected by the author, are listed in table 1 and discussed on the following pages.
Table 1. Some preferred and staple food plants for white-tailed deer in Northeastern forests.

Trees:

Red Maple
Sugar Maple
Flowering Dogwood
Atlantic White-cedar
White Ash
Eastern Red-cedar
Cucumber Tree
Sweet Bay
Black Gum
Aspen
Black Cherry
Oak
Arborvitae
American Basswood
Eastern Hemlock

Shrubs/Vines:

Shadbush
Sweet Pepperbush
Beaked Hazelnut
Autumn Olive
Winged Euonymus Witch Hazel
Mountain Winterberry
Winterberry
Privet
Spicebush
Japanese Honeysuckle
Morrow’s Honeysuckle Apple
Virginia Creeper Choke Cherry
Scrub Oak
Rhododendron
Rosa multiflora
Viburnum
Common Buckthorn (this causes the deer urine to turn blue like WW fluid)
Pinxter-flower
Sumac
Multiflora Rose Blackberry/Raspberry
Rusty Willow
Red Elderberry
Common Greenbrier
Bladdernut
Alternate-leaved Dogwood
Dogwoods
Canada Yew
Japanese Yew
Poison Ivy
Maple-leaf Viburnum
Hobble-bush
Grape

Herbaceous Plants:

Wild Sarsaparilla
Bunchberry
Turtle-head
Bluebead Lily
Pink Lady’s Slipper
Yellow Lady’s Slipper
Trout Lily
White Wood-aster
Large-leaved Wood-aster
Spotted Touch-me-not
New England Blazing-star
Canada Lily
Purple Loosestrife
Canada Mayflower
False Solomon’s Seal
Indian Cucumber-root
Lion’s-foot
Rattlesnake-root
American Ginseng
Pokeweed
Solomon's Seal
Bracken Fern
Bluestem
Goldenrod
Twistedstalk
Calico Aster
White Trillium
Perfoliate
Bellwort

This is also a good read.

https://www.grownativemass.org/sites/default/files/downloads/WhitetailedDeerNEForestsWEB.pdf

 

[whacko]

There is much more to a deers diet than acorns.

What I listed below is from a chart on page 15 of the article I linked below.

Preferred and Staple Plant Species
Under this category would fall apples, agricultural crops, lawn grass, and suburban landscaping. In forests, there are hundreds of preferred and staple food plants. Some of these, selected by the author, are listed in table 1 and discussed on the following pages.
Table 1. Some preferred and staple food plants for white-tailed deer in Northeastern forests.

Trees:

Red Maple
Sugar Maple
Flowering Dogwood
Atlantic White-cedar
White Ash
Eastern Red-cedar
Cucumber Tree
Sweet Bay
Black Gum
Aspen
Black Cherry
Oak
Arborvitae
American Basswood
Eastern Hemlock

Shrubs/Vines:

Shadbush
Sweet Pepperbush
Beaked Hazelnut
Autumn Olive
Winged Euonymus Witch Hazel
Mountain Winterberry
Winterberry
Privet
Spicebush
Japanese Honeysuckle
Morrow’s Honeysuckle Apple
Virginia Creeper Choke Cherry
Scrub Oak
Rhododendron
Rosa multiflora
Viburnum
Common Buckthorn (this causes the deer urine to turn blue like WW fluid)
Pinxter-flower
Sumac
Multiflora Rose Blackberry/Raspberry
Rusty Willow
Red Elderberry
Common Greenbrier
Bladdernut
Alternate-leaved Dogwood
Dogwoods
Canada Yew
Japanese Yew
Poison Ivy
Maple-leaf Viburnum
Hobble-bush
Grape

Herbaceous Plants:

Wild Sarsaparilla
Bunchberry
Turtle-head
Bluebead Lily
Pink Lady’s Slipper
Yellow Lady’s Slipper
Trout Lily
White Wood-aster
Large-leaved Wood-aster
Spotted Touch-me-not
New England Blazing-star
Canada Lily
Purple Loosestrife
Canada Mayflower
False Solomon’s Seal
Indian Cucumber-root
Lion’s-foot
Rattlesnake-root
American Ginseng
Pokeweed
Solomon's Seal
Bracken Fern
Bluestem
Goldenrod
Twistedstalk
Calico Aster
White Trillium
Perfoliate
Bellwort

This is also a good read.

https://www.grownativemass.org/sites/default/files/downloads/WhitetailedDeerNEForestsWEB.pdf

In early december in the forest I'm going to go out on a limb here and say they are primarily eating acorns. I've field dressed enough deer in December to know their gut is full of acorn mast at that time.

At first glance I'd say over half that list is spring and summer fodder (when it's still green).

Spring summer fall.....yeah they are eating plant matter......Nov to Feb it's hard mast.....that's why the mast drop is important.....it gets them through the winter. Also "mast" does not only include acorns.....beech nuts, hickory, chestnut and such is all considered hard mast.

 

[HorizontalHunter]

In early december in the forest I'm going to go out on a limb here and say they are primarily eating acorns. I've field dressed enough deer in December to know their gut is full of acorn mast at that time.

At first glance I'd say over half that list is spring and summer fodder (when it's still green).

Spring summer fall.....yeah they are eating plant matter......Nov to Feb it's hard mast.....that's why the mast drop is important.....it gets them through the winter. Also "mast" does not only include acorns.....beech nuts, hickory, chestnut and such is all considered hard mast.

Yes hard mast is important. Yes it makes up much of their diet. My point was that there is much more to a deers diet than just hard mast. It is especially important to archers.

I hunt archery so I start September 15th (CT).

I always open the rumen of the deer I shoot and hard mast isn’t always the main food component in the rumen of those deer. I would say that I find hard mast in 50% - 60% of the deer I shoot.

Bob

 

[Chris M.]

Seeing more acorns now. Nice green ones.

 

[Mark from MA]

Yes hard mast is important. Yes it makes up much of their diet. My point was that there is much more to a deers diet than just hard mast. It is especially important to archers.

I hunt archery so I start September 15th (CT).

I always open the rumen of the deer I shoot and hard mast isn’t always the main food component in the rumen of those deer. I would say that I find hard mast in 50% - 60% of the deer I shoot.

Bob

I hunt CT. Where you can bait. In early seasons. Apples are preferred. Its generally what I shoot does over for population control.

Later season, corn. They will ignore corn for good red and white acorn mast and baiting is more of a waste of time. During that time of year bucks, are not generally concentrated on food, they are roaming and banging does, so again baiting more waste of time, better to concentrate on travel areas.

January, deer like the corn but also love frozen apples for some reason.My guess after months of eating hard mast, frozen apples are a sweet treat. But they love them. See it out in MA too..deer dont touch apples all fall then they freeze and are digging them up in the snow.