How To Hunt Acorns For Deer

[@kevinflaherty7592]

Glad to see you back for another hunting season, hope all is well,since late August here in n.e. Pa the acorns have been dropping and since late August I've been finding quite a bit of scrape activity under and around the oaks.a little bit early for this amount of scrape activity which I hope bodes well for the upcoming season.always a pleasure listening to your videos.

[@BG-bx4ey]

The common belief down south is that the acorns are EVERYTHING. People here believe that deer only eat acorns from Sept-Dec. I collected 200 pounds of white oak acorns last season and tested them as bait and I found that the acorns, themselves, are not very desireable compared to other common baits such as corn or rice bran. Acorns in remote places in travel/transition areas with cover between bedding and green food can be very good, but a pile of acorns dumped unstrategically turned into a pile of little trees.

[@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751]

So dang true! What a great little experiment...I like that a lot 👍

[@BG-bx4ey]

​@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 It did not go as I had hoped, but I what I learned was far more valuable that what I'd hoped to gain.

[@Steve-ev6vx]

Well, my deer just vanished from the corn piles as soon as the acorns started dropping, same as last year. They were eating 30 pounds in 2-3 nights, and now they aren't touching it. I am in an ag area though, so it could be a different food source too. It's frustrating though, because I only have one small place to hunt and have to use a bow because it's near houses and all my bucks just vanished.

[@BG-bx4ey]

​@@Steve-ev6vxOh my deer eat acorns and lots of them, and they will vanish from bait just like yours do in order to eat acorns instead. We've always known they hit them hard and were vital to our success because we can not plant food plots on our leased property. My experiment showed me that, in my area, corn and rice bran are FAR more powerful pound-for-pound than acorns, but acorns are available by the ton and can be eaten in safe, undisturbed areas during the daylight and huge hardwood bottoms at night. Rather than looking for "more" acorns to hunt, I look for secluded trees or even a single tree in a good location.

[@Steve-ev6vx]

@@BG-bx4ey I just checked my camera card, and a dang pack of coyotes has moved in on my back 40 and the deer appear to have left.

[@Elonzo-k2y]

I love these videos. Was out scouting with the dog today.

[@BuckSchott-pu9ow]

SE Missouri here. My acerage is 85% white oaks. Deer will leave my food plots alone to grow during good white oak years. We have an awesome crop this year. You won't see a mature deer on a food plot in daylight. The trick is finding the best acorns when you have so many. That is really tough.

[@randlerichardson5826]

I love hunting white oaks season opens here Saturday morning I’m going to 143 acres I’ve got permission to hunt by myself. One ridge of white oaks I’m hitting opening morning. The oaks in my front yard are loaded with acorns this year.

[@letsgobrandon7297]

White oaks are great to hunt off but my opinion apples are still the go to over acorns (tho not all deer have access to apples). If you have both apples/white oaks and maybe even some corn you have the ultimate buffet. I live by apple orchard and there’s rarely a day when their isn’t 30+ deer, multiple big buck and some small ones. Cpl times seen 100+ deer counting the front side and back side of orchard. Wish i had permission….woods surrounding the place has trails looking like cattle trails cause so many deer.

[@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751]

So true! And when you have a great producing apple tree off to the side of some white oaks... OUTSTANDING!

[@UsMcBass0311OIF]

The acorn crop this year in Arkansa is phenomenal!!!

[@BG-bx4ey]

The bottom woods in North Louisiana are like walking on gravel. I picked a good year to stop baiting!

[@UsMcBass0311OIF]

@@BG-bx4ey I stopped baiting also 3 seasons ago and using game cameras. I just figured that if the Lord wants me to take them I will. Kinda reminds me of being a teenager in the woods again.

[@BG-bx4ey]

​@@UsMcBass0311OIFThat sounds cool! I still use cams, but just got tired of feeding hogs and varmits.

[@scottypuckett2440]

Just had a target buck from last 2 seasons show up after dark and spend 10 mins eating acorns. Doe and fawn are there every morning and evening right now..

[@frankspataro9714]

Here in the armpit of south west pa the canker worms ate every leaf off are oaks and almost all the trees on the mtn this was second year in a row its really starting to get alot of thick under brush now all over the big open woods crazy how nobody talks about the intire mtn being changed by a worm you cant beleive it till you see it fayette somerset and westmoreland counties definitely changed so much

[@Elonzo-k2y]

😱

[@RS-ms1bz]

Last fall was an incredible crop of acorns here in WV. This spring, the gypsy moth caterpillars destroyed almost all of the oak foliage and flowers. Acorns are few and far between this fall.

[@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751]

🤦🏻‍♂️ Dang! Really sorry to hear that RS!

[@Scofari]

I have acorns in Fayette CO

[@RS-ms1bz]

@@Scofari I'm in Morgan Co, and my property is in Mineral Co. The drought this summer was horrible. Finally getting some rain.

[@M4RK3D91]

I can’t wait til oct 7. Opening day here in Massachusetts

[@lyricsforlife8784]

I feel like the deer here in Georgia walk right over all the red oak acorns we have for things like greenbriar which seem to be green year round. I’ve scoured several red oak thick areas with some trees dropping and find little to no sign

[@Masonjar94]

When I was 12-17 we lived on the edge of a 30 acre woods. When we raked leaves in our yard under every pile of leaves was a pile of acorns. The deer didn’t ever come into the yard to eat them until the first snow every year and then they’d absolutely hammer them. I’m wondering if this is common in an open woods setting as well.

[@tashrayt4398]

Have you ever hunted a corn pile where the acorns are? If so did they come into corn more? Did you find this any more effective?

[@buckfifty-two-thousand8640]

Deer on my sw Michigan love acorns… out there saw 7 doe and 1 buck at 3pm - can’t wait until next week

[@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751]

Man it is the perfect acorn time of year!

[@nomorelsforyou3750]

I'm so ready can't wait till Saturday

[@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751]

😊👍 very soon!

[@ironlife227]

When I was a kid and still used a bait pile I bought a bag of acorns and made the mistake of dumping the whole bag at one time. Felt like I was there all night cause a huge doe group came in and would not stop feeding 😂 . Now one of my best plots is surrounded by oaks, best of both worlds 😊

[@BG-bx4ey]

I collected 200# of white acorns last season and tries baiting with them and all that happened was I planted 5,000 trees. My deer had zero interest in them.

[@PinePlainsWildlife]

So I'm located in Maine (most whitetail hunting information online is almost completely unrelatable, so i love when you talk about your days in the UP haha), white oaks are few and far in between but I have an abundance of Red oaks. Last year was a AMAZING year for acorns and beech nuts. This year there are almost no nuts on any trees. This is my second year owning a hunting property and my first year planting food plots, i noticed early on acorns were not going to be plentiful this season so i opted on going for volume in my plots (mostly winter rye). Should i be taking it easy early in the season and tailor my hunts around my food plots when the available browse has diminished?

[@chuck8586]

Red oaks take two years to produce and drop nut, beech trees drop a nut every 3-8 years

[@letsgobrandon7297]

@PinePlainsWildlife: Yeah most people don’t know that things are different from state to state and county to county. I also see many hunters on YT talking from a prospective that everyone watching their videos is hunting on 100+ acres of private land with no human pressure with food plots (not hating, i wish i had that). I usually get a 130+ buck every year but the area from my house and within 1-2 miles from my house is 100% impossible to pattern deer….no one in the world can pattern these deer. I don’t even hunt it when i know a big buck is in that area because they bed in like 10 different areas that are far away from each other and they have around 5 different ways they can move in each of those bedding areas. Someone coming outside their house in the morning have influence on where the deer go bed at each day. It’s hard to explain but anyone who knows what they’re doing would say the same.

[@janitorialguy4436]

Thanks Jeff

[@skylerleclair3288]

On the public I hunt it's one long road that's wetlands most of the way through. The oaks are anywhere there's elevation there's corn across the street that the amish grow. Around the corner on private there's a bunch of food plots plenty of food to go around just have to make sense of it all

[@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751]

Man, a lot of great pieces!!

[@markherman4730]

You didn't mention persimmons and pawpaw. How do you feel about them as a supplement. Right now my property has persimmons dropping like crazy.

[@chuck8586]

When pawpaw are available, they’ll be just as preferred as as white oak acorns and apples

[@stephenkendall6108]

Opening day in WV is Saturday and you can sit on my porch and here the acorns dropping line bowling balls

[@danielmoreau7905]

I'm on 30 acres and have a sow and 2 cubs hanging around my food plot for the last few months.Rubbing on my apple tree in the middle. Not one deer on camera since they're arrival. I'm not sure what to do.

[@GRACEVENTURES]

Too many acorns to hunt just one area. Im looking for the food sources they can only find in one or two places. White oak acorns are everywhere right now seems like

[@randlerichardson5826]

The hurricane is going to hit Saturday in Tn so I may have to wait

[@RowCall219]

Unfortunately this year will be hard very hard hunting. In one area here EHD has killed over 400 deer. Watching people discover why the target buck wasn't showing up and then find it in a creek bed is devastating.

[@rohlfing63]

Been there, done that. 😡

[@sharpoutdoors3368]

They can be productive sure. But down here in oklahoma its like 80 percent of trees produce acorns. Narrowing it down to ACTIVE acorn flats is the key in the south If you just sit unfer any ol acorn flat youll be dissapointed 9 times out of 10

[@Steve-ev6vx]

I have never had much luck targeting deer on falling acorns. I have had some great funnels near big white oaks, but never had the deer come in an actually feed on them. But I have had the deer in my back 40 stop eating at the feeders as soon as the acorns start dropping, so I don't know what is up there.

[@Ryana680]

If you spray glyphosate with surfactant will it stick to seed and prevent germination? This would be after seeding into buckwheat.

[@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751]

No, it will not...so that's a good thing!

[@106point5thecwolf]

Why would you want your scent blowing into the open field during a morning hunt? Isn’t that where most of those deer are going to be coming from? I’m only asking because that’s something I’m struggling a quite a bit with right now.

[@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751]

We go thru the field and I to the stand, after daylight. the deer don't go into the fields after daylight...they are just coming from the fields. So after we watch the fields and wait for the deer to leave, we then sneak in and get right into the stand, within 20-30 yards from the field edge. I call it a post daybreak stand entrance and it works extremely well!

[@106point5thecwolf]

⁠@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751They don’t go into the fields at night? What if it’s soybeans? the property I hunt has very little timber, mainly bean field. North side of our property is heavy timber. I’m always wondering what the best stand to hunt is in the morning, because 9/10 times my scent is blowing to the south into the field, so hunting that north tree line isn’t the greatest. But there’s a rut through the middle of the property with some timber.

[@BG-bx4ey]

​@@106point5thecwolflmao

[@M4RK3D91]

Gotta find some hunting buddies though. Feel like there would be noting better than cpl good friends and bucks

[@randlerichardson5826]

It took a year to get rid of the cancer it’s gone for now anyway. Surgery and treatments have got it so far but I expect it back the surgeon told me within 4-5 years it will probably be back. Oh well that’s 4-5 years of hunting I can do LORD willing Amen 🙏.

[@Peachmallard77]

Congrats on being cancer free for now, get out there and enjoy as much nature as you can, 5 years flies by way to fast and I hope your doctor is wrong

[@stilljustaguy]

Acorns are everywhere where I hunt. I couldn’t narrow it down.

[@BG-bx4ey]

Same issue for me. I have huge stands of virgin white and red oaks which is wide open. Bucks don't go out there in legal time. I target the acorns in heavier cover areas to hunt in the evenings and I try to hunt terrain features between my piney hills and the big hardwood bottoms in the mornings.

[@johncirilli6846]

Love this video. I have a stand in some white oaks and apple trees at the edge of the road, agg on the other side of the road. I will try going in 11am to 230pm. Thanks

[@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751]

Man that sounds like the perfect staging hotspot!

[@ihus9950]

👍🏻

[@Treeplanter73]

But unfortunately I have 3 coyotes hanging out on my small property right now. I'm hoping they move along soon.

[@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751]

We have quite a few. And lots of bobcats...they really don't do much which is a good thing!

[@Treeplanter73]

@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 They're loving the apples right now.

[@Elonzo-k2y]

😱

[@changopearce9467]

Red oaks are dropping now. Not one white oak with acorns

[@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751]

Oh dang...well that's too bad!

[@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751]

Well, at least good for the Red oak acorns tho! Makes them a premium

[@justjabki2079]

U in pa? That’s exactly what’s happening in my area rn

[@changopearce9467]

@@justjabki2079 i am in pa. Mid western area

[@justjabki2079]

@@changopearce9467 yeah red oaks have been on the ground for weeks around here and I’ve seen single digits of white oaks producing

[@connorkropp6017]

🦌😁

[@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751]

Thanks a lot Connor!

[@randlerichardson5826]

Hey buddy I’ve not been watching much of anything lately been dealing with cancer and ain’t felt like watching nothing.

[@Unknown1-111]

Im sorry to hear that brother , heads up and keep fighting ! You’ve got this 💯

[@kurtpearson2793]

First

[@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751]

Yes sir Mr. Kurt!

[@beaverreaper90]

Jeff my man! Gonna shoot a monster this year! Cant shoot a buck from the couch!

[@gmtoutdoorsindiana2785]

PUT CORN BY THE COUCH

[@brianlenneman5032]

Asking for a for a friend? What shoes are you wearing?🙃🤣

[@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751]

Lol 😂 NOT Birkenstocks 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@jasonnester9514]

Find some oaks and hunt it

[@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751]

So many other things to consider. In a lot of woods you wouldn't make it 20 yards into a 200 acre woodlot before setting up 😊

[@jasonnester9514]

@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 why not

[@BG-bx4ey]

​@@jasonnester9514Because in hardwood properties like mine, most of my 180 acres is acorns like gravel. It's waaaaaaay too wide open for a buck to use during legal time and there's too many acorns in the area for that to be a significant method of finding a good buck or any deer.

[@gmtoutdoorsindiana2785]

This is about the dumbest thing I've ever seen, how to hunt acorns? Standing over a pile of corn ..... this show is so stupid... anyone could get a deer BIG MATURE BUCK putting CORN ON A TRAIL.... REAL PROFESSIONAL..

[@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751]

😂

[@BG-bx4ey]

Quit projecting. You clearly don't know much about deer hunting either.

[@sport07-o2l]

I bet you’re a lot of fun at parties

[@Elonzo-k2y]

Let us pray 🙏....🦌🌰🌰