Beech Nuts and Witch Hobble

[Ognennyy]

I was out doing some scouting yesterday (upstate NY Adirondack mountains). I walked around one of my sets that overlooks two mature beeches in a hardwood grove, where previously I have scouted heavy sign in late summer early fall. There is a large concentration of witch hobble / hobblebush nearby also.

The thinking was I wanted to scout my set for recent activity, but with minimal pressure. The thought was to take a look at the other mature beeches in nearby sections of forest. Do they have fully mature nuts yet? Are they already starting to drop? Have the deer noticed and begun actively feeding on the nuts? Also I hear that in late summer when witch hobble fruits it is also a large attractant for wildlife, especially bear and deer.

Last weekend I scouted another area a couple miles up the road, same terrain, except the hobblebush plants up that way are huge. They also had what looked like blooms starting. They looked like little orange flowers opening up, almost like on a pumpkin or squash vine. But I didn't see any activity like that on the hobblebush plants in the area I was scouting last night, only a few miles away. Has anyone else in the North-East noticed their local hobblebush flowering yet?

I didn't see any beech nuts, not on the trees or otherwise. Oddly enough there was sign of recent deer activity. Maybe they know that around this time beech nuts should be dropping and usually are? Or perhaps my definition of "mature" is a bit off, and the trees I scouted were not fruiting age yet. We had a bit of a drought earlier in the summer; 7 weeks with not much rain. And a late Spring. But it couldn't have been so bad as to crush the mast crop surely.

Any other Adirondack hunters been paying attention to your local Beeches lately?

[Ognennyy]

Bump.

[Mschmeiske]

I have an area I hunt with lots of beech nuts and I’ve always wondered if they munch on them often. Curious to see what others have to say!

[brancher147]

Beech nuts should be falling now in Adirondacks, they are in WV.

Witch hobble is a great late season/winter deer food. The areas I used to hunt in ADK's late season the witch hobble was abundant and was browsed down to ankle level.

[NYBackcountry]

Noticed the beeches dropping last weekend in the southern ADKs.

Nothing on the hobble yet, I'll report back after this weekend.

[Ognennyy]

Damn it that's what I was afraid of. For some reason the beeches up where I set my two stands in the SW Adirondacks just didn't grow nuts this year. Very annoying. I really fed the mosquitoes hanging those damn stands in late June early July. I guess it's time to get mobile up there and scout with stand on back.

Brancher you see the deer go after the witch hobble leaves in the late season? That's a first that I've heard that. I'll have to keep my eyes open for it. Don't they go after the the fruit too like right about now?

[NYBackcountry]

Were they flowering at all? High or low elevation?

Either was I wouldnt be overly concerned, Beech is pretty low on the list as far as food goes, I believe.

[Ognennyy]

Were they flowering at all? High or low elevation?

The witch hobble a couple miles to the North were beginning to flower, yes. They looked like small, orange buds like on a squash plant. The ones I saw in the woods last weekend about 150 yards from one of my stands were not flowering. That area is around 1800 feet in elevation.

Either was I wouldnt be overly concerned, Beech is pretty low on the list as far as food goes, I believe.

There could surely be a more preferred food source that I just haven't discovered yet. There are no mature mast-producing oaks, agriculture, or apple trees anywhere for tens of square miles around the area I hunt. I have observed areas heavy with raspberry and blackberry plants, but I don't really see a lot of deer sign around them even when they are ripe. I hear the deer in upstate NY really go for choke cherries and wintergreen, but I can't ID those plants yet so I can't comment on them. I don't know if they even grow up there.

I have observed heavy deer sign in the areas with isolated mature beeches. A few seasons ago I had an encounter with a large black bear at one of my stand sights in question that has one very large beech. I was sitting there because of heavy deer sign. Up in the other set I hung with mature beeches every year there is heavy deer and moose sign. That set also has a large concentration of witch hobble nearby.

There is another site on a south-facing ridge where I sit one time per season. It's a mature hardwood ridge, with beech, maple, and elm. I shoot a deer on the first sit in there every time, and they're always picking leftover beech nuts out of the leaves.

I do know that I have never found an area with heavy deer sign where there was clearly an abundance of some food source that I just couldn't ID. I think they go for beech up there because there's not a whole lot else to eat.

You're an Adirondack hunter also. Do you have other food sources in your woods?

[NYBackcountry]

Were they flowering at all? High or low elevation?

The witch hobble a couple miles to the North were beginning to flower, yes. They looked like small, orange buds like on a squash plant. The ones I saw in the woods last weekend about 150 yards from one of my stands were not flowering. That area is around 1800 feet in elevation.

Either was I wouldnt be overly concerned, Beech is pretty low on the list as far as food goes, I believe.

There could surely be a more preferred food source that I just haven't discovered yet. There are no mature mast-producing oaks, agriculture, or apple trees anywhere for tens of square miles around the area I hunt. I have observed areas heavy with raspberry and blackberry plants, but I don't really see a lot of deer sign around them even when they are ripe. I hear the deer in upstate NY really go for choke cherries and wintergreen, but I can't ID those plants yet so I can't comment on them. I don't know if they even grow up there.

I have observed heavy deer sign in the areas with isolated mature beeches. A few seasons ago I had an encounter with a large black bear at one of my stand sights in question that has one very large beech. I was sitting there because of heavy deer sign. Up in the other set I hung with mature beeches every year there is heavy deer and moose sign. That set also has a large concentration of witch hobble nearby.

There is another site on a south-facing ridge where I sit one time per season. It's a mature hardwood ridge, with beech, maple, and elm. I shoot a deer on the first sit in there every time, and they're always picking leftover beech nuts out of the leaves.

I do know that I have never found an area with heavy deer sign where there was clearly an abundance of some food source that I just couldn't ID. I think they go for beech up there because there's not a whole lot else to eat.

You're an Adirondack hunter also. Do you have other food sources in your woods?

I rarely hunt the deeper, less deer dense Adirondacks until the rut or snowfall. The pockets I hunt earlier than that, I hunt mostly white oaks.

I see them feeding on chokecherry but not in what I would consider the Adirondacks. A little further south than that.

I wish I could be more help but it sounds like you have a good understanding of the area your in. I think beeches drop mast every 4-6 years? So it can vary all over the place.

[Ognennyy]

Were they flowering at all? High or low elevation?

The witch hobble a couple miles to the North were beginning to flower, yes. They looked like small, orange buds like on a squash plant. The ones I saw in the woods last weekend about 150 yards from one of my stands were not flowering. That area is around 1800 feet in elevation.

Either was I wouldnt be overly concerned, Beech is pretty low on the list as far as food goes, I believe.

There could surely be a more preferred food source that I just haven't discovered yet. There are no mature mast-producing oaks, agriculture, or apple trees anywhere for tens of square miles around the area I hunt. I have observed areas heavy with raspberry and blackberry plants, but I don't really see a lot of deer sign around them even when they are ripe. I hear the deer in upstate NY really go for choke cherries and wintergreen, but I can't ID those plants yet so I can't comment on them. I don't know if they even grow up there.

I have observed heavy deer sign in the areas with isolated mature beeches. A few seasons ago I had an encounter with a large black bear at one of my stand sights in question that has one very large beech. I was sitting there because of heavy deer sign. Up in the other set I hung with mature beeches every year there is heavy deer and moose sign. That set also has a large concentration of witch hobble nearby.

There is another site on a south-facing ridge where I sit one time per season. It's a mature hardwood ridge, with beech, maple, and elm. I shoot a deer on the first sit in there every time, and they're always picking leftover beech nuts out of the leaves.

I do know that I have never found an area with heavy deer sign where there was clearly an abundance of some food source that I just couldn't ID. I think they go for beech up there because there's not a whole lot else to eat.

You're an Adirondack hunter also. Do you have other food sources in your woods?

I rarely hunt the deeper, less deer dense Adirondacks until the rut or snowfall. The pockets I hunt earlier than that, I hunt mostly white oaks.

I see them feeding on chokecherry but not in what I would consider the Adirondacks. A little further south than that.

I wish I could be more help but it sounds like you have a good understanding of the area your in. I think beeches drop mast every 4-6 years? So it can vary all over the place.

You have been a huge help in fact, and I thank you. If beeches indeed only drop every few years that would be earth shattering to my strategy for the upcoming season and it sounds like I'll definitely need to get more mobile. Thanks for the help.

End thread hijack