Editor’s Note: Parrish Elliott of Fairview, Tennessee, is the regional manager for the members of the Mossy Oak ProStaff for Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama. The ProStaff goes to consumer shows, participates in hunts for disabled veterans, conservation organization banquets, QDMA meetings, spring turkey seminars, deer shows and other outdoor functions where they represent Mossy Oak, meet the public and help the consumers any way they can. These people are the Mossy Oak family’s boots on the ground. Mossy Oak ProStaff members are scattered across the nation. These ProStaffers also help the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) with its events for the Jakes Program (young turkey hunters), Kids Hunting For a Cure, and other events and charities for young people.
Another thing I use my ScoutLook Weather DeerLog app (See Day 4) for is keeping up with which oak trees drop their nuts and when. Most of the time trees will drop acorns about the same time every year. Although the time may vary somewhat, I at least know when to start looking for the nuts to fall. Then some years certain trees won’t produce nuts. I’ve learned that as soon as trees start dropping their acorns, that’s when the deer will show up. I want a tree stand I can hunt from when each individual tree is dropping its acorns, or when trees in a certain area start dropping their acorns. There’ll be specific regions and particular trees I pattern that consistently produce deer sightings every year, so those are the trees most important to me. We’ve got a few red oaks on our property, but the deer are primarily feeding under the white oaks, especially early in the season.
About the first of August, I start going to my white oak trees with a pair of binoculars and look to see which trees have acorns on them, and which trees don’t. If you don’t keep up with the acorn crop on the property you’re hunting, you’re missing out on some great hunting opportunities. I’ve seen deer start coming to acorn trees almost the very minute the first acorn hits the ground, but I’ve also seen acorn trees that won’t produce deer until 2 or 3 days after the acorns begin to fall. Also, if you start seeing squirrels around your acorn trees, you know that the acorns are just about ripe. Once the squirrels start eating the acorns, they’re also knocking many acorns out of the trees onto the ground where the deer can come and eat them. By keeping up with your acorn trees, the times when they start dropping acorns, and when the squirrels begin to come, you’ll know the deer are coming too. Watching the trees and the squirrels is best way I know to pattern bucks - especially during the early season. I’m 99% a bowhunter, however, when my wife bought me a .300 Magnum I felt like the least I could do to show my appreciation for her buying me this gun was to take a deer with it last season. But I like getting close to take a deer with my bow.
To learn more about how the Mossy Oak ScoutLook Weather DeerLog can work for you, click here: http://www.scoutlookweather.com/mobileApps.php.
