Last year's mast crop

[JHbowhunter]

Maybe it's happened before the whitetail in the state made their tremendous comeback several decades ago...  I will just say that since 2002 where when I moved z5 with a beautiful woods loaded with reds and whites, I have never seen the entire mast crop  "not consumed".  I am not a scientist - perhaps it has no real meaning, but now I am seeing 20 old acorns on the ground for every 1 new one. The mild winter and then heavy frost made both apples and acorns very poor this year, so for the deer hunter it could be a "good thing" as deer need to move more to forage.

 

 

Anyone else still seeing an abnormal volume of previous year's acorns on the ground? Cleary they aren't palatable after a certain point.

[hemlock]

My property is full of last years acorns both white and reds. But not one from this year and my dwarf trees produced only two noticeable apples this year. Last year they were loaded and another thing I noticed the leaves turned yellow on the apple trees in early July I could take a picture after work of my trees it's unreal.

[Rusty]

another thing I noticed the leaves turned yellow on the apple trees in early July I could take a picture after work of my trees it's unreal.

 

All the apple trees around us did the same thing. 

[Rusty]

 I have never seen the entire mast crop  "not consumed".   Anyone else still seeing an abnormal volume of previous year's acorns on the ground? Cleary they aren't palatable after a certain point.

 

There was such an abundance of acorns last year that the deer, turkeys, bears, etc. couldn't eat them all.  The red oak acorns were still eatable well into April and May, as a result the deer came through the winter in great shape.  Antlers will be bigger this year and fawn recruitment will be higher as well.   

Edited September 12, 2016 by Rusty

[GhostBear]

I'm not seeing a lot of acorns around this year, though the reds have a bunch.

[BowhunterNJ]

I've never seen acorns like last year. They are starting to fall this year now but nothing crazy yet

 

 

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[Haskell_Hunter]

It was finally nice enough outside to actually go outside, so I went up to my spot to set it up.  Didn't see any acorns from this year or last.  I have a healthy population of tree rats that I should reduce, so I think they're the culprits.  Only found 3 whole acorns in my yard, and I have 3-4 different mature oaks.

 

The acorns are smaller.  Here are a couple of photos, one for perspective.