2018 akern crop thred

Post pics if you got em. Down in Baldwin County so far it ain't looking promising as years past have. I have noticed a lot of the live oaks are loaded. Water oaks and laurel oaks of course are the same as always. Loaded. Haven't seen too many white oak acorns or swamp chestnuts yet. Could be a banner food plot year.

looking in dallas co. to day, may to early to tell.

Good. Take ya some binos and look in the tops of the trees.

Well my indicator trees in the neighborhood that I live in are absolutely loaded. Pretty much a 1in 10 year super crop. Usually when these trees produce, acorns are loaded at my hunting spots. Going to be a tuff greenfield year in central alabama. Even seen a burr oak thats COVERED with the monster acorns.

A better question would be "how is the corn crop"?

From what I’m seeing it’s gonna be a bumper crop this year. So the challenge will be finding the “hot” tree(s)

Tons of acorns on the white oak in my front yard. still all caps.

Akerns look to be average this year, but the persimmon trees are freaking loaded!

Spikes absolutely love persimmons!!!

Merica!!

best I could tell south dallas co. has acorns and plenty of corn, waiting on oct.

Does ANYTHING eat burr oak? Serious question. My parents have two or three in their yard and not even the squirrels seem to give a rip. An old timer told us years ago nothing would eat them.

Why do yall look at the trees in the summer, what does it matter if this tree or that one has acorns?

Little tip, yard trees are not reliable indicators as to what oaks will do in the forest.

Truth!


You can come back to those trees in the fall to see which ones are falling first or which ones are being used best. I used to scout a lot. Summer scouting is for people with PLENTY of time!

Seriously? As a hunter ya need to know where the food sources are to be successful. As far as oaks , there's so many types and there are some deer prefer over others.

If trees around my best stands have a good crop, it'll be a bloodbath. No scouting needed , just go killin', it's that simple.

There has never been a time I could not walk around in October/November and not be able to find which trees are dropping acorns. Never saw the need to look in the summer. Its Alabama there are food sources everywhere

lol...Several ago when I was a student at Auburn, I spent an entire Saturday raking up burr oak acorns on campus. I completely filled up the back of a pickup. I placed them on a prime tract that I had access to, but never saw a single animal touch them.

I agree with what ya said , with the exception of " food sources everywhere."

They eat dirt, leaves, weeds, grass, corn, beans, mushrooms, honeysuckle, kudzu, privet etc. No deer is starving in Alabama

You obviously have never hunted a large , mature hardwood tract with a total acorn crop failure , they leave. Dirt and dried leaves ain't too nourishing , BTW.

Everybody has their own system. I'll start looking a little early and identify which trees are loaded, usually like to find a small cluster of trees that have a lot of acorns and eliminate trees with no acorns. I like to hunt out of lock ons so I will hang a stand and clear shooting lanes early and then stay the hell out until I know they are starting to fall. However I've been hunting the same tract for almost 20 years and there pretty consistant on which trees will be best.

Aw hale yeah !!!

Yeah all the female persimmon trees at the camp are so loaded some of the limbs are almost pointed straight down. Never seen that before.

Everything I've seen is loaded. Apples, pear, peaches, persimmons, acorns, muscadines, and blackberries. Lot of rain= lots of food.

That’s what I’ve been seeing too. Blackberries are ridiculous at my land in Bama. Going to be tough goings early on in the season. Lots of forage = little movement in my experience.

Thats a huge huge negative ghost rider.. 30 years of comparing. Great indicator...

Been hinting the same tract in bullock cty for 40 years. I'm not going to hike 3/4 of a mile in August to look at the canopy of 100 foot white oaks. I know every tree and pretty much know when they drop within a week or so. Have a primary tree that drops starting about the week before bow season. Pretty much if the white oaks produce in my neighborhood I typically have a good crop in union springs.

I'm gonna disagree , and I'm betting some hardwood foresters will too. I have a huge red oak in my back yard , it hits every year, red oaks in the mountains don't. I've been watching the trees in my yard since 1991 .

2dogs I will agree there. I am talking specifically about white oak production. I have a shumard oak on a small tract in lowndes that has produced like once every 5 years. When it does it drops boocoo acorns the last week of January. I just check it every year and hope. It seems to produce only when it wants too.

I would also add that my house is at about the same relative elevation of 500 feet as my hunting land so in that regards my tree in city shares a similar climate as my white oaks in union springs.

We have a huge white oak at work that produces every single year. I've been here 30 years. The white oaks on my hunting properties DO NOT produce every year. Not only that, but some will be loaded while others are not. Late frost and drought effect acorn production, as well as canopy. A tree with zero competition will produce more consistently than a tree amongst thousands of other tree's. Cold air sinks. Some tree's in low spots may have been hit by a late frost. Lots of variables.

I have a bunch of sawtooth oaks that I planted from seed about 10 yrs ago. They started dropping a few yrs back, not much, but some each year. This year there’s not a single acorn on any of them. I thought with the steady rains they would be loaded this year.

Acorn production is very complex. Often seems there is no rhyme or reason. Since we cut our timber in 05-06 we've never had a complete failure. Even 3 years ago in the great drought , I had acorns. I think it was year before last after the wet summer the absolute mountains had plenty of acorns and the big mountains connected to the Cumberland plateau did not. Only a few miles separated them. Trees with skidder rash will produce like a champ. There's way more to it than it's a dry year or wet year or we had a late freeze .

I’ve always been told that a drought will make trees produce better. When they are stressed it makes them mass produce. I’m guessing God did that to allow them to reproduce if they die.

Anything that effects the oak blooms in the spring will have an effect. Rain really not a factor except everyyhing does better with a little water.

Sawtooths in my pasture are bare. Very unusual

I got trees gpsed i go check evey year. Ill be lookin tomorrow.

Havent really looked at my oaks but my persimmon trees are loaded and the limbs are sagging

Red and water oaks are loaded. White oaks are bare

Same here. Very strange. Also my pear trees didn’t produce much my wild plum none and the persimmons have only a few. I wonder if the late freeze hurt them.

My daughter just brought me these from the sawtooths by the shop. They are loaded.

Im bout to go look at about 10 different sawtooths yall got me curious, ill report back

Both sawtooths in our camp are totally empty. They've been loaded the past 4 years. This is the 1st time since they started producing that they haven't produced any. Did see some chestnut oaks and white oaks that had some caps formed on them

Well 1 sawtooth ive found so fard had a moderate crop, the rest have been bare. Findin some simmons tho...but they are fewer than past seasons. So far its lookin kinda sparse. I shall continue.

My sawtooths don’t have anything on them this year but my chestnuts are loaded.

My pears didn't due well this year that late frost killed the blooms. See a few sawtooths but not loaded.

Last Tuesday i took these pics of a tree in Morgan County

Has anybody seen any white oak akern crop in SE Bama? I ain't had a chance to get out and scout with having dang back surgery.

always some white oaks dropping somewhere!

Thanks Ben, I was totally unaware of that

Well you asked if anyone had seen the acorn crop. I was simply saying no matter the crop there is always a few trees at least that will drop. You will be fine without scouting the acorn crop just look for active trees when you get recovered enough to hunt!

Got 2 more persimmons and a white oak in the bag of trisck yesterdee

I've got 15 or so sawtooth oaks and some persimmons I planted on my place about 15 years ago. They started bearing at about 5 years and have been loaded every year since. This year the oaks have almost no acorns but the persimmons are full. I wonder if the late frost we had affected the sawtooth acorn production. My water oaks have plenty of acorn

I think so, mine are the same

Skewerels are getting a lot of mine.

They've been eating a lot of mine too and they only eat the top out of the acorn and leave the rest.

Oaks in the yard are loaded. Dang skwerls are nocking them down on the roof of the porch Like crazy. Sounds like a .22 short going off every time one hits. About time to start thinning them rodents out.

No sawtooths here this year either. Got a good crop of persimmons and chestnuts though. Water oaks are already dropping and being targeted.

This is the first year since they've been bearing that 95% of my sawtooths don't have any acorns. Idk

After the last storm I saw a lot of Swamp Chestnut Oak acorns that had been knocked out early. That is a real good sign for the bowhunters.

I haven't been back to the place I hunt that is full of SCO trees. They ought to be full of em. I really don't feel like walking though the snake den yet.

been on a few walks at freedom hills since moving up to the shoals area, its looking pretty sparse.

Hung a few stands yesterday sround some SWO and I’m really worried the trees are dying. The leaves are turning a transparent grayish/Brown color. Nothing like I’ve ever seen them in the fall & it’s only the SWO and not all of them. I wouldn’t think it’s drought related because it’s wet in these areas most of the year. Any thoughts?

You talking about swamp chestnut oaks? There's been a bug going around in the last few years that eats everything on the leaf except the skeleton. They will look transparent. It happened 2 years ago on my place in Dallas County and Baldwin County. Hasn't happened since though. That bud doesn't eat the acorns. In fact I think the year it happened to us, we had the biggest acorns we ever had on them trees.

Slippin, yes talking about swamp chestnut oaks and your description of the leaves is spot on. Maybe that’s what’s going on. Thanks for the response makes me feel better about it.