Having grown up in and around bowhunting and acorns for 54 years I’ve done somewhat of a country-boy study on the palatability of acorns to deer since they are such an important factor in bow season. I’ve fertilized acorn trees, moved different types of acorns around to different trees in varying stages of maturity and just generally kept my eyes open while sitting in trees for the better part of thirty years. I’ve also done a fair amount of research by reading tree books and surfing the Internet on the subject the last few years. Here’s what I’ve observed: You can take it or leave it.
Water won’t “sour” acorns. In fact, the Indians used to soak acorns in water to lessen the tannin acid in them to taste better so they could make their acorn meal. Some studies of squirrels suggest that they bury acorns not only to cache them for use later in the winter but to also let the tannins leach out of them. I’ve seen deer and hogs eating acorns in East Texas that were floating in Horsepen Creek in Tyler County that had fallen two months earlier.
A freeze won’t hurt a healthy acorn. I have come across studies of various animals up north that indicate critters would eat acorns in the spring that had been covered by snow all winter. I have seen acorns pile up a time or two late in November and December here in Texas but those times were on bumper crop years and I figured they were just old tasting to the deer and there was many other things for them to feed on. That kind of flies in the face of tannins leaching out but I believe a stale taste can override the acid being less, if you get what I mean.
Two factors that DO affect acorns are insects and hogs. We’re talking healthy acorns, here, not diseased ones that have issues on the tree. Most acorns on a good year are healthy. Almost everything eats an acorn, including insects, and on a warm fall with good moisture insects proliferate and can be a factor in making the acorns less palatable. And we all know what a hog population can do underneath an oak tree. That’s the only thing that’s saving us at our place in the Hill Country right now.
How I have combated big acorn crops is to get out in August with a good set of binoculars and first of all determine if there’s gonna be a big crop. Don’t just look in a tree or two, make a concerted search to see what’s going on. If there’s not a crop, the feeder’s the place to be. If there is a crop I find a group, cluster, mott, whatever you want to call A BUNCH of favorite acorns tree that I can access and exit without blowing out the deer, keeping afternoon hunts foremost in mind. I prefer tree stands for this but have done it with popups. I’ve found those stands are the absolute best for killing a big buck on a piece of property. The deer are less on edge in the oaks and everybody else is boogering them at corn feeders.
So, that’s what I go. As I said, you can take it or leave it. We can either moan and groan about acorns or put on our big girl panties and deal with ‘em. Being prepared can yield great results in the oaks.
Water won’t “sour” acorns. In fact, the Indians used to soak acorns in water to lessen the tannin acid in them to taste better so they could make their acorn meal. Some studies of squirrels suggest that they bury acorns not only to cache them for use later in the winter but to also let the tannins leach out of them. I’ve seen deer and hogs eating acorns in East Texas that were floating in Horsepen Creek in Tyler County that had fallen two months earlier.
A freeze won’t hurt a healthy acorn. I have come across studies of various animals up north that indicate critters would eat acorns in the spring that had been covered by snow all winter. I have seen acorns pile up a time or two late in November and December here in Texas but those times were on bumper crop years and I figured they were just old tasting to the deer and there was many other things for them to feed on. That kind of flies in the face of tannins leaching out but I believe a stale taste can override the acid being less, if you get what I mean.
Two factors that DO affect acorns are insects and hogs. We’re talking healthy acorns, here, not diseased ones that have issues on the tree. Most acorns on a good year are healthy. Almost everything eats an acorn, including insects, and on a warm fall with good moisture insects proliferate and can be a factor in making the acorns less palatable. And we all know what a hog population can do underneath an oak tree. That’s the only thing that’s saving us at our place in the Hill Country right now.
How I have combated big acorn crops is to get out in August with a good set of binoculars and first of all determine if there’s gonna be a big crop. Don’t just look in a tree or two, make a concerted search to see what’s going on. If there’s not a crop, the feeder’s the place to be. If there is a crop I find a group, cluster, mott, whatever you want to call A BUNCH of favorite acorns tree that I can access and exit without blowing out the deer, keeping afternoon hunts foremost in mind. I prefer tree stands for this but have done it with popups. I’ve found those stands are the absolute best for killing a big buck on a piece of property. The deer are less on edge in the oaks and everybody else is boogering them at corn feeders.
So, that’s what I go. As I said, you can take it or leave it. We can either moan and groan about acorns or put on our big girl panties and deal with ‘em. Being prepared can yield great results in the oaks.
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