Mast crop outlook, better look again!

[koger]

A few weeks back, I posted about our mast crop here in KY, how it looked pretty good. Well last week I have been and looked at the same trees, and due to a borderline drought here, after a super wet spring and summer, 95% of the trees that were starting to make acorns, have aborted them all, I mean the trees are bare! And in the woods where there is usually a lot of browse, deer have stripped it clean, where normally thick, 15-20yds shot maximum, you could shoot a arrow 40-50 yds. A lot of my apples and pears in my orchard are falling early, and deer are coming right thru the yard every night,2 hours before dark to eat every apple they can find. Most of the does with fawns, most still have spots on, are in pretty bad shape, skinny, can count their ribs, hip bones showing. Also, due the record mast crop last year, our county deer kill was down several hundred, and most does have twins, means less food to go around. Some parts of KY, across the lake, I live next to Lake Cumberland, have gottne 5-6 good rains we havent, and things are great there, checked out a place this past weekend.

[NoCams]

Going to put out some new cams this evening and will survey our trees again. We have had bumper crops the last three years so it is in the law of averages that we have an off year. If so we need to up the harvest and do our part to balance the herds. Should up the movement big time if it is cold and little to no food this winter. Hope to find a patch of oaks that got what they needed to produce like you mentioned, talk about a hot spot for a few weeks while they are dropping !!!

[smilinicon]

Thanks for the update Sam. I plan to visit my friend down there and do some hunting. Will PM you before I go  

Cary

[KentuckyTJ]

Although dry here now, we have had good rain throughout summer. Still lots of acorns here.

[smokin feathers]

our hardwoods are shutting down and going dormant, the grass has turned to dirt, their is very little browse and it doesnt look like any relief in sight. last good rain we had was oct 09 where it rained several weeks straight.

[cody94]

corn is 6% protien and cheaper than that antler growth feed but that stuff is 16%or so. and if you take a 100in deer feed it corn for the year it will add on 20-25in. so that will be a 120-125in buck, but antler feed can make that same deer 210 or so. and all that protein means calories as well and that means fatter deer. antlers are bones and does have bones.it could help i guess i dont know im not a deerotologist.

[smokin feathers]

corn plays a big part here already and will for sure this year!! Especially where we have had some big fires and even the grass hasnt gotten to come back because of little to no rain and back to 105 degrees every day and low humidity sucking moisture out of the ground. i guess another bad part of this drought is that there will be less corn fed as well do to it being $10-12 a bag where it is usually about $5 or so and you got to try and keep the hogs and coons out too.

maybe next year it will rain

[NoCams]

All the white oaks I have checked this week have acorns but they are tiny, some barely past the cap. Like KY TJ said, plenty of rain all summer but dry as a bone right now. Just got out of the garden watering and it is dry powder. Will check some red oaks that I know did not have acorns last year so should have this year since reds produce every two years unless they failed too.

[USN_Sam1385]

Good.

Lots and lots of acorns make deer hunting tougher. The deer can stay back in the thick forest and barely have to move at all to find food.

No acorns, or few acorns will not only concentrate deer in the few places that the acorns ARE dropping, it will also force them to MOVE a lot more and thus should improve sightings.

Furthermore, the drought turns the few places left with water into hot spots.

[Night Wing]

The severe drought we're experiencing in southeast Texas is taking it's toll on the deer I've seen. Very little browse. The deer I've seen are skinny and I can see their rib cage bones showing.

One consolation. The live oaks and water oaks in my yard have small acorns which shocked me. I thought we wouldn't have any acorns this year.

For us in a drought stricken area, I think this bowhunting deer season is not going to be good.

[Bowwild]

Heavy rains off and on this spring and summer have resulted in a bumper crop of lush pastures and weedy fields. I'm seeing deer every day from the house and my son sees them under one of my stands from his house.

I suspect the persimmons will be ripening later (normal) than last year because the drought in my area was much worse last year.

I won't be checking the mast crop until I return from this no-bowhunting region of the globe.

[team fudd]

I was checking trail cams two days ago and there are green acorns on the ground right now,  I think the mast crop in ohio, at least in our area, might be in real trouble.

[longarrow]

Here in Centeral Texas, the Mast crop is going to be nothing! 66+ days of 100+, everyday in AUG (except 3) have been over 105!! We have had no rain since last OCT. I keep two watering troughs filled, and 2 feeders going, + several small areas of native grass that I water to keep green. The deer are (surprising) looking OK. We need a full month of rain to help. NEXT 10 days are forcast of 100+.

[Huntschool]

Mast crop here looks like its off to a good start.  We need rain but have had a good deal off and on through out the summer.  Grasses and forbes look good including forest species....

I think we are OK but would like to see several inches over the next month....

[NoCams]

Bruce,
Just checked the trail cams and looked harder at the trees.... a little better than I thought and I even re-checked the two white oaks that usually drop a pick up truck load each year. I swear those same acorns that were barely past the caps on the 21st have grown out 3/8" in 5 days !!! Getting tired of watering the garden every two days.... it is POWDER ! In the mid 90's every day and no rain for the past three weeks. Feast or famine with rain this year.

[Mechslasher]

the 13 year cicadas wiped out the mast crop around my farm which should make my foodplots the place to be this fall.  at least my persimmons are coming in strong.

[americanhunter7]

Soft mast looks decent where I'm at which is persimmons and Paw-Paw, but still not as good as previous years. Hard mast....That's a different story. I have red and white oaks, plus hickory, and walnut trees, and it looks like the walnuts are about the only trees with any nuts, with the exception of a few trees I helped out the last few years with some tree stake fertilizer. Gonna go check another location but you're right koger started off decent then went south....WAY SOUTH! Good luck to all my brothers and sisters in Kentucky during your opener in a few days. Us Hoosier's gotta wait an extra month before the hunt begins.

John

[Huntschool]

Jimmy:  Those buggers can grow over night.  What looks bad one day will look fine three days later.  We look good.

Our soft mast has been hit a bit from lack of recent rain.  We'll still have some but not like usual.  Forbes are/were good but like I said in my first post, we need two or three one inch rains over the next few weeks.

We are in great shape compared to others and I just got back from Texas two weeks ago.  They are dead... I mean dead. Everything is brown and dead.  We traveled down from Dallas to San Antonio and once ya start south on 35 its dead.

There are going to be far reaching effects of this drought for those folks.  I am confident an entire age class of deer (5.5 years out from now) will be decimated.  Migratory song birds as well as waterfowl are going to have trouble finding water and food this fall.  It is really bad.

[ESP]

I have seen a that pinoaks have acorns but the white oaks just look to be the caps.

[LeverActionman]

I stay in North Carolina and after yesterday the oak trees dont have many arcorns left.The wind knocked alot off and my front yard and the woods behind my house is full of them.