# Chestnut Oak/Swamp Chestnut Oak?



## southGAlefty (Oct 13, 2008)

Any of you guys ever had any luck around these kinds of trees? I've found a few that have a pretty good bit of those huge acorns on them. Just wondering how hard the deer hit them and when they start falling in SW GA? 

Thanks in advance for any input.


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## JD (Oct 13, 2008)

Never seen where deer eat really eat them. The ground is always litter with last years drop. They may eat them I am not saying they won't but never seen it...


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## hortonhunter22 (Oct 13, 2008)

when we find them we hunt them...seems like especially this time of year the deer love them


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## SWbowhunter (Oct 13, 2008)

Two different critters. The Chesnut oak _Quercus prinus _ is more common in North Georgia and is not preferred by deer. Bears and squirrels love them. Deer will eath them some late in the year after the tannin has mellowed some.  
Swamp Chesnut oak _Quercus Bicolor_ is more common from the Piedmont south. It is very much a preferred oak for deer and everthing else that eats acorns.


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## hortonhunter22 (Oct 13, 2008)

yea i was referrin to the swamp chestnut. they look to be part of the white oak family from what i can tell and the deer are hitting them now if u find one by itself dropping


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## Sowegadawg (Oct 13, 2008)

hortontunter, 

    You're right about that, they are apart of the white oak family, along w/ white oaks and sawtooth oaks, all other oaks are in the red oak family.


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## G Duck (Oct 13, 2008)

We hunt over them here in SE Ga. Deer and hogs eat them. For years I considered them white oaks . but are really swamp chestnuts.


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## Rob (Oct 14, 2008)

I have had good luck hunting the swamp chestnut in SW GA - they usually drop in late Oct and into Nov.


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## nwgahunter (Oct 14, 2008)

SWbowhunter said:


> Two different critters. The Chesnut oak _Quercus prinus _ is more common in North Georgia and is not preferred by deer. Bears and squirrels love them. Deer will eath them some late in the year after the tannin has mellowed some.
> Swamp Chesnut oak _Quercus Bicolor_ is more common from the Piedmont south. It is very much a preferred oak for deer and everthing else that eats acorns.



x2. I usually slip on the Chestnut oaks because deer will barely touch them in NW GA. When I have a chance to hunt middle AL I hunt the Swamp Chestnuts. They are as big a crab apples down there. It is actually entertaining to watch a deer try to eat them.


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## Nicodemus (Oct 14, 2008)

They are a great food source down here, for deer. More than one deer has fell with a mouthful of these acorns.


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## wareaglejim (Oct 14, 2008)

at my place, when they drop, which is infrequently, it is a goldmine.


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## LETMGRO (Oct 14, 2008)

I hunted under some large swamp chestnuts 2 seasons ago in early Nov.. There were plenty of white oaks falling at the same time. There were deer under those chestnuts 24/7.  It was hard to find concentration of deer on white oaks. So I believe, that where I hunt, deer prefer them over white oaks. The trees on our place are loaded again this year after having none last year. I can't wait for them to start dropping.
Nwgahunter is correct. It is entertaining to watch the animals try and slide those big acorns to the back of their mouth in order to eat them. 
One note of caution. Don't look up when you hear 1 bouncing off of limbs when it drops. They sound like golf balls coming thru the limbs.


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## livetohunt (Oct 14, 2008)

I hunted an area in Talbot county a few years ago that had these type of oaks in one spot..When the deer eat them it sounds like they are eating a jawbreaker. You can really hear them eating the acorns before you see them.


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## tyler1 (Oct 14, 2008)

I have two of these trees located on the edge of a creek in the middle of a thicket.  I can not wait until they start droping.


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## Dan Rogers (Oct 14, 2008)

I've hunted over swamp chestnut oaks in Burke and Schley Counties.  Deer love 'em and they never seem to bear two years in a row.  The bark looks a lot like a white oak but the leaves are different/shaped like a football with serrated (sp?) edges instead of the white oak "fingers".  The caps are about the size of a fifty-cent piece or bigger.


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## Bknight (Oct 23, 2008)

Quercus bicolor is a Swamp White Oak.Quercus michauxii is a Swamp Chesnut Oak it is a member of the White Oak family. It produces acorns and drops once every year. It takes only 1 year for its acorns to fully mature., where as members of the Red Oak family produce acorns that take 2 years to mature and drop. All white oaks are a well utilized tree for deer because members of the white oak family dont produce a tanic acid which makes the acorns bitter. Also being that these acorns dont have any tanic acid the acorn will deteriorate alot faster when it hits the ground, so wildlife no this and will eat them before a red oak species. But there is always exceptions to this rule. For ex. Sawtooth Oak or Quercus acutissima is a member of the red oak family and it does produce a tanic acid but produces very small amounts, so that is one reason y deer love them so much.


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## flintdiver (Oct 24, 2008)

How far North in GA do they occur ? I think I have some at a spot in Coweta County. The bark looks like a white oak, the leaf is a pointed oval and serrated. The acorns are huge and they are right on a creek in a floodplain area. There are white oaks mixed in close to them also.


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## dawg2 (Oct 24, 2008)

SWbowhunter said:


> Two different critters. The Chesnut oak _Quercus prinus _ is more common in North Georgia and is not preferred by deer. Bears and squirrels love them. Deer will eath them some late in the year after the tannin has mellowed some.
> Swamp Chesnut oak _Quercus Bicolor_ is more common from the Piedmont south. It is very much a preferred oak for deer and everthing else that eats acorns.



What he said, and it is an acorn that is sweet and low on tannic acid, making it very desirable to the animals.


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## Vernon Holt (Oct 24, 2008)

All acorns contain tannins which cause them to be bitter.  Common White oak and Swamp Chestnut acorns contain less tannin, thus are "sweeter" and are more preferred by all forms of wildlife.

The common White Oak (Quercus alba) is a common tree and is found all over GA (except rare in pine flatwoods).

Natural range of Swamp Chestnut is from the Middle Piedmont southward.  I have one that I planted in Gilmer County that is thriving.  This tree never appears in pure stands.  It prefers moist, rich soils and is found growing with Sweet Gum, Water oak, Red Maple, etc.

The reason the tree is not more widespread is twofold:  Acorns are consumed by every critter in the wild (even coyotes) and thus never have the opportunity to germinate and grow.  (2). The tree is one of the most valuable timber trees and thus is targeted by loggers.

Acorns from both of these trees commence the process of germinating very shortly after they drop.  Acorns that remain on the ground in midwinter are faulty (Infested with grubs) and are inedible.

So yes, deer love them, and will not feed on anything else for as long as they are available.  There is one negative aspect to the large acorns.  Feeding time is brief so their period of activity is abbreviated.

Other oaks in the White Oak Group which are common to GA are: Overcup Oak, Post Oak, and Chestnut Oak.


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## Brian from GA (Oct 24, 2008)

What does the bark of the swamp chestnut look like. I have no white oaks so far this year and have been hunting over what I was calling a "red Oak" as the deer are eating the acorns as soon as they hit the ground. It has a vertical white strip up the tree. There are about 3 of these trees in one spot and the caps are empty under the trees with quite a few more in the tree. There are tons of fresh tracks all under the trees. I found it the day before I went to Illinois and hunted it last night for the first time. It has a large acorn with splotches of white on the acorn. Bigger than a white oak... Any guesses as to what this tree is?


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## Vernon Holt (Oct 24, 2008)

You well describe the Eastern Red Oak (Quercus borealis), often called the Northern Red Oak.

The bark contains vertical streaks of silvery gray color.  Also the acorns are somewhat streaked.

Sounds like you have found you a honey hole.


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## BowArrow (Oct 24, 2008)

I was hunting over a swamp chestnut yesterday and watched as a spike picked up a nut (one of the few that the hogs had missed) and began chewing. The shell pieces fell out of his mouth as he seperated the nut from the shell. The day before a 6 pt. came to the tree. I took a doe on the Oliver Bridge WMA in Sept. over a swamp chestnut. I watched four bucks the day before come to this tree which I did not know was there at the time. I will be looking for swamp chestnuts every time I go hunting.


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## swamphawg (Oct 27, 2008)

Our land is littered with them being that we have 2,000 acres of swamp on the Savannah River and I promise you deer LOVE them. And you better wear a hard hat when hunting under one. Same goes for overcup oaks. They can pack a wallop if one falls on you and deer love them.


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## Flash (Oct 28, 2008)

Anyone know about how long before a swamp chesnut oak will bear?   I grew a few from acorns a few yrs ago and brought them to NGa and planted them in my yard.


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## Backwater (Oct 29, 2008)

Brian from GA said:


> What does the bark of the swamp chestnut look like. ?




Swamp chestnut oak bark looks almost identical to a white oak bark, if you know what that looks like.  Acorns are huge though, much bigger than a white oak.


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## Brian from GA (Oct 29, 2008)

I must not have any swamp chestnuts on our land but the red oaks I mentioned are pouring acorns and deer are all in there. I finally found one HUGE white oak that is actually dropping acorns. The two white oak ridges that last year had so many acorns that you couldn't walk through the ridge without fear of falling have dropped none so far this year. Maybe they are indeed an every two year crop.


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## Bknight (Oct 29, 2008)

no..white oaks produce acorns every year. Its take 1 year to to mature from the flower to acorn stage and drop. Sometimes you just have bad years for producing acorns.


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## deers2ward (Dec 30, 2019)

Flash said:


> Anyone know about how long before a swamp chesnut oak will bear?   I grew a few from acorns a few yrs ago and brought them to NGa and planted them in my yard.



How are they coming along? 

I have some on order from the GFC and will plant next month


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## Flash (Dec 30, 2019)

deers2ward said:


> How are they coming along?
> 
> I have some on order from the GFC and will plant next month



I thought about it and prob put the acorns in pots around 1999 or 2000. Set them out around 02/03.  Both are pretty trees, one is more open that the other less comp. Largest around 25 ft tall. No acorns that I've seen from either one.


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