White Oak Crop - Central GA

[Lowslungcj]

I’ve been looking everytime I’m out in the woods at the white oaks and I’ve yet to see many acorns on any of the trees. I just moved to Centeal GA from the Athens Area and I’m used to seeing acorns by now.

Should I give up my hope of hunting a good white oak acorn crop in early/mid October? Or do they grow and drop later in the year in Central GA?

 

[Whitefeather]

Never give up. I’m in south Coweta and they are pretty lean here this year. That’s not unusual though. Last year was a bumper crop of them. Seems like we had a pretty late frost here around first of April that may have zapped them. Same way with the persimmon crop this year.
I’d rather hunt in the lean years more than bumper years, myself. In lean years they have to move more to find food. They should be dropping by first of October if you find a tree with them

 

[sportsman94]

You can have good/great white oak crops around here. I haven’t made it out to hunt/scout yet, but I killed a couple deer last year that were hitting some heavy dropping white oaks. They do seem to be on a rotation and sometimes it’s every 3-5 years that they have a good crop. They may drop or be cut by squirrels anytime in October so just keep your eyes peeled

 

[Lowslungcj]

I’ll just keep searching for a loaded white oak. I joined a lease and all the big white oaks I have found in the hardwood creek bottoms don’t have any acorns. I found a smallish oak that had some acorns but not a ton.

It sounds like if the big white oaks don’t have acorns by now they just won’t have a crop this year. Is that correct?

 

[TJay]

I haven't seen any around the house here but there are some red oaks falling already which seems a little early to me.

 

[Whitefeather]

It sounds like if the big white oaks don’t have acorns by now they just won’t have a crop this year. Is that correct?

Probably, but look at the other oaks. The water oaks in my yard are loaded this year. Some Red oaks are around and the deer will feed on them too although, they much prefer the White oaks.

 

[sportsman94]

That should be true about not having any if they don’t have them (of some size) yet. Like white feather said, don’t overlook other oaks just because they aren’t white oaks. They will devour water oaks, red oaks, willow oaks, etc. you can also look for persimmons right now as they should begin dropping soon if not already

 

[Ihunt]

We had a late frost frost that almost had to have hurt the acorns. I thought it had wiped out my sawtooths but surprisingly they have a bunch of acorns. Well, most do. Some did take a punch.

 

[fireman32]

To my understanding white oaks have a heavy fruit year then a light fruit year. We did have a late frost this year that probably hurt their production. Water oaks seem to be loaded this year, they may be a safer bet for hunting this year.

 

[Lowslungcj]

Thanks for the good advise everyone!