The Big Acorn Journal: Fall 2017

[Ognennyy]

I'm always wondering about the timing of mast drop in the early season. Granted it can vary heavily from one region to another only 15-20 miles away, and from specific tree to another specific tree. The only real way to know is boots on the ground. But I think there are general trends that can be captured per region. I thought it'd be cool if we were to report our findings in one central location.

We want to make sure people can quickly find relevant information. Let's use a format that makes your specific state and area within the state clear right up front, and then break down the information by the three major categories; Beech, Red Oak, White Oak. Also the time frame of report is important.

The idea is that someone can come into this thread and use their browser's "find" feature to search for their state, and quickly find relevant information. So please stick to reporting current information on the acorn drop situation in this thread. If you see need for discussion on some detail not related to the current acorn drop status, please start another thread.

Thanks guys. Let's report some mast crops!



Time frame: First week of October 2017
Location: New York, Capital region and South-West Adirondacks
Beeches: I have not yet observed any beeches dropping, nor have I noticed any beech nuts on the ground around beech trees.
White Oaks: I have not see any acorns on the ground, and have not heard any dropping.
Red Oaks: They were dropping acorns here around in the last week of August. I haven't looked since, but I will go out and check again today.

[elk yinzer]

Cool idea. Here is what I am seeing in Central PA: parts of Centre/Huntingdon/Mifflin/Clinton/Clearfield Counties

White Oaks: Extremely patchy, sparse crops where I have found them at all, small dry acorns, most deer have moved on
Chestnut Oaks: Average crop, deer are currently hitting these hard.
Scrub oaks: Most I have come across are loaded and deer and bear are hitting them hard
Red/black oaks: Moderate/patchy. Dropping pretty good mid-elevation. Seeing some places in high-elevation where there is no crop. Deer don't usually hit these until November once some tannins leech out.
Overall seems the Southern ridges have better acorn crops this year than up on the plateau. I haven't really checked out down low in the valleys much.

I don't come across as many beeches but did scout one area that is dropping a ton of them. The bear sign in there is like nothing I have ever seen.

[Ognennyy]

Time frame: First week of October 2017
Location: New York, Capital region

I took around the office park today at lunch and looked at a few red oaks and white oaks

White Oaks: There were no acorns on the ground in the drip ring of the white oaks I checked. There also were none up on the branches. I'm not sure if that's a very local thing, or if white oaks are done dropping.
Red Oaks: There were acorns still on the ground near all the red oaks I checked. I'm assume the deer here are currently occupied with some other food source. I did notice that most of the red oaks still had some acorns attached to the branches. I'm not sure if the weather threw the trees a curve ball, enough to get them to start dropping, then the trees did a take back and are now waiting for colder weather or something to finish dropping.

[Ognennyy]

Time frame: First week of October 2017
Location: New York, Capital region

Walnuts: Dropping like crazy in the riparian zone of a slow moving stream, at the end marshy end of a lake. Do deer eat these, or only squirrels? Something has been tearing them up for sure.

[Ognennyy]

Time frame: First week of October 2017
Location: New York, South-Eastern Adirondacks

Beeches: Surprisingly, not dropping at all. My plan for the night was to hit several locations - a beech stand, then two locations with a couple isolated mature beeches (which are killer due to the isolation), then as last resort a mature hardwood section with beeches in it - and set up on the first one where I heard acorns dropping and found sign. I hiked all night, never stopped to set up. At least I got a good workout in. I'm not positive but I think beeches should be at peak drop right about now. I saw no nuts on the trees, no nuts on the ground, and no sign that nuts had already dropped. Probably it's just regional to the mountain that I was on, but there were no beech nuts at all.