Early season Adirondack big woods food sources

[ognennyy]

Hey all.  I'm new to the site and I'm hoping for some very specific wisdom.  I'm looking for input on early season food sources, in the Adirondacks specifically, when the "big one" (mast) just doesn't seem to be driving deer activity.

 

I often struggle to just find deer - just to even be in the game - in the early bow season up in the Adirondacks, because I can't find the favored food source in the small window of opening day through around October 10.

 

This year is turning out to be one of those where I'm a little frustrated.  I love being in the woods so it's a win just to be up there looking around, but I'm less than confident with my scouting results so far.

• No loaded beeches this year.  I've found a few with some nuts but very few.  The squirrels will take care of them before the season opens and my hopes aren't too high for finding deer on them.
• Same with the red oak stands; some nuts but none loaded, and the squirrels are making quick work of them.
• I've never seen a white oak up in Wilcox Lake.
• Witch Hobble is everywhere and it's flowering and fruiting right now.  But despite what I've been told about deer loving it I have never seen an abundance of deer feeding sign, only moose.
• I just learned last season that the deer up there love the Indian Strawberry plants that grow around the edges of beaver meadows.  Last time I checked my cameras on a few patches of those though (early August) they weren't fruiting yet and the deer were not on them.
  • When I had this epiphany was in mid-November, so I really don't know yet if they will be an available food source for bow opener.

 

They must be somewhere, eating something.  I don't want to go back to all known food sources at this point and drop my scent everywhere, but have any of you had experience scouting food this close to the season and think it's ok?  My plan for opening day is to head back to the few beech and red oaks I saw that had some mast and just read the sign.  If I like what I see I'll play it by ear and come up with a strategy on the fly.

 

Sounds good on paper.  This has been my strategy for the last three seasons.  2/3 of those seasons it didn't work out.  Two seasons ago the red oak crop was fantastic and I had encounters with several deer.  I haven't seen a loaded beech in almost six years.  Last season the reds were active but the deer just weren't on them (probably had something to do with the extremely warm fall).  This year I've found no loaded beeches or oaks at all.

 

Are there other food sources I should add to my checklist for July and August scouting?  I often hear talk of apple trees but I've never seen any up in my section of the 'Dacks.

 

Thanks all

[Robhuntandfish]

The one decent spot I have in the dacks is a line of beechnut trees.  So I generally hunt that. Found it while trout fishing years ago.  I'm hoping it has some fruit to bear this year. But haven't been up to check it.  

Sounds like you have a real good grasp of where to start looking. Much better than me. But I echo those beech trees. I have seen apples in the southern area of the dacks where I hunt but they are generally gone soon after season starts.

[wolc123]

May you get your first "inside the blue line" deer this year.   Doing that with a bow would be about the greatest challenge possible in NY. 

I have managed 2 pre-snow doe up there in the last 8 years, just off the NW corner of the park, during the early ML week.  It is a hell of a lot tougher without snow.  Both of those were feeding in or moving to red oaks, when I popped them at under 20 yards with my .50 cal..

Several of the interior ADK zones are again allowing antlerless deer during the early ML week this year, since a DEC change enacted just last week.  That greatly improves my odds of tagging a pre-snow deer inside the blue line anyhow.  I wont be heading up until mid October early ML week.

Snow makes things about 10 times easier up there.  It makes it much tougher for the deer to hide and impossible to hide their tracks. I have managed two bucks  (6 & 8 pts) up there, in the last 7 years with my rifle in the snow, after Thanksgiving. 

Both of those were taken just inside the park on the NW corner. One had a belly full of beech nuts, and the other was stuffed with corn.  A guy just up the road from my in-laws lake house had a great crop that year.   That fine, young red-horned ADK 6-point must have really liked that corn.

The trouble with scoring on any Adirondack deer, is that it greatly diminishes the value of those taken in other places having  lesser scenery and solitude (which is basically any place else that I have ever hunted in or out of NY state).

That said, I am kind of looking forward to hunting for a doe with my slug gun at home in wmu 9F, in my t-shirt this weekend.  That is another change the DEC just allowed last week.  We are very low on venison right now and I am interested to see if my old deer fridge still works.  I have not needed that in about 4 years.

My meat supply has not been this low, since October 2016, when I was able to re-supply with my last ADK no-snow ML doe.

If you can't find any other food sources, check out the grassy areas near the big highways. Deer hair on barbed wire fence crossings is a good indication of usage.

Edited September 8, 2021 by wolc123

[ognennyy]

14 hours ago, Robhuntandfish said:

The one decent spot I have in the dacks is a line of beechnut trees.  So I generally hunt that. Found it while trout fishing years ago.  I'm hoping it has some fruit to bear this year. But haven't been up to check it.  

Sounds like you have a real good grasp of where to start looking. Much better than me. But I echo those beech trees. I have seen apples in the southern area of the dacks where I hunt but they are generally gone soon after season starts.

 

Thanks for the responses, much appreciated.

I'm sure there must be apple trees somewhere on the public land inside the blue line.  I just haven't come across one yet.  Bet your bottom $ that if I find one I won't forget it.

 

13 hours ago, wolc123 said:

Both of those were feeding in or moving to red oaks, when I popped them at under 20 yards with my .50 cal..

....

Both of those were taken just inside the park on the NW corner. One had a belly full of beech nuts, and the other was stuffed with corn.

 

 

Sounds like I'll be sticking with the oaks and beeches.  Maybe the reality of hunting up there is that in the early season it's oak and beech or bust.  Guess I'll make the time to take a look at every beech and oak that I know of in the area.

 

I'm still curious... I've seen website after website including a DEC site article on deer preferred food sources, and many forum posts, indicating that deer like Hobble Bush / Witch Hobble.  There are huge patches of it though in several places up where I hunt but I have never seen what looked like deer feeding sign to me.  Has anyone else witnessed heavy deer feeding activity on Witch Hobble?

[wolc123]

7 minutes ago, ognennyy said:

 

Thanks for the responses, much appreciated.

I'm sure there must be apple trees somewhere on the public land inside the blue line.  I just haven't come across one yet.  Bet your bottom $ that if I find one I won't forget it.

 

 

Sounds like I'll be sticking with the oaks and beeches.  Maybe the reality of hunting up there is that in the early season it's oak and beech or bust.  Guess I'll make the time to take a look at every beech and oak that I know of in the area.

 

I'm still curious... I've seen website after website including a DEC site article on deer preferred food sources, and many forum posts, indicating that deer like Hobble Bush / Witch Hobble.  There are huge patches of it though in several places up where I hunt but I have never seen what looked like deer feeding sign to me.  Has anyone else witnessed heavy deer feeding activity on Witch Hobble?

I am not familiar with that.  The only other thing I notice them hitting hard  up there is low hanging hemlock branches.  Check out the browse line all the way around the lake up at my in-laws place.  That tells me it is time to take out a doe.  I saw this one feeding on cattails, down at the end of the lake on the 4th of July this year.

 

Edited September 9, 2021 by wolc123

[Salmon_Run]

Your observations are "right on", some years I have beech nuts, apples (old abandoned farm land) or choke cherries. The deer are very nomadic and very hard to pattern in the deep woods....

I'm in the Western part of Hamilton County and the allure is remote hunting and hope for light snow for tracking. I can go all season and not lay eyes on another hunter of sign of anyone being around me.... 

[ognennyy]

4 hours ago, wolc123 said:

I am not familiar with that.  The only other thing I notice them hitting hard  up there is low hanging hemlock branches.  Check out the browse line all the way around the lake up at my in-laws place. 

Wow interesting.  I've heard of deer getting after white cedar woody browse but I hadn't noticed Hemlock before.  An ESF author agrees with your Hemlock point here https://www.esf.edu/aec/adks/mammals/wtd.htm  I always thought though that deer go after the woody browse in times when the other, more preferred foods weren't available due to snow cover.  It would be interesting to see if deer walk by oaks and beeches in October to get to Hemlock stands.  I'll keep it mind though even for the bow season.  I mean if I were to walk 10-12 miles covering every known beech and oak stand in an area and found acorns but zero deer feeding sign, then maybe it's time to look at the Hemlock swamps.

[ridgerunner88]

This is an old post but is going to be relevant pretty soon and I wanted to throw out a tip I heard on a podcast from a long time successful ADX deer hunter, Todd Mead.

Focus on water sources.

That makes sense for two reasons.
1. Deer have to drink water everyday, especially in the heat of the early season.
2. The food sources are spread throughout such a wide area that picking one set of trees to sit on is like picking a needle out of a haystack.

Early ML is going to be my first time ADX hunting. I am super excited to go up, I know the camp experience and scenery is going to make the time worth and a deer will just be a cherry on top.

With that being said, I am going up there focused and determined to put my best foot forward to make a harvest.

My initial game plan is to focus on lowland areas near water sources, try and locate access points deer use for water. Hopefully find some deer activity amongst the bio diversity that swamp/pond/river edges create and see what happens.

Being only a 45 min drive from the park, you can bet I also will be keeping a close eye on the weather forecast come Nov/Dec and will head back up and try my luck at the legendary tracking tactic.



I apologize for what might seem like spamming this forum lately.. I am just learning so much from you guys and super pumped for this season!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Robhuntandfish]

good luck hunting in the Dacks! Its def a challenge and a lot of fun.  And keep posting, its great to have good new folks here. 

[Whitetailhobo]

The dynamics of hunting within the blue line are complicated at times. The wild blueberries have done well in the southern Adirondacks this year from what I have seen so far .  We will be headed up in 2 weeks to drop gear caches for early muzz and hang a couple cameras. Stand sitting is tough up there . Still hunting edges of soft and hardwoods has been productive for us . The more ground you cover the better your chances of finding ground to return to . We hunt public land only up north .  

[ridgerunner88]

30 minutes ago, Whitetailhobo said:

The dynamics of hunting within the blue line are complicated at times. The wild blueberries have done well in the southern Adirondacks this year from what I have seen so far .  We will be headed up in 2 weeks to drop gear caches for early muzz and hang a couple cameras. Stand sitting is tough up there . Still hunting edges of soft and hardwoods has been productive for us . The more ground you cover the better your chances of finding ground to return to . We hunt public land only up north .  

Thanks for the insights, I didn't plan on sitting much at all which I guess means I am somewhat on the right track. We are going to be in the lower half of the park for ML as well, I will keep the blueberries in mind. What other tactics/guidance has led you to success over the years up there in the big park?