# Let’s Get it started. 2018 Acorn Report



## jbogg (Jul 21, 2018)

I have been finding some white oaks with acorns between 2600’ - 3200’.  Less than seven weeks and counting. What are you guys seeing?


----------



## twincedargap (Jul 23, 2018)

way to get out there and get a jump on the season.


----------



## tree cutter 08 (Jul 24, 2018)

White oaks are looking good and reds are hit or miss. Did find a few whites on the ground yesterday that were rotten but it was in one area so hopefully it was just a fluke. I have noticed some are alot further along than others so time will tell if they all make it.


----------



## livinoutdoors (Jul 24, 2018)

Ive been at some mid to lower elevations round habersham n stevens. White oaks are hit or miss looks like, but ive only been out twice


----------



## jbogg (Jul 24, 2018)

tree cutter 08 said:


> White oaks are looking good and reds are hit or miss. Did find a few whites on the ground yesterday that were rotten but it was in one area so hopefully it was just a fluke. I have noticed some are alot further along than others so time will tell if they all make it.



Some of the whites I have seen up high seem to be underdeveloped.  Thought they would be further along by now.


----------



## tree cutter 08 (Jul 24, 2018)

Yea I have thought the same thing. If They don't make it will be a spotty crop. They still have a month and half of so to grow so will see. You defiantly know when you see a tree that's loaded and going to do good.


jbogg said:


> Some of the whites I have seen up high seem to be underdeveloped.  Thought they would be further along by now.


----------



## twincedargap (Jul 25, 2018)

isn't spotty a good thing for hunters? the abundant bumper crop year didn't seem to focus activity.


----------



## jbogg (Jul 25, 2018)

Yep. I have heard stories about years past when there were white oaks limited to very specific elevations resulting in a very concentrated bear population.  Folks literally seeing ten or more bears in trees in a single day.  I am hoping that this year may be more spotty than the past few, but hard to tell yet.


----------



## blood on the ground (Jul 25, 2018)

Haven't checked my whites or reds but the water oaks are loaded here in Paulding. I always do good early season on water oaks just before the other nuts start falling.


----------



## jbogg (Aug 8, 2018)

This place is as quiet as a library.  So nobody else is excited about getting after some bear in 4 weeks?


----------



## Rabun (Aug 8, 2018)

I'll be checking some spots this weekend and will report back...but yes, excited. I really don't bow hunt much and never for bear before but plan on breaking out my crossbow to try and stick a bear that's become way to comfortable on the property...  Then start hunting harder starting prim weapons week.


----------



## GTHunter (Aug 8, 2018)

I'll be up there as much as I can this season. I tried hard two years ago but the acorn crop was great and bear movement was not. Living in Atlanta I can only get up to the bear woods every so often, but I plan to make a scouting trip this Saturday. I'm checking out some spots that the very helpful DNR ranger told me about when I called.


----------



## tree cutter 08 (Aug 8, 2018)

Chomping at the bit!


----------



## tree cutter 08 (Aug 8, 2018)

Made a little lap this evening at lower elevation, in the 18 to 2k range. Whites were scarce. Found 2 that I would consider fairly loaded and rest only a hat full in each tree. Hoping to check 2 to 2500 ft range next week.


----------



## jbogg (Aug 8, 2018)

tree cutter 08 said:


> Made a little lap this evening at lower elevation, in the 18 to 2k range. Whites were scarce. Found 2 that I would consider fairly loaded and rest only a hat full in each tree. Hoping to check 2 to 2500 ft range next week.



Good report Cutter.  I have not been below 2600’, but have found some Whites above that, but not many.


----------



## tree cutter 08 (Aug 8, 2018)

I've got a idea that they might be scarce up high with so many bears seen down low in the last few weeks. Seems they know before we do. There is a lot of hickory nuts this time so that might be something to look for. Also notice persimmons have fallen off early rotten. All this rain has really seemed to affect things this last month. Everything seemed to start off good early summer but seems a lot has went down hill.


----------



## jbogg (Aug 8, 2018)

tree cutter 08 said:


> I've got a idea that they might be scarce up high with so many bears seen down low in the last few weeks. Seems they know before we do. There is a lot of hickory nuts this time so that might be something to look for. Also notice persimmons have fallen off early rotten. All this rain has really seemed to affect things this last month. Everything seemed to start off good early summer but seems a lot has went down hill.



Sounds like food may be a lot more scarce which would be a welcome change compared to the last two years. It might require a lot of walking, but once we find them they may very well be much more concentrated than the past few years.  How do the Reds look in your area?


----------



## tree cutter 08 (Aug 8, 2018)

Haven't looked at enough to say for sure but I have noticed lots that are immature so if those do make, they will be smaller than normal.


----------



## antharper (Aug 9, 2018)

I’m down south of Atlanta and it’s looking like the worst year in a while for acorns in my area !


----------



## Raylander (Aug 9, 2018)

White oaks all look spotty, some here- none there. LOADS of big hickory nuts on the ground everywhere I've been


----------



## GTHunter (Aug 12, 2018)

I made a trip up yesterday and noticed what confirms most of the reports so far. Not many acorns up high, with the ones I found being runty and the only good acorns I found were lower at around 2000-2500.


----------



## Bowhunter77 (Aug 12, 2018)

The annual hillbilly migration from Kentucky to north Georgia bear woods will be the first week october. Hope some are still on the tree by then.


----------



## jbogg (Aug 12, 2018)

Bowhunter77 said:


> The annual hillbilly migration from Kentucky to north Georgia bear woods will be the first week october. Hope some are still on the tree by then.



Welcome back Kentucky brothers!  Should be a great year.  October should be a great time to be in the woods. They will be feeding like crazy.  I am seeing a lot of bears this year.


----------



## tree cutter 08 (Aug 12, 2018)

Got some more elevation today and whites are scarce but did see a few reds that were absolutely loaded.


----------



## Rabun (Aug 13, 2018)

Scouted low this weekend...around 1900'.  White oaks were scarce and small when found. Reds were sporadic, but found decent water oaks.


----------



## jbogg (Aug 24, 2018)

Very few whites from what I have seen recently. This morning I found a fair number of red oaks that have aborted their acorns as well. It’s shaping up to be one of those years when if you can find a good stand of acorns you should be in the bears.   But finding them is easier said than done.


----------



## Killer Kyle (Aug 25, 2018)

After looking and glassing over the last several days, I can attest that my findings are much in line with what you all are finding here. From lower elevations to higher ones, I've hardly found any white oaks with acorns at all. Haven't even found many northern red oaks with acorns. I've found a few scarlet oaks up high that were loaded, and I found several southern red oaks down low that were loaded. By and large, the crop seems much more sparse than in recent years. I'll be out looking again this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon, and I'll be glassing some more just to see what I can see. 

In the picture below, you can see what I observed a few days ago while scouting a lower spot in White County around 1,600' or so. The acorns depicted are from a mature white oak (acorns on left), and a mature red oak (acorns on right). These trees were growing side by side. The red oak already had fully developed acorns trickling down, and squirrels were cutting them down also. The ground beneath the white oak was littered with seemingly thousands of under-developed and prematurely aborted acorns. I observed this over and over while walking down the road.  It will be interesting to see over the next several weeks how all of this turns out!


----------



## Timberman (Aug 27, 2018)

Spent yesterday 2800 and up. Very few acorns. Only found a few white oaks that squirrels where cutting. Zero reds that I could see. We did find two yellow jacket nests that had been freshly dug up.


----------



## Dsherrer711 (Aug 27, 2018)

Anybody else seen acorns like these? Found them on some white oaks in Gilmer county. I don’t know if they are just aborted or underdeveloped like the ones Killer Kyle mentioned above.. but they didn’t have any caps growing and were much softer almost like berries. Clearly growing on a white oak stem though, and they were all over the tree.


----------



## tree cutter 08 (Aug 27, 2018)

Looks like a gall. No benefit to game.


----------



## Dsherrer711 (Aug 27, 2018)

I’ve seen galls before but never all over a tree like acorns. Usually just one or two on a plant at a time.


----------



## Killer Kyle (Aug 28, 2018)

I actually saw alot of galls when I was out looking the other day, but most of the ones I found were on red oaks and they were larger than that.


----------



## goshenmountainman (Sep 2, 2018)

Been to five or six different places from 1800-2900 ft. very few whites, not very big, and the trees that have the most don't seem to have all that many. The reds are random one will have a good many and you may walk a mile with none then another shows up with a few. No mountain oak, chesnut oak at any place I have been. Only loaded white oaks I have seen have been around our hay fields and they don't have as many as in the past years. Have seen 9 bear in the last two weeks and I hope everyone out there shoots at least one bear each, I am convinced that the bear are killing all our fawns, had nine fawns right around the house here back in the summer and now only three left, about a month ago bears just flooded the whole community and the fawns have disappeared, everyone I know has seen bears or had trouble with them getting into feed and everything they can smell. So if you see a bear please shoot it!!! Let the doe deer go and shoot all the bears....


----------



## tree cutter 08 (Sep 2, 2018)

This year will be a good year to lay it to the bear. State has let the population get to far ahead in my opinion and our deer herd is suffering because of it.


----------



## The mtn man (Sep 3, 2018)

Dsherrer711 said:


> Anybody else seen acorns like these? Found them on some white oaks in Gilmer county. I don’t know if they are just aborted or underdeveloped like the ones Killer Kyle mentioned above.. but they didn’t have any caps growing and were much softer almost like berries. Clearly growing on a white oak stem though, and they were all over the tree.


Yep, those are oak galls, a wasp will come out of that.


----------



## goshenmountainman (Sep 4, 2018)

Saw two more bear since Sunday, both about 200 pounds, one in Hollywood and the other on Hwy. 76 near turkey gap, kill'em all guys, they over-populated..


----------



## Rabun (Sep 5, 2018)

If season was open this last weekend, I would have stuck one....very close.  Hope to see him next weekend again...I'll be ready.  I did see my first deer in quite some time...no horns though.


----------



## Killer Kyle (Sep 5, 2018)

I rode up on Chattahoochee with a friend last week and looked for hours. In the stretch of road that we checked, there were no white oaks producing. We saw ONE chestnut oak acorn tree and that was it for the chestnut oaks. We found the majority of acorns on scarlet oaks, and some on scattered southern reds and northern reds. Looking like it is going to be a red oak game this year.


----------



## tree cutter 08 (Sep 5, 2018)

Yep, find a loaded red oak and wait. Got a cam on a mt oak and bears are wearing it out. Got my eye on one of those 150 pounders!


----------



## ripplerider (Sep 5, 2018)

The perfect size for packing out and eating well!


----------



## goshenmountainman (Sep 6, 2018)

Finally found about six chesnut oaks, loaded and dropping. Lots of bear sign there and a few deer tracks. It was down low around 1800 and thats the only chesnut oak acorns I have found..


----------



## jbogg (Sep 6, 2018)

goshenmountainman said:


> Finally found about six chesnut oaks, loaded and dropping. Lots of bear sign there and a few deer tracks. It was down low around 1800 and thats the only chesnut oak acorns I have found..



You should be in good shape for the opener.  They have been hard to find.


----------



## goshenmountainman (Sep 8, 2018)

Well a bear showed up at 7:08 am, and took a china made rage through the lungs, didn't even have time to see a deer!


----------



## CornStalker (Sep 9, 2018)

goshenmountainman said:


> Well a bear showed up at 7:08 am, and took a china made rage through the lungs, didn't even have time to see a deer!



Gosh, were you hunting one specific tree or a cluster? Pics of bear? Congrats!


----------



## Ghost G (Sep 9, 2018)

Wow, well done Goshen!



goshenmountainman said:


> Well a bear showed up at 7:08 am, and took a china made rage through the lungs, didn't even have time to see a deer!


----------



## twincedargap (Sep 9, 2018)

Can someone ask the moderators to start a 2018 harvest thread pinned to the start?


----------



## Etoncathunter (Sep 9, 2018)

Goshen, you got our interest. Where's the pics and story. Don't be a tease. Lol


----------



## goshenmountainman (Sep 9, 2018)

It was a group of chesnut oak, about six that have small acorns for a chesnut. I walked in to my spot, I recently had surgery so I can't climb a tree, and used my millenium tree seat. Strapped it on the tree, got ready and after daylight broke I had squirrels all around me. They started barking down the holler below me and I finally saw what they were barking at, it was on a string to the acorns that were all in front of me, got to about 24 yds. I drew and released, arrow double lunged it, went about 30 yds, stopped and fell over. For some reason I can't get pic to load, bear weighed about 125lbs. Just right for the grill. Took my son back Saturday evening and another one came in and he missed it, just a little under its arm pit. One of my friends shot one this morning, hit a little high and we tracked it about 3/4 mile and lost blood. The bolt went just a little under the back bone and was sticking out both sides. So was a pretty good weekend for all of us.


----------



## Rabun (Sep 10, 2018)

Congratulations on bagging that bear!  Sounds like you are in a great spot and will be going back there no doubt. Looking forward to seeing some pics also. How was his coat?


----------



## goshenmountainman (Sep 10, 2018)

It had a terrible coat, missing hair and wadded up spots on it, its two different spots, my son missed his at the same spot and my friend was about 1-1/2 away.


----------



## Rabun (Sep 10, 2018)

Sorry about the coat, but he'll eat good.  Congratulations and hope you get a couple more....thin'em out


----------



## gobbleinwoods (Sep 11, 2018)

found 2 white oaks dropping between 1800 and 2000.   No sign of climbing???


----------



## goshenmountainman (Sep 11, 2018)




----------



## goshenmountainman (Sep 11, 2018)

I think I got it to load guys, this computer is aggravating.


----------



## ddd-shooter (Sep 11, 2018)

Awesome kill. What a hole! What broadheads are you shooting, and did you get two holes like that?


----------



## goshenmountainman (Sep 12, 2018)

Rage knock offs from china, and yes hole on other side is nasty just like the side you can see. I have been shooting them for about three years or so, everything I have shot has had the same damage, I originally bought about 6 for 12 dollars and tried them out. Now I have about 80 total for my son and myself, should be set for a year or three,lol!


----------



## GTHunter (Sep 18, 2018)

Congrats on the bear @goshenmountainman. I've only found one chestnut that is lightly producing, but I walk past a bunch of reds that are raining on my way in. The road is littered with acorns caps, which I assume are from squirrels since this is on a forest service road, but is there anyway to tell what critter ate the acorn by looking at the part not eaten? I did spook a big animal that I thought sounded like a bear just up the mountain from these reds.


----------



## Christian hughey (Sep 18, 2018)

GTHunter said:


> Congrats on the bear @goshenmountainman. I've only found one chestnut that is lightly producing, but I walk past a bunch of reds that are raining on my way in. The road is littered with acorns caps, which I assume are from squirrels since this is on a forest service road, but is there anyway to tell what critter at the acorn? I did spook a big animal that I thought sounded like a bear just up the mountain from these reds.


One thing I have noticed, no bear expert at all but I noticed a good bit of scat under producing whiteoaks and got a shot on a big boar that I learned was a little far forward and the animal was not recovered. Found more sign of hogs and deer in the bottoms. Bear up on the leads around 2000 ft. Good luck. Looks like plenty to go around this year!


----------



## 2-shot (Sep 18, 2018)

Congratulations on the bear.  I’m finding a lot of red oak acorns


----------



## goshenmountainman (Sep 19, 2018)

Bears almost always spit the hulls out, they will usually be split and sometimes you can see where the teeth make prints on them, the scat will usually look a light grey in color when they on the acorns and the lighter the color the more fresh, if you rake through it with a stick it looks grainy, kinda like grits. If you find some that has a little liquid on the top, you better get to looking around cause he ain't far off. I have seen oaks that the ground under them was completely  covered in discarded acorn hulls and usually fresh scat.


----------



## goshenmountainman (Sep 19, 2018)

Any hoofed animal will have loud stomping sounds when they run, a bear sounds like a big animal running, but you can almost here their flat feet hitting the ground, kinda like if you ran across your yard with bear feet with no shoes, kinda hard to explain but they don't have the loud thump like deer and hogs.


----------



## Rabun (Sep 19, 2018)

Good information Goshen and Christian...I always go to school reading these posts.  I'm wondering if the acorn production is correlated to protected stands of oaks with respect to Irma's winds last sept?  Areas I've found production are in areas with minimal Irma tree damage.


----------



## goshenmountainman (Sep 19, 2018)

I think it has most to do with where the killing frosts settled, places where there is almost always a little wind seem to be the places that I found acorns this year, but around our hay fields there is always frost and it settles there first so I don't know if there really is a reason or not. Makes me scratch my head trying to figure this stuff out..


----------



## Rabun (Sep 19, 2018)

I guess I'm still blaming things on Irma...she ruined my surprise 60th birthday in the keys last Sept and almost killed me when a hung up tree crown just missed landing on me early October.  I feel scorned LOL


----------



## GTHunter (Sep 20, 2018)

Maybe its bears that are dining right out on the road then. I am going to look more closely at the hulls this weekend. Thanks @goshenmountainman


----------

