Hunters: Let’s hear your mast reports
Normally this time of year I’m putting finishing touches on hanging archery stands and deciding my preferred hunting locations for the first couple weeks of archery season.
I base those locations largely on food, particularly white oak acorns.
Obviously, I’m not doing any last-minute bow season prep while stuck here in Cordova, Alaska.
My August scouting, before I departed for this possibly-never-going-to-end Alaskan odyssey, turned up some white oaks, but nothing special. A couple of my spots had really good chestnut oak crops.
Anyway, turning the talk back to Virginia, can other hunters chime in on what they’re finding in terms of acorn mast out there?
I’m not looking for exact locations, of course. Just general information like the part of the county, elevation, terrain, etc.
Also, I know folks have put their trailcam submissions on hold while I’ve been gone. But now that I have wifi access and am back to being on the computer for hours every day, feel free to send away. We need to get some shots of bucks out of velvet on here!
September 19, 2012 - 1:15 PM
We visited our hunting location in Franklin County this past weekend to finish work on a few stands and there were acorns absolutely everywhere. There were deer tracks everywhere too. More than I probably saw all of last season!
Well I lost my lease this year so I haven’t been able to spend much time in the woods. That said just about every white oak I’ve seen around town is loaded down. Had to park in a different spot at church due to the number of acorns falling from a nearby tree.
Good reports, guys. Thanks for responding. Of course heavy white oak crops are not exactly the best for early-season archery success. It’s much better for hunting to have a bad mast crop but to find a few trees that hit big. But I’ll take heavy acorns over no acorns.
Acorns are definitely everywhere. I have a huge chestnut oak on my property that borders a small field that is just pouring acorns. I also have several nice bucks that have been feeding there too.I’ll share the videos shortly.
I’ve been burning up a bunch of shoe leather in Jefferson National forest the last few weeks…. scouting, moving game cams, and checking on food sources. Most of my spots are in the 2500 to 3500 foot elevation range…. plenty of Red oak acorns! They really started falling in the last week or so….. some places the ground is just covered up with nuts! However not seeing many white oaks…. they are spotty with some places producing a few acorns and other trees don’t have any. I haven’t done well at all on deer sightings this season so far… only seen a couple bucks…. but I have been patterning some Bears including a couple GIANT ones! Also seeing Turkeys on a regular basis which I haven’t seen much in the mountains the last few years. I’ve got stands up and I am anxiously counting off the days till the Archery opener!!!
I hung a couple of stands in Bedford county last weekend. It didn’t appear that the white oaks were doing much in the woods but the ones on the edge of the fields were fairly loaded which is typical for this property. The chestnut oaks were steadily dropping acorns as I hung one stand and the ground was pretty well covered already.
I know white oaks are the best but does anyone have any theories on chestnut oak acorns vs white oaks as far as deer preference? I have heard that the chestnut acorns need to lay on the ground for awhile before the deer will eat them.
Mark, glad you had a good Alaskan trip but I know you will be glad to get back home. Hope the twins haven’t graduated before that time. LOL
Been in the mountains in several counties and have seen good mast practically everywhere, some areas better than others, but all at least decent. Game will be scattered for sure I feel.
We are overrun with mast in my areas too. I have forgone the typical “hunt the mast producing trees” to planning to hunt my stands that connect acorn loaded areas with thos areas deer prefer to bed in until all the leaves are off and pressure starts to show up.
very plentiful in southwest Roanoke County!!!
I’m too scared to look up, I took several direct hits while changing the oil in the driveway yesterday, but Franklin County definitely had a bumper crop this year. I saw a HUGE doe lying in the ditch on South Main Street on Sunday, but she won’t be eating any more acorns in this life.