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Oaks and acorns

reo

Junior Member
484
68
N.E. Ohio
Seems like a pretty lean year for acorn production in east central Ohio. Anyone else seeing the same?
 

hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
39,721
248
Ohio
Not seeing much of anything on my property this year either. Allen county here.

Guess I need to open my eyes and find that single tree or two which are producing. That would be a killer stand spot.
 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,743
274
North Carolina
Seeing some on the ground nothing very big but decent #'s in the trees.... Columbiana county NE Ohio...
 

mrex

*Supporting member*
439
79
Just about everything that could produce a nut or a berrie did well here in this part of SE Ohio. I went for a short walk this morning in some of my favorite early season oak flats and they're torn up.

On a side note...IMO, the most important or valuable buck sign of the year will be made in the next 2 weeks. Rutting behavior is learned. Younger bucks watch older bucks make rubs and scrapes. Older deer are veterans of the rut and begin to exert their dominance early in the process. Six weeks from now, every swinging #&$! in the woods will be thrashing trees and pawing the ground. In the Appalachian foothills, the majority of the early season sign is made in the oak flats. In a nutshell…find these…



and these...



and you’ll find these…

 

LonewolfNopack

Junior Member
1,503
127
The woods
Acorn crop almost non existent in SW Ohio, in my part at least. Slightly more Hickory, but still slim. Soft mast did well, but will be of a little value come winter when finding food really matters.
 

Fullbore

Senior Member
6,439
126
South Eastern Ohio
I am with Mike here. I have done some scouting around my hunting ground and most of the oaks here have produced acorns. As far as the Hickory nuts, not so much. The deer have really been munching on the acorns though. The beans are starting to change TOO.
 

brock ratcliff

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
24,834
247
I checked a new piece of ground this evening. Found very few white oaks that would be of any value. Soft mast is loaded. Didn't find any rubs yet, didn't see a single deer in any of the beanfields. This farm is in hill country, and I expected to see good numbers of deer in the still-green fields. My guess is the deer have found white oaks where I have not. First trip looking on the property though and the "gold mines" take a while to learn. Its a little over 500 acres, so it will take me a spell to look it over properly. Having hunted an adjoining property for the last few years, I've been chomping at the bit to get a look at this ground!
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
I haven't seen many acorns, but I also have not been scouting as much as I would like. Hopefully I can find time to hit things up in the rain over the next few days...
 

DJK Frank 16

Senior Member
Supporting Member
9,358
133
Hardin County
Made a trip to the woods yesterday in Hardin County, quite a few acorns on the ground in the small section I checked yesterday. Lot of deer using that piece as well so hopefully it will be an early season hot spot.
 

MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
No acorns here on my property in Butler county. Most walnut trees have none either. The new hunting tower I put up is under a walnut tree and not one nut on it.
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,856
260
SW Ohio
Took a stroll around our yard and made some observations and took some pics. My 3 biggest most mature oaks(whites) appear to have had some sort of stress this summer. We've been here for 8 years and this is the first time I've noticed the acorns being this small. I also noticed all three trees had nearly all of their leaves looking shriveled or wilted.
All of the hickory's look great and have plenty of nuts both still hanging on or fallen to the ground. Here are some pics:

Last year the acorns from this white oak were nearly twice the size of all these:



Here are the wilted white oak leaves(these are near the ground but all looked the same to the top):


This shagbark hickory is just as loaded as all the others on our property: