Will 2026 be the year of no acorns? The Mid-Atlantic region had a hard freeze on April 21st, with temperatures plummeting to 21 degrees. I have an ornamental peach tree in my yard that normally has so many peaches that branches break. This year, there is absolutely zero fruit- not one single peach. I have a neighbor whose apple trees litter her yard, and I help out by feeding “drops” to deer in early fall. Same thing- not one apple on the tree?
Bad News, Good News
West Virginia’s bear season opens the last weekend of September, and my host had emailed a number of large bears on his property that passed established stands in daylight. However, in mid-September, the white oak acorns began to fall in the mountainous Monongahela National Forest, and on the eve of opening day, not a single bear triggered a camera in the low country. A good acorn crop over a wide area is excellent for deer health, but also scatters deer and reduces travel between feeding and bedding, making hunting deer more difficult.
What About Your Area?
I’ve seen high-yield acorn years when mast is so prevalent, walking in the woods is like skating on marbles. Those are bumper crop years, while normal mast is scattered, yet still attracts deer. I will have extra minerals out this fall and plan to scout oaks specifically to see if they were also a victim of spring freezes. If so, the deer in our area will radically change feeding patterns, concentrating more on food plots and browse than normal. One way to check the oaks in your area is with binoculars. Normally, magnification isn’t used for nuts, yet you can see if trees have normal mast or if it is absent. In poor mast years, certain valleys and mountain flats may have escaped freezing weather, and a few productive trees can become a deer magnet. Hopefully, your area avoided the devastating spring freezes, but if not, be prepared for a change in deer travel and feeding.
