I agree that it’s not that simple and there are nuances. I just thought it was an informative podcast that touched on how much processing is down, corn sales down, etc. The main host owns and leases large tracts and spends all his time managing for wildlife. If properties like that are not seeing deer, it just shows the impact that an abnormal acorn crop can have.
I kinda think that for a lot of areas the effect of acorns is the same this year as any good mast year and the fact that we’ve been killing the chit out of them is having just as much of an impact……Let me explain what I mean…..
Lets just say we take 10 deer and drop them off in a county like Marshall, Dekalb, St. Clair, etc……..It wouldn’t matter if it were a good year for acorns or a record year…..you’ve exceeded the threshold for “all you can eat”……..Make it 100 deer and we’re still in that same scenario……The fact that there is an excessive amount of acorns on the ground really doesn’t do anything to further change behavior from what it would have been on any given year with good acorns……The concept here being that the lower your deer density relative to the amount of oaks the less this record year matters over any other good mast year…..For a lot of these north Alabama counties will low to average densities I think its likely more than just record acorns…..Its a perfect storm combination of a good acorn year hitting in line with population decline……..But the latter half of that equation will be completely ignored……Some will ignore it on purpose and some will ignore it just being naïve. Look at last years map above and tell me that isnt a factor.....not to mention the fact that last year's harvest was just the peak of what was a 5 year increase to get to that high level we're now falling off of
