All You Can Eat Acorns
November 07, 2017
If you haven’t noticed, the past three years have seemed to be mast years for oaks producing acorns. A mast year is when a tree produces a large amount of cones, nuts or seeds. In the picture to the right you’ll see what the ground looks like if you find yourself standing in a patch of oaks during a mast year.
“It’s like roller skating with all these acorns, just without the skates, and in the middle of the woods.” Quote Tim Gray
Now onto the real question. The last three years have been mast years and let’s not forget that mast years usually only happen every 2-3 years, especially oaks, because they have an irregular mast cycle. So with these last years of so many acorns in the woods there should be more feed for the deer, which technically should lead to a higher deer population.
But the yearly tag ins and some official Vermont websites are not agreeing with that statement. As I’ve seen these past few years there hasn’t been a big growth in deer population. Yes the deer have more fat and look healthier, but I find it interesting that their numbers have not increased with the increase of acorns over the last three years.
By Dylan Braley