Acorns to crops
- Czabs
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Acorns to crops
For those of you who hunt around a lot of acorns...when have you guys noticed them to stop feeding on the acorns and start turning to beans, corn, etc.? Just curious, what others have seen. The first frost of the year is usually the best for me targeting them going to the bean fields.
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Re: Acorns to crops
I have noticed this year my area had a bumper crop of acorns and were early falling. Before opener they were drilling them. New food. They have started to move on now. Alfalfa and some of the dryer corn should be good bets.
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Re: Acorns to crops
Depends on the local acorn crop. During boomer acorn crop years in areas loaded with oaks, not until snowfall. In a lot of farm/hill country I hunt, the oaks act more like a "speed bump" for movement as they are browsing on them on the way to crops in the late fall. The more the acorns, the slower the travel.
Local hunting pressure on the oak ridges can push the deer to the crops sooner if the pressure is less in those areas.
If I had to pick an average "transition" date where I see more DAYLIGHT activity in crops it would be November 1.
Local hunting pressure on the oak ridges can push the deer to the crops sooner if the pressure is less in those areas.
If I had to pick an average "transition" date where I see more DAYLIGHT activity in crops it would be November 1.
- Stanley
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Re: Acorns to crops
Acorns are not all created equal. White acorns are the much preferred acorn for all animals, and birds that eat them. The least favorite are the red oak/pin oak acorns. They are small, bitter and much more abundant per tree than the whites. From my experiences white acorns trump all other food sources. When the whites are gone the deer move on to or go back to other food sources.
Red acorns/pin oak are usually eaten after all the corn, bean food sources are gone. Deer kind of don't hit the beans when they are in the yellow stage. Once the beans brown up, the deer hit them again very hard. Deer also hit the combined fields they love the bean chaff and the bean stubble. If you can find an unpicked corn field late season, we are talking an absolute gold mine. I kind of rambled on but touched on a little bit of what my experiences have taught me.
Red acorns/pin oak are usually eaten after all the corn, bean food sources are gone. Deer kind of don't hit the beans when they are in the yellow stage. Once the beans brown up, the deer hit them again very hard. Deer also hit the combined fields they love the bean chaff and the bean stubble. If you can find an unpicked corn field late season, we are talking an absolute gold mine. I kind of rambled on but touched on a little bit of what my experiences have taught me.
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Re: Acorns to crops
You the man Stan! Good preview of how food sources unfold during the season.
- Czabs
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Re: Acorns to crops
I wasnt going to sit on the crop fields them selves...just want to know the best time to sit beds and bedding areas that rwly on them going to fields or oaks. So far as of now I can tell they are still hitting acorns but not as much as rhey were early in the yr. I almost find hunting a lone oak tree or a couple of them in the marsh like hunting a daylight deer activity bait pile. Its great. Hoping to smash a doe tomorrow morning. Thanks fellas.
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Re: Acorns to crops
Went shinning last night just at dark till around 8pm. Then rain got to heavy to see. Among these were two big bucks. All in alfalfa fields.
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Re: Acorns to crops
As mentioned above, when white oaks are avaliable they seem to rank supreme over all else for food.
Here in KY we have a spotty crop this year so the deer are staying on their field patterns longer. Most years by this point we are having to hit the woods to stay on deer, but currently we can still get on them around fields.
Another point is that white oaks go to seed in the late fall/winter. Deer won't eat them once sprouted. 2 years ago I doubled on some does bc in October I had found some loaded red oaks. I went back in after Christmas and the deer were pounding them. Red oak acorns sprout in the spring.
Here in KY we have a spotty crop this year so the deer are staying on their field patterns longer. Most years by this point we are having to hit the woods to stay on deer, but currently we can still get on them around fields.
Another point is that white oaks go to seed in the late fall/winter. Deer won't eat them once sprouted. 2 years ago I doubled on some does bc in October I had found some loaded red oaks. I went back in after Christmas and the deer were pounding them. Red oak acorns sprout in the spring.
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Re: Acorns to crops
Czabs wrote:I wasnt going to sit on the crop fields them selves...just want to know the best time to sit beds and bedding areas that rwly on them going to fields or oaks. So far as of now I can tell they are still hitting acorns but not as much as rhey were early in the yr. I almost find hunting a lone oak tree or a couple of them in the marsh like hunting a daylight deer activity bait pile. Its great. Hoping to smash a doe tomorrow morning. Thanks fellas.
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I gave this some more thought.
If you are hunting two discrete patterns in the same area, wait until the prerut to focus on the crops unless the acorn crop is almost depleted. I see does and fawns make the transition much sooner. In the absence of pressure, bucks will stick to the security of a food source in the timber. The only exception, is standing corn...
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- Southern Man
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Re: Acorns to crops
Down here, the change comes around the first week in October. That's when the white oaks start dropping and beans are yellowing. Corn is being harvested. By the time most of the white oaks are cleaned up, the red oaks are dropping. That lasts up to and into November. By then the beans are cut also. I've never seen a switch from acorns to crop fields, only from crop fields to acorns. Acorns trump all foods. Sure, there will be some deer in cut cornfields all season and there is a spurt of field activity when spilled beans (from combining) sprout, if we have warm weather, but once acorns start dropping, crop fields become secondary.
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