Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Another acorn observation

I’ve lived here my whole life on the same property. I have never seen swamp chestnut oaks rot and lay uneaten, because they drop pretty early and the deer love them. There is OBVIOUSLY so many that the deer and hogs can’t eat them all. This is in one of my woods roads that they usually love to eat out of. They don’t even have to work for these, so they get eaten first every year, but not this year. This was yesterday.

Like marbles in some places, acorns just everywhere

I found a bunch of reds and water oaks still holding. Deer are still killing acorns too. Harvest is WAY down.

Yep , I'm seeing Southern reds still holding acorns as of Monday . That's the late season, go to acorn in our area.

Must not be any deers left around to eat those akerns...

There is the option of it being both acorns and less deer.......doesnt have to be either/or.......just sayin.....

Not in NW Al….

Hasnt been enough steady rain here to sprout or rot them. Our bucks have not been coming to feeders in a couple months. Theyre passing through now but not staying long. I think the weatherhere has more to do with it than anything. Very wet spring and early summer. Very dry late summer and fall. Good acorn crop that last well into winter= bucks staying in the woods till rut.

I didn’t have as many swamp chestnut oak acorns as I did year before last. However, it’s common for me to see those acorns rot.

Yeah, me too Brad. I see these rot down here.

I have a swamp chestnut oak at the foot of my drive at camp. It used to get heavy use but since the neighbors moved in across the road, with their dogs, the deer ignore that spot more or less. I’ve collected several dozen acorns for propagation this year. In the past I might get a half dozen that had fallen between deer visits. Those in my woods, on the other hand, have had both heavy drops and heavy use.

I’ve seen some big acorn crops but my place just north of Florence is generational. Like everyone else almost zero plot use. Acorns are still solid and preferred.

If I really cared I’d be in the woods but oh well 😂

Ought to be some good ones next year I guess.

One thing I kept pointing out this fall. It was dry hut evidently wet enough to keep the pasture green. All the way up to frost. I’m assuming many native browse plants did as well. I think food sources were the best in a long time. Acorns galore and there it’s it is.

I’m sure the previous few years being above average with kills have a bearing on numbers but still not the end of the world either.


One of the biggest things I’ve noticed, young deer are much smaller and I’m assuming due to poor nutrition last year. 1.5-2.5 yr olds weights are down and so is their overall body size. Kinda weird but makes sense. Older deer are still the same as always so it’s makes me wonder about this group of deer overcoming the stall.

I see this mentioned alot everytime we have a big acorn crop, but have never experienced it. Deer have always hammered my plots and feeders the same as years with low amount of acorns. 🤷🏼‍♂️

They’re deer in my area are hitting the plots but just will walk by the corn. They are now starting to look for the corn. I think too many were shot off the corn early this season. The deer are very skittish around the poles and blocks.

I am a skeptic. You can dump corn on the corn in the middle of a stand of oaks with acorns and deer will still eat the corn 9/10 times.

Something else is going on. I am not convinced yet of a kill/die off, but the season seems weird in most places.

Derr dont seem as hungry this season. They also looked healthier at the end of the summer too. The deer were just shot to pieces I guess at the beginning of forearm season my area. IMO. Years previous, when the corn was put out, it was gone the next day. Up until the past week the piles would sit for days. I am contending with a lot of hunters on our doorstep.

You can also scratch what I said above. Two spots that I corn up, the deer had no change in appetite. These two spots do have water oaks that dropped heavily this season. All acorns are gone but the corn was eaten quickly with the acorns on the ground. These two locations have very little to no pressure. May just be too much pressure at the other locations but that didn’t affect anything last season. So there ya go.

Every feeder at the farm (Marion county) has corn piling up. Even the corn in the backyard just to feed the neighborhood deer hasn’t been touched after a week+.

Don’t doubt the power of acorns. Nothing else is going on lol.

Corn consumption is down everywhere I’ve been and every hunter I’ve talked to. Had one farmer who sells corn say his sales are down 91% from this time last year.