I think size may matter???

[Hatchetman]

Most of us in the upper midwest have experienced a heavy acorn crop this past fall.(in my area, mostly just the red oaks)
So many acorns that deer are still pawing through the snow (as of 3/1) off the edge of my lawn to get at them.
I was under the assumption that these trees were still getting hit because of being so close to the house they didn't get hit in the fall much because there were plenty to be had elsewhere in safer locations back in the woods.

Last weekend was my first weekend I was able to get out and put on some miles scouting & looking for sheds. There still was a good foot of snow on average every where I went but its going fast as of today.

Anyways, as far as the acorns go, I was surprised to find there where few trees up on the ridges that also had lots of deer pawing going on around them. The one thing that became obvious to me right away was these were not the big oaks. Actually, none of the large tree, big producers last fall had any action around them at all. All the trees that had pawing going on underneath were mid to small size trees ( like ones that were 10"-15" on the stump). So what's the deal?? Do these size trees normally hold there nuts longer than the bigger trees??
I don't know if this is just a fluke or some of you gents have seen this too?
I know for a fact the trees of this size on the edge of my lawn did not have a large qauntity of acorns hanging on last fall. Actually, considerably less than the big trees I have around.

I guess i'm just thinking ahead for next year...

[brancher147]

Not the upper midwest but most stuff I saw in WV this year was rotten. We had a bumper red/black/scarlet oak year. It appeared to be acorns everywhere but 3/4 of them were rotten. I only know of one area that still has acorns and they are about gone. Maybe your smaller trees didn’t have as many rotten acorns. Or maybe they just focused on larger trees first where there were more acorns. Did you check any acorns early to see if they were rotten?

[KLEMZ]

My experience with red oaks in north Wisconsin is that during hunting seasons, the bigger crowned trees are the better producers. Younger tree may produce later in the winter but I don't see how that helps you hunting.

[Kraftd]

Many on here have tales of watching deer with a clear preference for individual oaks in a grove or clusters of them. Immediatey local conditions could make them less tannic, etc.

Could be that the acorns around the larger ones were eaten up at first drop and the smaller ones are left? Most of the red oak groves I hunt in central WI, the canopy is mixed enough it'd be hard to tell which specific trees they are targeting in a small grove of oaks. IE, larger canopied trees could easily be dropping in and around the smaller adjacent trees.

Are you saying that the larger trees still have not been touched but they have been consistently eating off of the smaller trees for 5 months?

Short of observed in-season preference for specific trees from scouting, I may not read too much into this. I've had instances where I sat a grove and observed deer coming in from bedding to other trees or another portion of the oaks that I moved in on soon after for the kill, but not sure much can be taken from winter browising on a heavy crop.

[Dhoff]

I was actually gonna post this exact same thing. I walked ridges yesterday and couldn't believe the amount of acorns still on the ground. Im in west Wisconsin and we do have a lot of standing corn around that wasnt able to be harvested so im sure that is a factor. I just feel like ive never seen as many acorns fall as i had this season.

[Hatchetman]

Many on here have tales of watching deer with a clear preference for individual oaks in a grove or clusters of them. Immediatey local conditions could make them less tannic, etc.

Could be that the acorns around the larger ones were eaten up at first drop and the smaller ones are left? Most of the red oak groves I hunt in central WI, the canopy is mixed enough it'd be hard to tell which specific trees they are targeting in a small grove of oaks. IE, larger canopied trees could easily be dropping in and around the smaller adjacent trees.

Are you saying that the larger trees still have not been touched but they have been consistently eating off of the smaller trees for 5 months?

Short of observed in-season preference for specific trees from scouting, I may not read too much into this. I've had instances where I sat a grove and observed deer coming in from bedding to other trees or another portion of the oaks that I moved in on soon after for the kill, but not sure much can be taken from winter browising on a heavy crop.

Yes, The acorns around the larger trees were eaten up first (As they are every year in my area). They have been gone around these trees since about Dec. 1st, if not earlier.
I guess what I'm getting at is even if there were a few acorns left around these big trees then why aren't they digging for them? And then why are they digging around the mid sized trees? I guess if I would of paid closer attention to this in early winter and actually took binos to these trees and really studied the ground I could of confirmed they still had nuts hanging on or just dropped a bunch but now I'm just speculating.

As far as hunting strategy, In my area we don't have a huge amount of oaks like central or western Wi does, so any tree still supplying food for the deer in late season bow hunting would be a plus for sure.
In areas with there are more acorns than the deer can eat, what I'm talking about has no bearing.

I had a good year, my Buck tag was full and the rest of the family contributed as well so we had plenty venison in the freezer so I didn't hunt late season bow this year. I was just running this by you guys in case someone else has noticed the same thing in your areas if you have lower oak tree numbers too.