The Year of the Oaks

[Native Hunter]

A delivery driver saw all these acorns in my yard and asked me if I knew how many years it took an oak to start bearing. It only took me 23 minutes to answer his question.

 

[Teeder]

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Our house is in a suburban development - not prime deer territory. Yet - last fall, I found deer droppings under our pin oak. I'm hoping the deer return to help clean up the acorn bounty this year too. Recently I found tracks of a very small deer under our Sugar Tyme crab apple too. Small woods patches around our area must be holding deer, and they've found our yard!!

Update:
I posted this bit of update news on another thread about acorns. A few evenings ago, my wife and I watched a doe in the yard of a neighbor across our street, walk over to our yard to feast on the pin oak acorns littering our yard. As it turns out, deer have been coming into our yard at night for the acorns, and they've also found the Sugar Tyme crab out back. Tracks tell the story, and wife's hostas and some flowers were also mowed off. End of flowering season, so she's OK with losing them to the deer.

That pin oak has had 7 different squirrels in it every day, dozens of blue jays, downy & red-bellied woodpeckers, robins, nuthatches, tufted titmice, cardinals, doves, and flickers in it. Cooper's hawks use it as a perch when scouting for unsuspecting feathered meals.