What Oak is this?

[jbogg]

Chestnut oaks are in the White Oak family which means they will germinate fairly quickly after dropping. I remember paying attention to this last year around my house and the Chestnut Oak acorns were sprouting at the same rate as the White Oaks within 4 - 5 weeks of dropping. Red oak acorns on the other hand require four months of temperatures below 40° in order to germinate so they will be on the ground long after the other acorns are gone. They do not even begin to germinate until the following spring. I have seen bears and pigs eating red oak acorns as late as May/June that dropped the previous November. The northern red oak acorns can be very large, and might be mistaken for Chestnut Oak acorns.

 

[CornStalker]

Woodland, just curious—what elevation were they hitting those Chestnut oaks?

 

[WoodlandScout82]

Woodland, just curious—what elevation were they hitting those Chestnut oaks?

1600 feet

 

[tree cutter 08]

Killed many critters on mtn oaks. Yeah they would rather have whites but when you carve a living out in the woods you eat what available. If there's not a bumper crop of whites its not uncommon to find good feeding sign from deer and bear in mtn oaks

 

[Nicodemus]

In South Georgia the swamp chestnut is a favored food source for deer and anything else that can swaller the acorns.

 

[Thunder Head]

Mountain chestnut oak. They do make good fire wood.

In 2019 I hunted a area where 2 young bears were tearing them up.

Both trees I found last year that a bear had bee climbing were Mtn. oaks

Ive seen deer eat them along they way. Generally they might eat a couple or 5 and move on. Never seen a deer put its head down and feed on them like a white or red oak.

 

[RedHills]

In South Georgia the swamp chestnut is a favored food source for deer and anything else that can swaller the acorns.

When they're in a good year in the Ochlocknee river bottom, you'd think every bear in the Nat'l forest was there too, fighting the hogs and deer for em! Seen it.

 

[KentuckyHeadhunter]

I call em ankle sprainers.