Favorite Food Sources

[DropTyne]

We cover alot of great topics in this forum but one area that I really can't recall discussing is food sources. I have some specific questions about acorns as a food source that I'm hoping people can give me some input on. Otherwise I hope this post sparks a conversation about all different types of food sources, what's preffered and why, even artificial food sources that people have used.

Here's the questions on acorns I have:

Is acorn mast production cyclical? What affects it?

When the acorns are dropping is that a preffered food source over a bean field, corn, browse, etc....

Can you increase acorn production through the use of fertilizers? If so how? Is it worth doing?

[dan]

Food preferences very based on all sorts of things like, food type availability, deer craving what they lack nutrition wise, location of food, etc... I would say that white oak acorns are the most preferred food source in my opinion in the places I have hunted. After acorns comes corn. The "high lysine" stuff is the best by far, though rarly used for deer.

Is acorn mast production cyclical? What affects it?

http://www.outdoorlife.com/articles/hun ... n-nutshell

Red Oak vs. White Oak


Not all oaks are alike. Aside from the aesthetic differences, some oaks produce mature acorns in one growing season, while others require two.



One-season oaks are known as white-oak types, belonging to the Leucobalanus subgenera. These trees have a fruiting cycle analogous to that of an apple tree. Every spring, blooming female oak flowers are fertilized by the pollen from male flowers growing on the same tree and on nearby trees of the same species. If conditions are favorable, the female flowers set fruit (acorns), which matures over the summer and drops in the fall. All white oaks have leaves with rounded lobes. Among them are such species as the chestnut oak, swamp white oak and post oak and the group's namesake, the white oak.



The cycle for two-season oaks is more complex. Known as red-oak types (Erythrobalanus), these trees begin to develop their fruit the same way white oaks do, but instead of swelling into full-fledged acorns their first summer, the nuts remain stunted woody knobs into the following spring. Then, in their second spring, these knobs begin growing again and drop as mature acorns during that fall. Although red-oak-type trees require two years to produce an acorn crop, they flower every spring, whether or not they have immature acorns. That means they also have the potential to produce a crop of acorns every year as long as the conditions for fruit-set are favorable year after year. The lobes of red oak leaves are pointed and include species such as the red oak, black oak, pin oak and scarlet oak.



Oak flowers of both types have a fertilization window of only about 10 days, during which any number of things can occur to make or break the mast crop. High humidity, for example, prevents male flowers from blooming and releasing their pollen. A spring frost during or shortly after flowering will kill the flowers or the newly formed acorn fruit. Such events would mean that white oaks would experience a mast failure in the same year, but that red oaks would go bust the autumn after that.



How to Manage Your Oaks


Let's say you're a deer hunter who wants to improve the acorn prospects where you hang your tree stand. First, take an inventory of your oaks to determine what percentage of them are white-oak or red-oak types. Ideally, you want a breakdown close to 50-50, because diversified stands produce acorns more reliably. Next, determine whether the trees are shading each other. Crowded oaks expend energy competing for sunlight that could otherwise be used to make acorns. Thinning a crowded stand releases space around the remaining trees, encouraging them to grow the fuller crowns that will produce more nuts. Be selective when you remove trees. You want to maintain a balance of oak types, perpetuate good mast producers and leave trees that are growing on optimal sites.



Your process of elimination might go something likee this:




If two oaks are crowding each other and one is a red oak and the other is a white oak, remove the one that is more prevalent in the entire woodlot.

If the trees are of the same type, remove the one that has a history of producing less mast since it probably lacks the genetic potential for high acorn yields.

If no discernable differences exist between two similar trees and they're growing on a slope, remove the oak that sits lower. Frost tends to settle in low areas, which means that oaks growing in low spots are most vulnerable to frost damage. One study revealed that as little as a two-foot rise in elevation is enough to prevent frost damage in trees.





Spare the chain saw if your trees are getting enough sunlight. And if space permits, consider planting more oaks -- it can pay off more quickly than you might expect. The gobbler sawtooth oak (Quercus acutissima), for example, is a fast-growing, high-acorn-yielding species that grows in a variety of soils along much of the East Coast and into the Midwest. Well-maintained trees planted in good soil can start to produce nuts after just five to eight years.



Does Fertilizer Work?


Treating oaks with fertilizer is often touted as an easy way to boost acorn yields, yet little scientific evidence exists to support such a claim. One study tested the effects of fertilizer on scrub and dwarf chinkapin oaks and found no difference in acorn yieldsäwith one exception: oaks that were past their prime mast-producing age did show increases in yield.



Determining that an oak is past its peak acorn-producing age is difficult. Aging a tree is best done with an increment borer, which extracts a sample of the tree's growth rings. However, these instruments are expensive (more than $150) and easily broken, so you'll want a trained forester to take the sample. When you know a tree's age, identify the species and look up its average life span and peak acorn-producing years. If that seems like too much trouble, there's no harm in giving a tree whose acorn crop appears to be thinning some 5-10-5 fertilizer early in the spring. Although this approach is decidedly hit-or-miss, especially since other factors may be hampering its yield, you might extend a tree's production peak by a few years with relatively little effort.



Finally, keep an oak diary. Detailed records remind you when, where and what practices were undertaken on a specific woodlot. At least as important, they allow you to compare the mast crop from year to year to quantify your successes. Hey, your greatest success might be the first time you can use the "mast situation" as the reason for a successful deer season, rather than as an excuse for striking out.

[Sneaky]

I know deer love corn, but when acorns are on the ground, it's hard to get them to come to corn very well. So if acorns aren't #1, I'd love to know what is.

I wouldn't know how to hunt a forest full of producing acorns, but if I find a forest with just a few trees that are producing, that makes things pretty easy.

[RUTIN]

In a short & sweet, without much knowledge on scientific studies.... i think of the natrual food sources, deer will start off on beans & clover early season, then as beans brown and acorns drop, they are gonna be all over acorn flats. As they deminish the acorns big bucks will always hide out and live in standing corn. Once corn is off i think deer rely on acorns, brassicas, turnips, and mineral sites. Im SURE they eat much more but as far as mass crop goes this would be the timeline i would put in it....

[dan]

I wouldn't know how to hunt a forest full of producing acorns, but if I find a forest with just a few trees that are producing, that makes things pretty easy.

I would hunt it the same way I would if there were only a few trees. Where they stage near there bedding... A lot of hunters, probably the majority, hunt food sources early season. Thats why they fail in getting big bucks consistently in early season. Food is very important, but hunting them where they bed ( and spend 95% of there daylight time ) is the key to killing them in daylight.

[dan]

big bucks will always hide out and live in standing corn

Ruttin, you made some great points, but I disagree with the one above...
Big bucks might do this more often where your at, but they don't always do that, and where I hunt in S.E. Wisconsin, its more the rare exception than the rule... Deer are different in the different areas around the country and even different areas of each state... Whether or not they bed in corn in your area probably depends on the amount and quality of wooded cover and hunting pressure.... I used to have the opposite belief that big bucks rarely bed in corn and that it was an old wives tale till I saw it with my own eyes traveling to Iowa.

[Sneaky]

I wouldn't know how to hunt a forest full of producing acorns, but if I find a forest with just a few trees that are producing, that makes things pretty easy.

I would hunt it the same way I would if there were only a few trees. Where they stage near there bedding... A lot of hunters, probably the majority, hunt food sources early season. Thats why they fail in getting big bucks consistently in early season. Food is very important, but hunting them where they bed ( and spend 95% of there daylight time ) is the key to killing them in daylight.

I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the tip.

[dan]

I love hunting the transition lines where swamps meet hardwoods on great white acorn mast years... Walk the edge till you hit deer sign set up and hunt. If no shooters come thru the next day go farther down till you see more buck sign. You can cover a pretty big area pretty fast where a certain buck is suspected to be hanging out.

[RUTIN]

Dan... Very true, i was speaking mainly for central ohio. Im certain it is defferent all over the country. Ive just seen more mature bucks the past 5 years take up corn fields in this area and our lease in Illinois, simply bc you would have to manually stock them to get close. The use of a box blind or elavated stand in corn fields is the only way to get close to them. Last year the midwest had soooo much water, which meant standing corn during the rut, and ALOT of the true giants were living in the corn on our properties and would just wait til night to come out. We would take drives on our buggy around the perimeter of the corn at night and had to dodge deer like rabbits flyin in and out of the corn. Im sure mature bucks live on swamp islands and bluff points and everywhere else throughout the country as well. My big drop-tine was living on a island in a swamp with three other bucks, all back to back watching out for each other and there was only ONE way into this area so they could nail you easy!

[dan]

That buck has some cool character Ruttin!

[DropTyne]

That's an awesome buck rutin, very cool rack. What about apples? Would these trump acorns? I found 6 apple trees way back in the woods that are close to some pretty thick cover. My one buddy says they'll draw does out early, what about a mature buck?

[dan]

Apples likely won't beat out acorns... But if thats the way your looking at it... Your looking at it wrong. I personally wouldn't set up on a food source that looks hot, at least not most of the time. Thats the same thing 95% of the hunters do, wander around till they find deer sign at a food source, or some rubs, or scrapes, and set up, not having any clue as to where the deer live and move in daylight... Sure they get the occasional nice buck, but they don't consistently see or shoot the best bucks on the property.
The key is to know where they bed 1st... Then take food, rubs, scrapes, and other factors into account. Mature bucks spend 95% of there daylight time within 100 to 150 yards of there bed... So you could be hunting the best food source for twenty miles, if there ain't a big buck bed within a few hundred yards your not going to be to successful.

[Indianahunter]

I literally hunt in hardwoods (oaks and the like) with thousands of acres of agriculture fields surrounding primarily corn and soybeans. Here are a few observations I have made over the years, but ultimately I agree 100% with Dan.
Large Oak Forests: My experience has been that hunting in a large Oak tract is not the best option for a couple of reasons. First, where there are oaks everywhere you can't pinpoint movement specifically as they will be browsing throughout. Secondly large hardwood forest typically create such a canopy preventing sunlight that underbrush is limited or non-existent and because of this feeding will primarily happen in the cover of darkness. Now if you know exactly where the deer are bedding as Dan said you can meet them in transition. If hunting the food source and not the bedding here is your best tactic. Chances are if you have oaks on your property then somewhere there will be a small cluster of white oak somewhere else outside of the large tract. The ones located in the middle of corn fields are the bomb. But anyway leave the large oak grove and scour your property for the smallest concentration of oaks 1 to 6 trees. This will become a destination point for deer when acorns are dropping as they have to compete for crop availability in that spot and will visit it more frequently and also puts you in a kill position rather than an observation position.
Beans: I have see in a ton of hunting videos and stuff where people are glassing bean fields and seeing great bucks. Here in Southern Indiana that only seems to be true when they are young plants, but after that it seems if there is any other food source they will hit it and leave the beans. I have glassed and spot lighted many bean fields around here and almost always see deer in other areas if there is an alternative food source available. I don't know why? Beans are 86% Protein and unbelievably good for deer and the protein is a huge benefactor in antler development. If I owned property that I could leave a winter crop standing for deer it would definitely be beans. Corn is super high in carbs and will allow the deer to put on fat and give them energy but beans are much better as far as diet nutritional value.
Bedding in Corn. I really think this is property specific based upon the amount of other available cover and hunting pressure. I have hunted corn in places where the deer are bedded in there and hunt another property two miles down the road and you could stalk every row and never jump a deer. My observation was that one property offered better nearby cover (Huge CPR) with no hunter access.

[lungbuster]

What I have witnessed about mature bucks bedding in standing corn is during the rut and they were locked down with a doe, I have never seen a mature buck bed by himself in standing corn, but have seen a number of does bed in corn. I agree with Indiana that standing soybeans are the better choice for a winter feeding crop, and our deer will hit the beans late season before going to the corn.Last season I witnessed several good bucks hitting one bean field we had standing at 3:00 in the afternoon a good hour and a half before dark, most made thier way to the corn after sundown (we had standing corn also last season)

[Black Squirrel]

This seems to be very specfic to the area. I have seen deer use beans throughout the hunting season. More heavily in early season when they are still green but have seen them in yellowing beans. Also, a few years back during a late season hunt around Christmas time, the farmer had both standing beans and standing corn. I had a choice to hunt beans or corn. I chose to hunt the corn, and moved the stand from the bean location about 100 yards, I could see both, and watched 7 deer file by my bean stand to feed on the standing beans.
As for bedding in corn, I also am curious on this. On Oct. 14th, 2007, I shot a 13 point, gross 150 inch buck after he came out of standing corn, to feed in yellow beans. I know there is a patch of grass in a low area of that field. This was before I watched any of the videos, so I wasn't looking for beds and hunting them. I had know idea where this buck was bedding, but since watching the videos, I hash it over and over in my mind, as to where I think he was bedding. I knew he was bedding in the corn, as I watched him come out of it, and there were no woods within 3/4 of a mile. I guess I thought I would share these two stories to show that, as we all know anything can happen.