When do oaks drop their acorns?

i'll be hunting the late season back home this season, and everything i read says that late season success hinges on finding a good food source. i put up a post earlier about hunting public land with very little terrain, its mostly woodlots with pines and oaks. as far as i know, the only food in the area is the acorns from the oaks, but will they all be gone by late December?

 

Depends on how big the acorn crop was and how hard it was hit. I was just out scouting in the gamelands in the Poconos yesterday and there were acorns on the ground all over the place.

 

Scouted a farm in south Jersey yesterday and they were everywhere.

 

Been dropping here for nearly a month.

 

Red oaks usually start first. I wonder if the heat has got them started early this year.

 

saw a couple on the ground, but i think the whites are a ways off yet.

 

It's early in Iowa too! I've found a ton of Red's here already dropping! Crazy year I think!

 

ok, maybe i should rephrase: will there still be any acorns left come late december or should i look for other food sources?

 

I have seen some red oaks dropping as well here in SE Pa. It must have to do with this heat! The white oaks dropped last year in my area, so I'm not expecting too much from them. They seem to be every other year round these parts.

 

Crazy year. Yes. Very.

 

Most definitely be looking for other food sources, but keep your eye open for the acorns as well. The deer will pretty much eat what's available, it all depends on what taste better to them and which is easier to get to that they'll eat first

 

i noticed them dropping saturday (9-2).but here the thing i see the deer are still feeding on down corn and soybeans.when do they start hitting the acorns hard?i did see some scat that had acorns in it.

 

If that corn stays up, they'll use it until its gone for their nightly feeding. I've found that if you have a lot of standing crops yet, the late morning, mid day acorn stands have some promise. They'll get out of their beds and feed on them since they're close by.

I've been seeing acorns pouring out of the trees for about 3 weeks now. Mostly reds, but some whites as well.

If you have a big stand of oaks, bet money you'll find deer. Its always been that way.

Late season, its a crap shoot really. If you had a TON of mast in the fall, there should be some left over. Still hunt the late season, look for where turkeys especially are scratching. They can really rip a place up rooting for acorns. If you find an area like that, deer most likely aren't far behind.

 

Here in pennsylvania the oaks have dropped about 90% of the acorns where I live