high acorn season hunting

[mainecoon]

Lots of acorns in New England this year. Does this influence hunting tactics?

 

[mainecoon]

Or I should say, "strategy", seeing as we are all field-grade officers when it comes to deer...

 

[Robbins290]

Curious my self. Bought some new land for a food plot. Walked around and saw tons of acorns on the ground.

 

[Fyrstyk]

I have been out squirrel hunting here in CT, and I have only found a few white oak trees that are dropping acorns. We were hit hard by Gypsy Moth caterpillars last year so that may be the reason I haven't seen that many acorns.

 

[22-rimfire]

A big acorn crop is really important for bears and deer. I need to make a trip to the Smoky Mt NP to check on acorns. I suspect this is a good year as we didn't have any frosts when the oaks were in blossom. This is about time I start making several trips a month to visit the park and that will continue through the rut. The black bear population in the Smoky's were at near starvation levels this summer.

Definitely still hunt near oak trees with acorns.

 

[jmr40]

A good crop makes it harder to hunt. In lean years animals are more predictable about where, and when they move.

 

[Bfh_auto]

A good crop makes it harder to hunt. In lean years animals are more predictable about where, and when they move.

Definitely. They can be lazy and still eat. Also makes it harder to process meat.

 

[buck460XVR]

Lots of acorns in New England this year. Does this influence hunting tactics?

Around here, there are certain times a year when you don't see deer out in the Ag fields......generally it's when acorns are dropping. Got a coupla places where after a wind/heavy rain, I know the ground is covered with acorns......I know dam well the deer know this too. Deer really prefer white Oak acorns around here over the more plentiful Red oak. There are also some of the other less numerous oak varieties that they will walk over red oak acorns to get to. Knowing when those trees are dropping their mast can be beneficial to hunting success. I've field dressed deer whose stomachs resembled a bag full of marbles....because they had gorged on acorns before being shot. Scientists consider acorns a so called superfood......and in my experience deer do too. So yes, it should influence the hunting tactics of any knowledgeable deer hunter.

 

[22-rimfire]

Definitely it pays to learn where the white oaks are located if there is a good acorn crop.

 

[Highland Lofts]

Definitely. They can be lazy and still eat. Also makes it harder to process meat.

Why would acorns make it more harder to process the meat?
I've cut up a butt load of deer and it never made a bit of difference cutting them up no matter what they ate.

I just got back to Washington State from a week and a half of squirrel hunting and scouting for deer in Upstate New York. Broome & Chenango counties. Tons of acorns and hickory nuts where I hunted and did my scouting for deer. I did see a few nice bucks along with smaller bucks and a ton of does.
A few places it was like walking on marbles under the oaks. They were still dropping every day while there. Sept. 28th to Oct.5th.
I will be back there deer hu ting Nov.13th to Dec.8th for the deer season. I have the standard buck tag, bear tag and two doe tags.

I will be sitting at a road crossing beteeen two big sets of mixed hard woods.

 

[Bfh_auto]

Why would acorns make it more harder to process the meat?
I've cut up a butt load of deer and it never made a bit of difference cutting them up no matter what they ate.

I just got back to Washington State from a week and a half of squirrel hunting and scouting for deer in Upstate New York. Broome & Chenango counties. Tons of acorns and hickory nuts where I hunted and did my scouting for deer. I did see a few nice bucks along with smaller bucks and a ton of does.
A few places it was like walking on marbles under the oaks. They were still dropping every day while there. Sept. 28th to Oct.5th.
I will be back there deer hu ting Nov.13th to Dec.8th for the deer season. I have the standard buck tag, bear tag and two doe tags.

I will be sitting at a road crossing beteeen two big sets of mixed hard woods.

I cut all the fat off. More fat equals more work.
Venison fat doesn't taste good.

 

[Highland Lofts]

Deer fat is not something you want to eat. Nasty stuff. It's not to bad to take off if the meat is cold. Deer that eat on corn put the fat on as well. Last deer season there was standing corn everywhere well into the winter. That made it a whole lot easier on the deer for winter feed.