Zero acorns in my area

rickyc · **Posted:** Fri Dec 23, 2011 9:02 am

Will corn help the deer out this winter? Or will it just help the hunger pain in their gut?

wolvenkinde · **Posted:** Fri Dec 23, 2011 9:25 am

deer are well adapted to winter browse sources...and changing food sources often means an annual migration. If you supplemental feed you throw the natural system off...So if the winter food sources are gone...sources being woody brouse as in new shoots and buds on pine, maples, aspen(poplar), and many others depending on your species present...they eat cedar and hemlock leaves(needles)and buds up here as well - then yes suplementing can help the herd short term. Where you are their stomachs may not 'harden' to the degree they do up here as you probl'y have grasses or clover etc as well as grains that are available year round when ours are under 2-3 feet of snow - corn will surely help thier health to a point but you may draw in/or hold too many deer to a smaller area, which then may get over browsed and cause food issues next year. I do know that up here if you supplement with hay and start in mid winter after the stomachs harden, the deer will starve to death with full stomachs. Of course it is illegal to supplemental feed after jan 1 with out a permit. You should check your state regs on this. A good idea is to give them mineral supplements available at any feed store...the good old' livestock trace mineral block' is as good as anything.

slay · **Posted:** Fri Dec 23, 2011 9:30 am

I live in farm country so in our area it wouldnt hurt. They are accustomed to eating corn. It is readily available so it is not really introducing anything new into thier system as it is available everywhere. If that is not the case, then it would be prudent to use another alternative.

NantucketShedHunter · **Posted:** Fri Dec 23, 2011 9:45 am

We had zero acorns here on the island this year. Not sure how the deer herd will survive the winter.

wolvenkinde · **Posted:** Fri Dec 23, 2011 10:11 am

Yeah our acorn crop was at about 15% normal...the deer are going to hit the little pines HARD this year.

tbone303 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 23, 2011 10:45 am

Here they eat a lot of tree buds, but they mostly eat cedar leaves off low hanging branches.

rickyc · **Posted:** Fri Dec 23, 2011 10:56 am

NantucketShedHunter wrote:

We had zero acorns here on the island this year. Not sure how the deer herd will survive the winter.

Thats what I was thinking. There are clearcuts, not many grasses and zero crops. Deer are using cuts(buds) some green briar and laurel leaves+buds for brouse. There were no acorns from the start for fat reserve. My reason for asking.

So far weather has been very mild.

wolvenkinde · **Posted:** Fri Dec 23, 2011 9:51 pm

if you want to spend the money and its legal...go ahead and feed them for a couple weeks but I definitely think they will be fine and like I said may migrate to winter food sources - logging jobs for example are a great place to see hundreds of deer - usually nearer to Lake Superior for us, where the lakes microcosm keeps the snow at lower levels and easier travel. Used to be I would not see a deer at home after second week of dec now because of misinformed animal lovers feeding all winter(now illegal) and the deer stopped migrating to thier traditional deer yards. This is mostly near town...some 'wild deer' still do the migrations...30+ miles in some areas but most around 10-15 miles.

bowhtr1 · **Posted:** Sat Dec 24, 2011 12:08 am

Yall are lucky. We have the best crop I have ever seen. Acorns everywhere. The deer have disapeared. Worst year for hunting ever. I have been hunting deer since I was 8 years old and have never seen every tree loaded down and drop for a month and a half. We still as of now have penn oaks still dropping. Our problem is we have way to many oak trees.

Corn is good for deer in the winter but not in the summer so if it is legal use it. Food plots would be better but its to late for that.

GTOHunter · **Posted:** Mon Dec 26, 2011 10:24 am

We aren't allowed to put out any type of Corn or Bait if we are Hunting close or near it here in Missouri,after Hunting Season we can put food out for the Deer and usually do to help them thru the Winter,if You do start supplimenting their feed You need to keep up with it because they will stay in that are thinking food will be available.

Ghostman · **Joined:** Tue Aug 23, 2011 9:23 pm **Posts:** 1557

Acorns? Acorns? Acorns? so many this year its unbelievable!! Here too just like bowhtr1 said. The deer were not like years prior and the rut stunk! A lot of hunters said the same thing, "What rut" Deer movement was scarce, changed, different, unusual etc. before and after the said rut.
Their were so many acorns that they never really started sampling the corn until mid Dec. I just turned on my 55 gal spreader for a few days on a low spin once a day and then shut it completely off on Saturday. Its not being eaten a lot. I'll kick it back on in late Jan and see how it goes. Strange.

The weather has been unusually warm here too, as today it was almost 75 degrees!! I have mineral holes placed throughout the 600 acres so its ready when they are. I use a trace range mineral w/ copper through the winter and in late Jan and Feb they usually wear those holes out. The feeders have a mix of corn and rice bran and corn and feeder fire pellets and some are straight corn only = 7 feeders out there plus green food plots scattered about = 10 acres

This year was terrible and the big bucks were scarce for some reason as we saw them all year up to deer season then they vanished like they knew what was about to happen.

Weird season and hope next year is better. Mine season ends on Jan 15, 2012. Cameras will still be out 365, 24-7

rickyc · **Posted:** Mon Jan 02, 2012 12:50 pm

Quote:

Weird season and hope next year is better.

Weird season here too. The deer have been hard to find even with the lack of acorns. Last year nuts every where and lots of daylight bucks! There have been some good deer taken around the area, but this season has been very much different from the norm.

Ghostman · **Joined:** Tue Aug 23, 2011 9:23 pm **Posts:** 1557

Ghostman wrote:

Acorns? Acorns? Acorns? so many this year its unbelievable!! Here too just like bowhtr1 said. The deer were not like years prior and the rut stunk! A lot of hunters said the same thing, "What rut" Deer movement was scarce, changed, different, unusual etc. before and after the said rut.
Their were so many acorns that they never really started sampling the corn until mid Dec. I just turned on my 55 gal spreader for a few days on a low spin once a day and then shut it completely off on Saturday. Its not being eaten a lot. I'll kick it back on in late Jan and see how it goes. Strange.

The weather has been unusually warm here too, as today it was almost 75 degrees!! I have mineral holes placed throughout the 600 acres so its ready when they are. I use a trace range mineral w/ copper through the winter and in late Jan and Feb they usually wear those holes out. The feeders have a mix of corn and rice bran and corn and feeder fire pellets and some are straight corn only = 7 feeders out there plus green food plots scattered about = 10 acres

This year was terrible and the big bucks were scarce for some reason as we saw them all year up to deer season then they vanished like they knew what was about to happen.

Weird season and hope next year is better. My season ends on Jan 15, 2012. Cameras will still be out 365, 24-7

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Zero acorns in my area

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