Can't find deer in the NY Adirondacks!

[Ognennyy]

The bow season opened in New York's Northern zone on Friday. I hunt the South-Western corner of the Adirondacks. Most years I catch the tail end of red oaks dropping their acorns, and usually I'll also find some beeches dropping their nuts. I'll go out and scout known oak / beech stands with my tree stand on my back until I find sign of recent deer activity and set up. But through Friday and Saturday so far I've come up empty in three areas that are usually very active. Mostly I've just walked all day and never really stopped to set up.

Is anyone else hunting the Adirondacks experiencing something similar? Did the oaks and beeches just all mostly finish early this year? I have a few places left I can scout and see if there's recent deer activity. Honestly I look forward to challenges like this. But I thought I'd at least fish around and ask... what do you guys do if your normal acorn / beech nut sets aren't producing?

I have to admit I'm not sure what my strategy will be if the acorn / beech nut gig is up. I'm used to hunting acorns and beech nuts as destination food sources in the last week of September through the first and second weeks of October. I'm not really sure what food source to turn to if acorns and nuts are dried up.

Witch hobble has already bloomed and I think by this time of year the deer aren't hitting it anymore. Too bad; there's tons of it up here. I've never tried hunting wild blackberry and raspberry bushes as food sources, but from what I've seen in the past they're done by this time also.

Maple leaves? I know deer get after them right when they start dropping, and I know of quite a few maple stands up on the mountain where I hunt. But I've never actually tried hunting them because I'm usually set up on acorns and nuts.

If not a food source, and without snow for tracking, are there any strategies you all recommend? If all else fails I guess I'll just basically start grid searching hardwood ridges until I find sign.

[brancher147]

Searching ridges for sign may work eventually. If you’re not finding acorns or beechnuts on the ridges I would find some swamps and try those. But archery hunting up there is tough.

[Ognennyy]

Searching ridges for sign may work eventually. If you’re not finding acorns or beechnuts on the ridges I would find some swamps and try those. But archery hunting up there is tough.

Tough indeed. In the areas where there are no oaks (most of the places I hunt up on the mountain) I almost never even see deer. But killing a deer up there with my bow in early archery season is a personal goal of mine.

To make sure I'm reading your suggestion correctly, I'm looking in and around the beaver flow meadows for signs of feeding activity, then looking for what looks like bedding nearby and setting up on that?

[brancher147]

Searching ridges for sign may work eventually. If you’re not finding acorns or beechnuts on the ridges I would find some swamps and try those. But archery hunting up there is tough.

Tough indeed. In the areas where there are no oaks (most of the places I hunt up on the mountain) I almost never even see deer. But killing a deer up there with my bow in early archery season is a personal goal of mine.

To make sure I'm reading your suggestion correctly, I'm looking in and around the beaver flow meadows for signs of feeding activity, then looking for what looks like bedding nearby and setting up on that?

Beaver meadows or swamps or bogs. Just saying if the ridges aren’t holding deer or any sign then they gotta be somewhere else. There were big cedar swamps and tamarack bogs where I hunted northern adirondacks that always held deer. I would also look for timber harvest on private with public bordering.

[NYBackcountry]

I haven’t found a single white oak holding mast this year. Another option besides reds and beeches would be hickory nuts. Primarily shagbark hickories southern edge of the Adirondacks.

[Huntress13]

Here in Western NY, the beech nuts are usually done by this time, I would imagine in the mountains they would be done even a couple weeks sooner.

[justdirtyfun]

Maybe you can try a day of scouting vegetation edges. Get a little time on the computer to plan out the beaver marsh, hardwood edge in a few drainages.
Any old homesteads? Also an edge. Another beast from the east loves his apple orchard hunting.
Wishing you some hard earned success.

[Ognennyy]

I haven’t found a single white oak holding mast this year. Another option besides reds and beeches would be hickory nuts. Primarily shagbark hickories southern edge of the Adirondacks.

Ha I think this was my last post and I made it a year ago when bow season was opening up last season. I went out last night with my bow to see if I could find some nut-bearing beeches and kill a bear. I walked from one known beech stand to the next looking for sign of animals using the area. No sign - not recent nor past, no nuts dropping, no nuts on the trees, no husks on the ground.

I'm beginning to think that the section of forest preserve I hunt is a bit unique in its lack of diversity. It was logged years ago (it's actually a state forest that abuts the forest preserve) before becoming state land, and then there must've been a wind storm or tornado or something that just blew everything down.

No nuts on your white oaks eh NYBackcountry? I don't even know what a white oak looks like cuz there are none up here where I'm hunting! We have many shagbark hickory in the low-land areas of Saratoga county, but none up in the mountains that I've seen. I'll keep my eye out though.

I've seen some red oaks with nuts in other nearby state forests, down off the mountain. None crazy loaded or anything. What have you guys been seeing as far as mast this year?

[Balls37]

Last year there were millions of acorns on the ground. Passed on a mom n cub last saturday am. Was hunting a creek with a acorn ridge. Quite a few acorns n lacking much water in the creek.

[NYBackcountry]

I haven’t found a single white oak holding mast this year. Another option besides reds and beeches would be hickory nuts. Primarily shagbark hickories southern edge of the Adirondacks.

Ha I think this was my last post and I made it a year ago when bow season was opening up last season. I went out last night with my bow to see if I could find some nut-bearing beeches and kill a bear. I walked from one known beech stand to the next looking for sign of animals using the area. No sign - not recent nor past, no nuts dropping, no nuts on the trees, no husks on the ground.

I'm beginning to think that the section of forest preserve I hunt is a bit unique in its lack of diversity. It was logged years ago (it's actually a state forest that abuts the forest preserve) before becoming state land, and then there must've been a wind storm or tornado or something that just blew everything down.

No nuts on your white oaks eh NYBackcountry? I don't even know what a white oak looks like cuz there are none up here where I'm hunting! We have many shagbark hickory in the low-land areas of Saratoga county, but none up in the mountains that I've seen. I'll keep my eye out though.

I've seen some red oaks with nuts in other nearby state forests, down off the mountain. None crazy loaded or anything. What have you guys been seeing as far as mast this year?

Chestnut white oaks are holding a good mast this year on a few parcels I hunt. Up north the reds were holding in a few areas as well. Very little hickory mast, almost the opposite of last season.

[Huntress13]

The red oaks here have a pretty good amount. I haven't seen any whites.