With the season fast approaching what food sources are you keeping a eye on? I got out for a bit this morning b4 it got to hot and beat the bushes. Acorns and persimmons is what I was checking. In my area these seem to be the big players early season. Sadly, I’ve never had much success with either as far as big bucks. Seems every other tree is a oak in my woods and the deer don’t just pepper a individual tree. Although if I can find the first one to start dropping a day or 2 early it gets hit pretty good.
I have a love/hate relationship with persimmon trees. Deer love them and really flock to a hot dropping fruit persimmon. My cameras will be going off non stop while it’s dropping. The problem I have always had is while it’s dropping a mature buck or a family group with bed right next to the thing until it quits dropping. I can’t get close enough to it without running all the deer off.
Early Season deer grub
- Boogieman1
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- thwack16
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Re: Early Season deer grub
Have been doing the same with the persimmons. Issue I have with them is that everyone I can hunt are pasture trees- which means away from cover and cows can camp under them. Still like to know which ones are hot to be able to check areas leading to them from bedding.
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- Boogieman1
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Re: Early Season deer grub
thwack16 wrote:F03A2115-9E51-4828-A64B-EE76867B7C32.jpeg
Have been doing the same with the persimmons. Issue I have with them is that everyone I can hunt are pasture trees- which means away from cover and cows can camp under them. Still like to know which ones are hot to be able to check areas leading to them from bedding.
Yes! Every persimmon tree I know of is in a overgrown pasture. Now some of these pastures have been abandoned for 20+ years and have grown up in some nasty stuff. I also don’t have to deal with cattle but these stinking hogs can screw the pooch just as bad. Also, I have noticed bucks like to rub on those young sapling persimmons. Pretty much kill em all off.
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Re: Early Season deer grub
I typically check apple trees, white oaks, chinkapin oaks,
Pin oaks, red oaks, and burr oaks.
I have seen them eat hickory nuts, jewel weed, multi flora rose and tons of other browse but a lot of food sources are so plentiful that it doesn’t help much to know they are eating it.
The best case scenario for me is to find a good quality food source with a limited supply in a location that they comfortable moving in daylight.
Pin oaks, red oaks, and burr oaks.
I have seen them eat hickory nuts, jewel weed, multi flora rose and tons of other browse but a lot of food sources are so plentiful that it doesn’t help much to know they are eating it.
The best case scenario for me is to find a good quality food source with a limited supply in a location that they comfortable moving in daylight.
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Re: Early Season deer grub
Red oaks, swamp oak and white oaks for acorns and brier and a local grass that looks like onion tops even smells like a onion. It's a type of damp bottom land plant also grows really good along waterways and marsh edges.
- Mtn_Hopper
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Re: Early Season deer grub
Same here. The persimmons fell about 2 weeks ago last year and were about gone by the second week of September (opener). This year they seem to be hanging much longer and haven't started to turn yet. Looks like they may be hot for the opener. I've also noticed the chestnut oaks started dropping a little this week too. A couple of white oaks lost some acorns in some storms last week, but they seem to be hanging on longer this year as well. Heck there are even a few apples in trees that the bears didn't raid this year too. Muscadines are just now turning and starting to fall as well. Going to be a buffet on the opener this year. Looks like I'll be bouncing back and forth between them all to see what is the "hot" item in two more weeks.
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Re: Early Season deer grub
Years ago I hunted a spot the land owner decided to chainsaw a road right b4 the season. He ran all the fallen timber through one of those wood chippers. Left a mountain of fresh saw dust and mulch. Never saw anything big but doe and young bucks hammered that stuff. Would have family groups bed ontop of it.
Another time I witnessed something I found cool with big round bales of hay. Typically farmers just place them single file along the back fence. One year a farmer pyramid them. Meaning for simplicity back row 10 wide, next row 8, next row 6 and yada yada. Well it formed a point and this big ole buck would bed right on the tip of it in pretty wide open country. Unless you were using Chris Kyle artillery he was impossible to hunt. Not sure what happened to that buck. Was the only year I saw him. Farmer still does the same thing with his round bales but I’ve never seen another buck do it. Always found it rather neat.
Another time I witnessed something I found cool with big round bales of hay. Typically farmers just place them single file along the back fence. One year a farmer pyramid them. Meaning for simplicity back row 10 wide, next row 8, next row 6 and yada yada. Well it formed a point and this big ole buck would bed right on the tip of it in pretty wide open country. Unless you were using Chris Kyle artillery he was impossible to hunt. Not sure what happened to that buck. Was the only year I saw him. Farmer still does the same thing with his round bales but I’ve never seen another buck do it. Always found it rather neat.
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- Thesouthpaw
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Re: Early Season deer grub
Acorns are king in my area. I do my best to take notes on all of the treeS I come across with lots of acorns.
Anything worth doing, is worth over doing.
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