Hunting? Follow the food

Near where I live the white oak acorns have begun to drop. Even before I personally saw the acorns, I knew they were beginning to drop. The turkeys told me. Last week I was watching a flock of turkeys feeding through a field, chasing grasshoppers and bugs in a seemingly haphazard manner.

However, it soon became clear that they were making their way toward a white oak that stands alone in the field. This tree is a very reliable mast producer and bears acorns four out of every five years. As they approached, the lead birds picked up the pace. The others immediately followed suit.

Little by little they gained momentum and were soon on a dead run, each trying to beat his siblings in the race to be the first turkey to taste an acorn. Upon their arrival they started pecking acorns off the ground.

Turkeys can be quite comical. They are not exactly the most graceful runners.

Some areas have really good oak mast this year, while other areas are lacking. Where the food is, there you will find the deer, turkeys, squirrels, grouse, and bears this fall.

It appears to be a good year for hickory. One stand that I checked out was absolutely loaded. The squirrels were already beginning to eat the hickory nuts by mid-August. Hickory stands are hot spots for the squirrel hunter. Sometimes big game animals such as bears can even be found feasting upon these hard-shelled nuts.

With local populations being affected by disease, heavy beech mast production is not very common anymore. Usually localized areas with decent to good beechnut mast can be found, though. If you encounter one of these areas, it will definitely be a hot spot for bear and turkey. Both of these game species, as well as grouse and squirrels, love these small, tasty nuts.

In high school I remember shooting one gluttonous fall turkey that had absolutely gorged itself on beechnuts. The nuts were backed all the way up its esophagus to the back of its mouth.

In many areas, it has also been a good year for soft mast. Where I have been out scouting, both hawthorns and crabapples have produced well. Turkeys, grouse, deer, and bear all will feed heavily upon both of these fruits especially when there is no hard mast available.

The apple crop is really heavy in the southern areas of the region this year, but as you travel north it becomes spotty and seems to have been affected by frosts this past spring. Old apple trees can be excellent archery spots when there is a heavy crop with an absence of acorns in the immediate vicinity. During a year with heavy acorns, apples will often lie on the ground and rot, untouched by deer and bear.

This year, in the same areas where I have seen the heaviest apple production, I have also seen good acorn numbers. When it comes to putting fat on their bodies to get ready for winter, deer and bear both seem to opt for the higher calories in acorns.

The cucumber tree is another soft mast tree that is often ignored by hunters, but definitely not by wildlife. Bears, deer, turkeys, grouse, and squirrels can all be found in cucumber groves feasting on the little red, flesh- covered seeds found inside the black pods. Bears will often not even wait for them to drop, but will climb the trees eating the pods from the canopy.

To make the most of this upcoming hunting season, make an effort to get out in the woods and do some scouting. Check out the areas that you hunt to find where the good mast production is. This will make your hunting seasons all the more enjoyable.