Drought Question?????

[ManOfTheFall]

I have never seen this in all my years of hunting. There have been dry times and very wet times. I have even seen a year or two dryer than this one. I have a large oak tree by my house. I have always liked this because I would really notice when the acorns would start dropping. On Monday the 27th of August I saw maybe one or two acorns on the ground. When I walked out of the house on Tuesday, the ground was literally covered with green acorns. So, do you guys think the deer will come off of their summer feeding patterns early to hit the acorns? Will they go back to the fields after they have devoured what acorn crop has fallen? I knew the acorns would be dropping early but this is like 6 weeks early. I never would have thought that. I hope this doesn't mess with my early season hunting too much. I usually take down most of my deer in the early season. Any advice on this would be much appreciated.

[mrbb]

well I too have noticed acorns been dropping here for past two weeks, but there green acorns,
and if you ask me, deer right now will be sticking to crops till there gone, as green acorns I think need to dry before they eat them, or prefer them any how
right next to one of my food plots I have two 125+ yr old oak tree's
and with deer next to it every day, and there not eating any acorns now, just eating the food plots
so pending what your deer have as feed, I think they will hold off on acorns till there , well ripe to eat as they would/SHould be in a few weeks

just my guess though!

[ManOfTheFall]

Thanks for the info. Yes, there are alot of acorns but like you said, they are all green.

[Bushman]

Like bb said crop areas now and acorns later. Id also target water sources as well.

[Big_Holla]

Acorns that are dropping real early, if they have not matured, may not be as attractive to deer. That was something I read not too long ago on another site and I think there may be some truth to it. How much...heck I don't know....LOL

[mrbb]

a lot of early dropped acorns are hollow in side, you can check real easy by cutting a few open
if there hollow, they will not eat them unless there starving!

[Greybeard11]

Deer are hammering soybeans in my area right now. Haven't seen any indication that they have moved to acorns yet.

[Stumpy]

Yep, deer out this way are in the beans. Also in the harvested corn fields. There shelling corn already in a few areas.

[mrbb]

beans and corn right now are full of moisture, so deer will get some water from eating and not as dry as many other things with the dry summer

[tilelayer1]

I have 2 very large Red oaks on my property,most years Red oak are very prolific.2 years ago there were so many the ground was covered,last year ...zero.This year I see there are some very good size acorns,but not many.Chestnut oaks have very small green acorns,but very few.White oak have none at all.Beech have a scant few nuts as well.Lucily most farmers in my area have a decent corn crop thanks to thunder storms that happened this summer.Beans have also done well.Imo forested areas away from farmland will have a poor mast crop again this year but better than last year.If you find the acorns you will find the deer.Last year when there were no acorns the deer stayed closer to fields and low brush to browse, which was a tough way for me to hunt cuz most of my hunting is in wooded areas.I have heard that Ohio was hit a little harder than Pa as far as the heat and drought went this summer.I havent heard too much on that yet here but it is still early and alot of guys havent put summer away yet.