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Washington Hunter

I should know more, my dad is an arbiculturist. [&:]

I tend to tune him out when he starts talking about trees.

nchawkeye

Around here they hit white oaks and pin oaks about the same, but beach trees come in a close third, chestnut oaks 4th and then red oaks...It's actually very easy to tell the difference, can't be a true deer hunter until you do...I'm surprised how much guys will spend on their equipment trying to get an edge, when an education is free.....

NEW61375

If you have some land you are going to have for a long period of time I would suggest some of the smaller oak species such as sawtooth oaks or shingle oaks. They produce acorns quickly and abundantly. The sawtooth is probably a better choice as they are known for rapid growth and wildlife love the acorns. The shingle is slower and is a red oak so the acorns are more bitter but they tend to fall later and once the cold hits the animals don't mind the taste as much, once they start producing they seem to produce heavy crops more frequently than many kinds of white oaks. Oaks are sometimes hard to id because there are actually a lot more than people think. We tend to think of White, Red, Water, etc but realistically each main type has many sub species and in old stands of woods there are often hybrid species.

We planted close to fifty shinglesin the past couple ofyears and several sawtooths as well. Most won't make it but they were planted from acorns so it really didn't cost anything and the few that start to thrive we fence and fertilize. You can get whips of most oaks for pretty cheap not to mention crabapples, mulberry, pears, wild grapes, blackberries, etc. The trees are a long term goal but luckily we own the land so hopefully it will pay off in 10 years or so but the berries, grapes, and any other low level shrub/browse will develop quickly and almost immediately become beneficial.

The dept of game in your area probably has lots of info on food sources that are relatively easy to plant/maintain. I knowin VA sometimes you can even get free seed kits and samples they can even tell you how to get incontact witha bioligist who will look at your area and offer suggestions, tips, etc. at no cost to you. Be sure to ask about fall/winter plants & planting. Sorry so long.

NEW61375

So true, as far as oaks goa lot of it is as simple as looking at leaves but admittedlyI still get confused sometimes.

dukemichaels

I know of these trees you call Oaks...

Basicly its like this.. Whitetail prefer White Oak only because of taste. Red Oaks and other Oak species (there's like 200) have high Tanin levels which make the acorns more bitter. But Whitetails will eat them too.

So like Mobow said.. pick some Oaks you can hang next to.. and fertilize them.

early in

I know a little bit about trees, I've been climbing them for 30 years.Deer will indeed eat Red Oak acorns if White Oaks are not available.

archer58

What I find interesting about Oaks is their role at different times of the year for deer. I pay close attention to the ones in the woods I hunt. I've got red, white,pin, chestnut and (I think) black.
The deer will walk over the reds and chestnut oaks in the early season to get to the white and pin nuts, but right now they're tearing up the ground getting to the red's and black oak left.

I can go to a red oak standin December after the preferred mast is goneand know that the deer have been feeding there. It's almost like they left it for winter feeding on purpose.

It's something to watch if you have multiple oak types where you hunt.

After that "ramble"......Ah!!! Oh,Yeah. I spiked some trees about 4 years ago. I didn't see much difference but the trees I spiked were on a ridge that usually produces pretty well as long as there's enough rain that year.
The spikes are expensive but easy. Too much to do more than 2 or 3 good sized trees.

archer58

Better pick another tree to put your stand in, there's no cover in that one!!!!
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early in

Just for the record, for any other climbers out there. The reason there's a rip on that front cut, instead of a notch,is because I wanted that branch to fold in to the base of the tree.