Regardless of how you pronounce it, this seed from the oak tree is a whitetail deer staple and deer will often favor it over crops due to its excellent protein. Learning to recognize the acorn species is an important deer hunting skill and this post from the Realtree website will put you at the head of the class. Learn your acorns.
Where Did the Deer Go?
If your scouting cameras suddenly stop imaging and trails near your stand fill with leaves, a grove of white oaks may be dropping down the ridge, causing deer to focus on that food source and changing their normal travel patterns. In years of poor acorn production, deer may stay longer in or travel to crops such as beans and corn.
Read the Signs
In big-woods areas, boots on the ground is the best way to learn the effect of falling acorns on deer movement. I once hunted with Preston Pittman who schooled me on the process. We walked extensively until we found abundant acorn caps and piles of deer dung under a tree. Acorns are so vital to deer survival that they literally bed under a tree and wait for fruit to fall. If the sign is fresh, this is a great location to hang a stand or use a bottleneck or pinch point that funnels deer to the hot trees.
Good Year, Bad Hunting
Ironically, a bumper crop of acorns makes deer hunting difficult. Conversely, a poor crop will focus deer movement and feeding on a few locations and can make whitetails easier to predict. A poor acorn crop is often associated with a late frost that kills oak buds on the tree. Deep hollows and southern slopes may escape this effect and trees there will flourish.
Here’s What you Need to Know
The basic elements for a successful deer hunt are: know where the deer are bedding, know what they’re eating, play the wind, be there and shoot them somewhere along that line of travel. Fall deer hunting, particularly in the South, often occurs over cultivated, highly nutritious food plots. There’s nothing wrong with the strategy. However, when food plots are as empty as a ghost town, deer are obviously being drawn to more attractive forage. Where oak trees grow, it’s a good bet the local deer herd is busy gobbling up one of Mother Nature’s tastiest fall foods — acorns
https://www.realtree.com/deer-hunting/articles/everything-you-need-to-know-about-acorns
