white oaks or red oaks?

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straitnarrow
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white oaks or red oaks?

Unread postby straitnarrow » Sun Mar 04, 2012 5:43 pm

For a living I do tree trimming and removal so I know the difference. I just wanna know if anyone has noticed much of a difference in preference for deer. They say white oak acorns are less acitic (not sure on the spelling). Red oaks are more acitic. So deer perfer white oaks has anyone else noticed this trend

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Re: white oaks or red oaks?

Unread postby BigHunt » Sun Mar 04, 2012 5:46 pm

I hear they really like white oak but will eat both.....

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Re: white oaks or red oaks?

Unread postby Dewey » Sun Mar 04, 2012 5:54 pm

Deer will walk right over piles of red oak acorns to get to a single white oak tree.

Look for the round tips on the leaves. Red oak are pointed. Knowing the difference can make be a great advantage for setting up in early fall.

I normally hunt beds but if I find a white oak near a staging area early in the season I get really excited.

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Re: white oaks or red oaks?

Unread postby straitnarrow » Sun Mar 04, 2012 5:59 pm

Right on I figured from what I have seen at work and hunting they eat both but I guess my main question is....if you have and island you think a buck is stagging\bedding on if it's red oaks are you gonna look for white oaks or will you stick with the red oaks you got close to his bed?

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Re: white oaks or red oaks?

Unread postby BigHunt » Sun Mar 04, 2012 6:00 pm

How I remeber in school,the white oaks have rouned tips for the bullets of white men..... And the red oaks are sharp tipped for arrow heads for the red man(indians)

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Re: white oaks or red oaks?

Unread postby Dewey » Sun Mar 04, 2012 6:19 pm

straitnarrow wrote:Right on I figured from what I have seen at work and hunting they eat both but I guess my main question is....if you have and island you think a buck is stagging\bedding on if it's red oaks are you gonna look for white oaks or will you stick with the red oaks you got close to his bed?

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I will look for white oaks but if they are outside a bucks safe zone he probably won't feed on them till dark. In that case red oaks will be your best bet.

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Re: white oaks or red oaks?

Unread postby Stanley » Sun Mar 04, 2012 6:59 pm

White oaks are preferred over reds. Everything likes the whites, so they don't last long. When you get to late season the whites will be gone then the reds get hit.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: white oaks or red oaks?

Unread postby jlh42581 » Mon Mar 05, 2012 12:38 am

The term you are looking for is tannic acid. Taste one yourself and see the difference, it wont kill you.
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Re: white oaks or red oaks?

Unread postby dan » Mon Mar 05, 2012 1:19 am

straitnarrow wrote:Right on I figured from what I have seen at work and hunting they eat both but I guess my main question is....if you have and island you think a buck is stagging\bedding on if it's red oaks are you gonna look for white oaks or will you stick with the red oaks you got close to his bed?

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They perfer the whites for sure... But if there bedding is only near reds they will stage at the reds. Some bucks will move to bedding that is closer to the whites.
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Re: white oaks or red oaks?

Unread postby Southern Man » Mon Mar 05, 2012 3:20 am

Oaks are common down here. The white oaks drop first here, usually in early October. It seems the big mature white oaks are the ones that get the most attention. By late October, early November the red oaks are droppin. The deer will hammer those just as well after the white oaks are cleaned up.

People don't seem to pay attention to Post Oak, or Black oak some people call them. The'll drop in September here and are not as numerous as the other oaks but deer love them. A small acorn, but at the time of droppin, they're the only thing available and are readily eaten.
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Re: white oaks or red oaks?

Unread postby Stanley » Mon Mar 05, 2012 4:28 am

dan wrote:
straitnarrow wrote:Right on I figured from what I have seen at work and hunting they eat both but I guess my main question is....if you have and island you think a buck is stagging\bedding on if it's red oaks are you gonna look for white oaks or will you stick with the red oaks you got close to his bed?

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They perfer the whites for sure... But if there bedding is only near reds they will stage at the reds. Some bucks will move to bedding that is closer to the whites.

Great point, they do that in the areas I hunt. The whites are usually gone in October. Turkeys, squirrels, deer, ground hogs all love them.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: white oaks or red oaks?

Unread postby dan » Mon Mar 05, 2012 5:09 am

I have plenty of bedding areas that only produce when when white oaks are dropping.
I recently saw a post someone made where they said they base there hunting on where the deer sign and activity was the year before... But really, thats a mistake in my eyes cause a lot of bedding is crop or food related, so on good acorn drop years they based in certain areas, on corn years they bed at a certain time in a certain area, on beans the timing is different too...
So it takes more than just knowing the bedding areas. Sure some of the best primary bedding areas have deer there annually at the same times, but a lot of the bedding is food specific.
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Re: white oaks or red oaks?

Unread postby Schultzy » Mon Mar 05, 2012 6:10 am

The woods I hunt Is loaded with oaks. Problem Is most If not all are Red's. I believe we have a couple huge white oaks. One of which Is all by Itself on the edge of a field. When this field Is beans I get pics of mature bucks heading to this oak tree crossing this bean field early In the year (September) sometimes 2 hours before dark. The farmer who rents our land hardly puts beans In on this field anymore. It seems when he does I'm out west elk hunting. Bad timing on my part so far. When corn Is In I don't get hardly any pics on this field edge of mature bucks.
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Re: white oaks or red oaks?

Unread postby Zap » Mon Mar 05, 2012 8:20 am

"Forged in fire lit long ago. Stand next to me and you will never stand alone".
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Re: white oaks or red oaks?

Unread postby BassBoysLLP » Mon Mar 05, 2012 10:10 am

White oaks all the way. I look forward to the years when the white oaks have acorns. However, as others have noted, the deer definitely move different the years the white oaks are producing. I spot check all my primo white oak spots every summer. If the white oaks are loaded, I adjust accordingly. Needless to say, it helps to have historic perspective when breaking down this dynamic. On a first sit in a new area, I almost always set up on the white oak closest to the expected bedding and adjust accordingly on following hunts.


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