buger wrote on Dec 1
st, 2006 at 9:08pm:
i read on a survival site you could grind dry acorns or wild grain to make powder,and water to it and make a sticky dough,it said this is a supreme trap bait for herbivores, think the acorn powder would work
Hey, buger,... and Slingers,
I used to do a lot of deer hunting and from what I've read about Whitetail deer, they absolutely LOVE
acorns, especially WHITE OAK acorns. Apparently, whatever the nutritional value of acorns for humans, for Whitetail deer that are trying to fatten up for winter, acorns are the perfect food! It appears that acorns do indeed have a lot of stored energy in them, at least for animals ( human nutritional requirements are probably different. )
Here in the center of New England where I am, the woods are very mixed. We have some evergreen conifers ( needle bearing trees with "pine cone" seeds ) which are mostly hemlock and some pine, and we have a mix of deciduous trees with a lot of sugar maple ( maple syrup! ) and red and white oak.
If you can find a good stand of white oaks you can get some idea of deer movement and feeding habits. You have to pay attention to the condition of the "mast crop" ( acorn crop ) as it is cyclical and varies quite a bit from year to year. Some years the acorn crop has been abundant, and in other years it has been much less or almost nonexistent. The condition of the crop is a common topic in various hunting publications,
as well as word-of-mouth among hunters. If the crop is not good, the deer will change their feeding patterns to some other food.
Buger, are there big stands of white oak in the woods where you are? If you find some white oaks, then you might find some, uh..... "steak-still-walking-around" near them!
.......Dan