Persimmons In The Mountains

[Sautee Ridgerunner]

I hunt them a lot in the piedmont. Theyre a tradbow hunters dream. But Ive never seen much going on with the ones I find in the CNF. Bears must not be real into them because Ive never seen one climbed. Anybody focus on these for deer?

Most of the ones in the woods dont have much of a canopy but I found a grove today high in a saddle that were about as big as they come up here.

Suppose Ill keep an eye on them because they were surrounded by whites anyway but figured Id ask anyone’s experiences.

 

[Thunder Head]

Ive always heard about how good they were early bow season deer. I have never experienced it though. Ive seen way more possums coons and yotes than deer. I dont know about bears.

 

[280 Man]

They are extremely bitter until they get ripe.

Deer love them. The problem is, so does most everything else. There's a short window that they can be hunted and due to being soft mast they do not last long laying on the ground

I hunt them when I can find them.

 

[chrislibby88]

Bears love them, deer love them, yotes love them, fox, coons, and about everything else loves them too. Missed a bear on a few persimmon trees back in shallow saddle this fall during the late Sept rifle hunt on Chestatee. Found bear scat loaded with persimmon seeds all over the ridgeline, and surrounding area last winter and it kinda tipped me off to the trees being nearby. It is weather dependent, but they were dropping very steady the second half of Sept this past year.

 

[chrislibby88]

Let me add, the ones I found during bear season looked like nothing was eating them. There was a large pile of ripe, semi ripe, and some rotten ones from sitting so long. No turned leaves, scat, or any disturbance to indicate animals were feeding in them. I walked into a bear 75 yards down the fire break. There were more trees where the bear was, guess he just hadn’t made it to the pile I found yet.

 

[Sautee Ridgerunner]

Thanks. Ill keep an eye on these when I go back to check the whites this summer. Doubt you could hunt them very long but it’s kinda like a dessert amongst the acorns in the saddle. Cant hurt anyway.

 

[ddd-shooter]

I can never seem to find them in the places I hunt. Perhaps I’m overlooking them, or just not expecting to find them. Never have hunted under one up here.

 

[Sautee Ridgerunner]

Theyre pretty easy to overlook as sourwoods when youre moving fast. Plus, so many that you find in the woods tend to be worthless males. I never even mark them on my gps up here honestly

 

[Thunder Head]

A friend of mine has cows. He probably has a dozen trees along pasture edges. There usually loaded. The deer pay them little to no attention. I have know idea why.

 

[Sautee Ridgerunner]

Ive noticed that sometimes persimmons are like crabapples. Their appeal to deer can vary from property to property and region to region, but in general, Im marking every female persimmon I can find. Honestly, it seems like bucks like them even more than does in my experience.

 

[strothershwacker]

only time I pay em any attention is when the ground is tore up underneath em. And that dont last long. Sometimes there deer magnets, other times they might as well be rocks.

 

[tree cutter 08]

only time I pay em any attention is when the ground is tore up underneath em. And that dont last long. Sometimes there deer magnets, other times they might as well be rocks.

exactly right!

 

[NCHillbilly]

Persimmons are rare here in my part of the mountains, but when you find a good female, it's usually all broken up from the bears lapping it.

 

[Sautee Ridgerunner]

I found a saddle recently with six giant ones. Several are bigger than my waist with big canopies. Real rare for up here. No sign theyve ever been climbed. Maybe males. High up too. Over 3k feet

 

[Professor]

All the ones I find in the mountains are scrawny little ones fighting for the sun. When I do find fruit on one, or on the ground, nothing has been eating it.

 

[chrislibby88]

All the ones I find in the mountains are scrawny little ones fighting for the sun. When I do find fruit on one, or on the ground, nothing has been eating it.

I only know of two trees, and this is exactly my experience with them, however, I did stumble upon a bear between the trees. No sign, and piles of uneaten persimmons on the ground. I found old bear scat on this ridge with persimmon seeds in it the previous two years on the December deer hunt, so I knew there were female trees around, and I knew the bears used them. I think I just got there the same time the bear did. If I was a day later there would have been fresh scat I’m sure, and a lot less persimmons.
There’s also a good chance that there’s some loaded mature trees on this mountain that I haven’t found yet that are the main food source, and these small understory trees I found are just a minor resource that only gets snacked on occasionally.

 

[Sautee Ridgerunner]

Im talking bout BIG ones

 

[jbogg]

Every year I find coyote scat with persimmon seeds in it, but I have yet to find a tree that is dropping fruit on NF.

 

[chrislibby88]

Every year I find coyote scat with persimmon seeds in it, but I have yet to find a tree that is dropping fruit on NF.

Man those yotes cover ground. All you can gather is that a persimmon tree is somewhere within a few square miles. Haha. Go check saddles or benches nearby. Animals get pushed there, which means more poop winds up there, which means there a slightly higher chance of a seed sprouting in a saddle than in a random block of woods. The only two mountain persimmon trees I have found are in a long gentle saddle with an old firebreak running through it. They are fairly young trees too, so I think the only reason they are there is that bears traveled that saddle and pooped some seeds there.