feed tree

when your out scouting and looking for a tree they are hitting hard how do you determine with tree they are eating under the most

Ground worn out , tracks and poop and acorn parts.

look for doo-doo. If they are staying there long enough to crap under the tree, then they are hitting it pretty hard.

sawtooth said:

look for doo-doo. If they are staying there long enough to crap under the tree, then they are hitting it pretty hard.

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This is what I was taught and if I find a tree with more than two piles of poop, I'll hunt it within a day or two. If I don't see anything I 'll try the opposite time of day...ie morning vs evening.

Squirrels play a big role for me as well. If several squirrels are in one tree over the course of a morning or evening sit. I'm gonna walk over and check it out, the critters know which tree has the best acorns.

Good luck

Primary Feed Trees for High Percentage Hunts

Of all the methods that I have used to put deer inside bow range, without a doubt, primary feed trees have been the most productive. A feed tree is any tree that produces and drops hard or soft mast. The hard mast being acorns with the soft mast being honey locust beans, persimmons, apples, crab apples or other domestic fruits. This food supply is at it's best during the early bow season but in some areas it can also be found, on a limited basis, through the entire season.

Oak trees have two basic classifications, red oaks and white oaks. Of course, there are different types in each group. One important difference is, only one year is required for the acorns of a white oak to mature and drop. It takes two years for trees in the red oak family. With this said, red oaks can have first year and second year acorns at the same time, making it possible to have an acorn crop for consecutive years.

Through observation, paying attention to details and keeping a journal, I've learned a few things from bowhunting over oak trees during the past 45 years. All feed trees don't offer the same quality of mast at the same time. There are early mast dropping trees and late dropping trees. The more feed on the ground the more picky the deer are about what tree they select as the primary tree. I relate their attraction to mast to be the same as our attraction to a tomato. When the tomatoes first start coming in we will eat what's there but later on we become more picky about only eating the very best of what's available. The deer are the same way in regards to their food source.

In every area there's going to be one particular tree with prime acorns that are the best around. The deer will find that tree and during the time it's the best, they will designate it as the primary tree, for their area. How long will it last? As long as it's the best. I've seen primary trees last for a couple of weeks and then I've seen them last only a few days. They can be replaced by another tree with more desirable mast at anytime. Like I said, deer are picky and look for the best food source available. An important reason for daily scouting.

I've noticed that oak trees have individual drop times. It seems as though every year a tree has an acorn crop the drop period will be the same time. Keeping a journal I'm able to know the prime drop times of trees that have, in the past, produced sightings and kills. Also, trees that share the same elevation seem to drop during the same time period. It's a good idea to check other areas, that has the same elevation of a primary feed tree that you've found, for another tree that's in it's prime drop time. Using a topo map makes that possible by concentrating your search in areas with a common elevation.

It takes a lot of scouting to find the perfect feed tree to set up on. The more ground covered the better chance there is to find one, especially, during the first part of the season. There has been many days that I've walked two to four hours searching for a primary feed tree. Many times, I've hit the ground running on a big drainage, walking out the edge of a creek for a mile then crossing over and coming back the other side. When I was younger I would sometimes jog from one oak tree to another trying to check everyone I could find, looking for the best possible hunt in the whole area.

In the early part of the season you're not going to find massive amounts of, feed tree, sign. It's just to early for the trees to have peaked out. During that time you will be looking for traces of sign. A few weeks into the season is when you will find sign that will make you climb, instead of you making yourself climb. During that time I'm looking for ground disturbance inside the drip line of a feed trees crown. There will be a defined difference in the way the ground will look on each side of that drip line. Looking close you will see multiple piles of droppings. An active tree will also be a magnet for birds, squirrels and even coons, gathering and knocking out acorns. There has been several times when I've found oak trees, in their prime, by just going to the sounds of Blue Jays thrashing it the tops. What seals the deal is the rate of acorn drop, the faster the acorns drop the better. I love a tree that has all the sign and is raining acorns. It's a tree that begs me to hunt it and impossible for me not to.

Unless the ground is wet or soft the sign under persimmon and honey locust bean trees don't show up as well as it does under an oak tree. The deer come in fast, suck up persimmons like a vacuum cleaner and are always on the move. You've got to be ready with bow in hand. It's not unusual for a deer to come to a tree and leave before you're able to take a bow shot.

I've found Honey Locust Bean trees, to be a buck magnet. It seems to me that bucks make up a high percentage number of the deer that show up to feed on the long black bean pods. Their feeding pattern is more like it is for oak trees. They move slow and spend time under the tree. The sign doesn't show up as good under a hot bean tree as it does under most oaks. The leaves from the honey locust trees are really small and don't show disturbance from feeding like the larger leaves of oaks. I've watched bucks walk through prime acorns to get to the locust beans.

Spend as much time as possible, every day, scouting for high percentage hunts. Work hard at finding the best the area has to offer, for a chance to put deer in bow range. Somewhere out there is the perfect place to kill a deer.... all you have to do is find it, recognize it for what it is and set up right. Don't climb unless you feel it's right. If a spot is "hot" it will make you hunt it, instead of you making yourself hunt it.

As beneficial as food sources are, don't get yourself in a rut by doing the same thing every hunt. Try different things, hunt different areas. Don't over hunt a spot, remember a deer can pattern you quicker than you can pattern them. If possible make several hunts in one day. Mix it up, the more places you climb the more you learn about deer movement and you may be able to move into a good set up by observing distant movement. Deer patterns are always changing, be able to move with them..... be portable ...... be mobile..... be successful. Have a good understanding of the area that you are hunting, use and believe in your map and compass. Remember that perfect "spot" is waiting for you to find it. Hunt the very "BEST" of the sign you find.

thannks for the advice I will use these methods on the next hunting trip thanks again

Great info Mr. Womack. Thank you for sharing...

Yes Mr. Womack - great advice especially for somebody who likes to be very mobile. I never thought about them "hitting & quitting" persimmon trees so fast but it makes sense - at any one time not many persimmons will be on the ground and what are on the ground are in plain sight/smell - why would they linger any longer than they need to? Let me ask you this - since I hunt from the ground (making mobility easy) I was thinking about not even carrying a seat (my 5 gallon bucket). I mean just finding a likely feeding tree and setting up with natural cover front & behind me and taking a knee for fifteen minutes or so. Then making sure I'm not being watched, walk to the next likely feeding area to repeat the process. I figure watching squirrel activity would point me toward the likely trees, and deer trails of course to dictate my actual spots to take a knee. I have an "old school" Kwikee Kwiver clamped on my recurve so I would be completely mobile and hands-free the whole time. My camo & scent control are rock-solid, and physically I can crawl, duck, squat, etc. with no limitations. So am I crazy or would such a strategy work? The reason I ask is we have all been in situations where we are scouting or doing recon or just walking back to our vehicles when we see deer and they don't see us, but we are generally caught out in the open so we just slip away or let them pass out of range because our hands are tied and "stalking them" is an exercise in frustration. But if I could plan & pick my approaches ahead of time I might tilt the scales in my favor by taking the fight to the deer so to speak. What do you think?

Killing a deer with a bow, down on ground level is a special treat. I use to say that one like that was worth 10 from a tree stand. When I first started bowhunting I use to spend a lot of time slowly moving through the woods trying to do so. I even developed a technique, for getting within bow range even after they see me.

While still hunting, if I could see a deer before it knew I was there, I would drop down and put the stems of several fallen leaves between my fingers and a few in my mouth. Once that was done I would start my stalk. Sooner or later that deer would become aware of my presence and become alert. With the deer keyed in on me I would release a leaf and as it would float to the ground the deer would lock in on the movement of the leaf, forgetting about me.

I would be downwind, so it couldn't smell me. I usually had some sort of camo on, so once I froze, it couldn't really see me but still it knew that some sort of movement had alerted it. Once it saw the leaf fall, a very natural thing that it had seen all it's life, it was satisfied that everything was cool. To that deer, it was just a leaf floating to the ground.

Usually they would flick their tail and return to browsing or picking up acorns. Then I would continue my stalk until they noticed my movement again. Then I would go through the process again and again until I was in bow range. It didn't work every time but the times that it did was very rewarding.

Several time I have worked my way up to and inside of 20 yards. Once during a preseason scouting trip I showed a friend how I did this and we managed to get inside of 10 yards on a doe with her fawn. We were on an open ridge and had started the stalk from at least 200 yards away. We both ran out of leaves. Great Fun!!!

Later, after I became better at hunting feed trees, I quit slipping and started running. Trying to look at every tree in the area I was in, trying to locate primary feed trees. The name of the game for me, was the more trees I checked the better my chance's were to find what I was looking for... a primary tree for the entire area. When I did it was almost a guaranteed sighting and possibly a shot. What I call a "high percentage hunt".

But, with that said, I think one should not be shy in trying different methods for getting in bow range. We are only limited by our imagination for improving our odds.

I like that leaf trick! It makes sense - I always try to have something green & fluttering behind me so I'm not the only thing moving. Of course this fails if there's no wind. But making your own distracting movement makes sense! Thursday afternoon (the next day I'll have the right wind direction & free time) I'll try this out. Another thing I might try - a guy who bagged many deer here at Fort Gordon (Ralph Blackwelder) used to carry a turkey call and every time deer alerted on him he'd use it - so the deer would think whatever made the noise & movement was a turkey. I'm wondering if a squirrel noise would have the same effect.

Wow, I clicked on here for entertainment and got a wonderful educational experience, thanks guys.

Well I tried out the feed tree idea and it worked! The biggest, oldest white oak among a lot of smaller white oaks and water oaks sure enough was visited for a minute or so by five does totaled (one by itself and four in a group an hour later) throughout the afternoon when I hunted this Friday. I couldn't get a shot (long story) and I haven't had a chance to revisit the spot but will soon while the tree is still hot. It's not the only tree along this creek bottom edge but it's nice (with my 15 yard range) to know when the deer do come through they will indeed make it one of their destinations, so I can set up with this in mind and tweak my natural ground blind accordingly.

This deserves a bump

Agreed!

It surely does deserve it!!

Patterns fixing to be changing An trees should heat up soon.