Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
What luck with your pockets!! I love seeing those root radicles sprouting. Good ones to plant in pots for the winter??
This is definitely going to be an interesting year for acorns
- Thread starter Hoytvectrix
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Hoytvectrix
5 year old buck +
Where do you put the pots? In a garage or in an exposed patio? Obviously they need to be protected from rodents and kept cool, but I am worried about them getting too cool in pots outdoors or in an uninsulated garage. I have a number of chestnut oaks I need to overwinter that I am unable to get in the ground.
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
Some swamp white oaks on the east side of my county were dumping acorns pretty heavy the first week of October with all the wind. Tonight I was on the west side of my county and those tree were dumping heavy. The squirrels were hauling them away like semis in a corn field. Still a decent amount on the trees, but I would think in a week almost all of them will be on the ground. They seem highly desirable to the squirrels. They are getting cleaned up really fast.
Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
I gotta get some of them growing! Hopefully Schuettes trend more towards SWO drop time than Burr oak drop time. Burrs are almost all dropped and gobbled or getting soggy by bow opener.
Teeder
5 year old buck +
There are only a few wild swo's around me, but they generally drop rhe same time as the whites, here. They've been dropping for a couple weeks now, but the northern reds haven't dropped yet.
Edit: the northern reds that I saw in the mountains of pa seemed to have started dropping this past weekend.
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
I have really tried to pay attention to acorn drop times the last few years. I live west of Murderapolis about an hour. My land and most of my hunting is done in the Chippewa National Forrest in northern MN. What I have noticed for several years is that burr oak likes to drop heavy starting at the end of August and most years everything is cleaned up by Oct 1.
I have LOTS of northern red oak on my land. They start dropping in August and continue all the way until the snow flies. They dont drop all at once like other oaks.
I have been paying attention to SWO for about 3-4 years now. The trees where I live like to start dropping around OCT 1 and continue for a couple weeks. They putting most of their crop on the ground within a few weeks similar to burr oak, only a month or more later.
I visited the MN landscape arboretum the second week of Sept. There I had my only certain encounter with pure white oak. Those things were dropping heavy at the time. Nearby SWO were still holding tight.
I'd definitely say that SWO drops the latest out of all of them. That is just personally what I have seen with my own two eyes.
Teeder
5 year old buck +
20 years ago, I planted 2 swamp chestnuts the first summer after I bought my house. Definitely out of their native range, by a couple states. If I remember correctly, I bought them from Musser Forest nursery down closer to Pittsburgh. The first few years they seemed to have alot of winter die back, but have over-come that and now look nice.
This year, one of them finally produced. I only saved 4 acorns, but it was nice to finally see the production. There's a nice big scrape under one of them, too.
This year, one of them finally produced. I only saved 4 acorns, but it was nice to finally see the production. There's a nice big scrape under one of them, too.
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BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
The heavy acorn crop this year most certainly contributed to increased buck activity on my property. My property has lots of red oak, not so much on the surrounding lands, especially the govt land. This year was the biggest crop I have seen. There were still some hanging on the trees. I also had a bonus waterhole that wasn't frozen this year, it usually is. It is real close to a good group of oaks. They were ACTIVE in that part of my property. THICK high stem count areas were superior to open hardwood areas of my property.
Had more scrapes and rubs this year than the last several years combined. Vast majority of those were on red oak trees. I have lots of places were I brush mow with my swisher right up to the tree trunk and then have nice red oak branches hanging over on edges and they cant resist making scrapes. I do these areas specifically so they have great spots to make a scrape. It really works. The deer that we do have left look nice and fat going into winter. Must have got a lot of calories out of those acorns.
Had more scrapes and rubs this year than the last several years combined. Vast majority of those were on red oak trees. I have lots of places were I brush mow with my swisher right up to the tree trunk and then have nice red oak branches hanging over on edges and they cant resist making scrapes. I do these areas specifically so they have great spots to make a scrape. It really works. The deer that we do have left look nice and fat going into winter. Must have got a lot of calories out of those acorns.
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BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
Finally got back to my property for the first time since Christmas. Still some nice acorns available on the ground. Some of my trees really dumped a heavy load last year. There were 9 deer 50 feet from my gate when I pulled up to my land. They looked nice and healthy. Glad they got a cupcake winter. They slowly trotted off and then a few more further into the woods joined up with them. I dropped a bunch of basswood trees for them to chew on until spring green up. They MOWED the balsam fir transplants that I planted after deer season last fall, but they left all of my other conifers alone.
Couple pictures from the remnants of a heavy red oak producer. The first picture was in one of their scrapes.
Couple pictures from the remnants of a heavy red oak producer. The first picture was in one of their scrapes.
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
Quercus rubra. AKA northern red oak. They are abundant on my land. Not many big monsters cause the previous owner logged, but several hundred over 20-40' tall that produce some type of acorn crop. They bucks by me love to rub and scrape them.
Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
Today, 4/20/24, noticed that the entire perimeter of my food plot is STILL covered in red oak acorns and they weren’t even buried in snow this winter.
Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
I think they were. I picked up a couple and they seemed solid. Was tempted to plant a few of the nice looking ones in the field by the schuettes and SWO to have a red oak component there but didn’t have time.
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
^^^
I got a couple red oaks with trunks in the 8-16" diameter range that dropped a MASSIVE load last year. One of them in particular has more acorns and caps laying under it than any tree I ever remember seeing. Some of mine look good coming out of winter and ready to plant. My brother picked one up and it looked like it was just getting ready to seed itself. Red oak is very very important tree in my part of the world. Always a good bet to find deer activity in the red oaks around peak rut time until the snow buries them.
I got a couple red oaks with trunks in the 8-16" diameter range that dropped a MASSIVE load last year. One of them in particular has more acorns and caps laying under it than any tree I ever remember seeing. Some of mine look good coming out of winter and ready to plant. My brother picked one up and it looked like it was just getting ready to seed itself. Red oak is very very important tree in my part of the world. Always a good bet to find deer activity in the red oaks around peak rut time until the snow buries them.
