In central Howell County the other day, I noticed the beginnings of fresh white oak acorns hitting the ground. This is an important event because white oak acorns are among the favored of forest foods for many. White oak acorns are preferred over many of the others because they have less tannins. Tannin is a chemical compound that is both an astringent and also binds and reacts with proteins making them unusable to many animals. If you’ve ever eaten a persimmon that wasn’t quite ripe, you’ve experienced the effect of tannins, The astringency makes your mouth pucker and the tannins bind with the proteins in your mouth and make it feel gritty or like sandpaper. Not a fun experience! Tannins have a bitter flavor. Since white oak acorns are low in tannins, to animals, they simply tastes better than other acorns.
So what does white oak acorns falling mean for us?
For me, it means that I better be thinking about that deer stand I placed near that stand of sentinel white oaks. When the acorns start to fall, deer come to gorge themselves on the tasty energy filled nuts. If your timber stand is healthy and managed properly, it will produce more of these tasty morsels.
Good management = healthy woods = healthy animals = happy hunter.
From a livestock perspective, for years, pigs have been fattened on acorns in the fall, producing a wonderful flavor in pork. Anyone that has tasted pork that has been naturally pasture raised, and acorn fattened under careful management, will notice the difference. Folks like myself that see value in providing an environment for both wildlife and livestock that enables them to express their created nature see no problem in letting a pig rummage the woods for a time. I specify and urge careful management, because pigs not managed wisely keeping in mind stocking density and rotation frequency can be destructive to the woods and fields. Careful management is important for all animals. In the eastern hardwoods, high deer densities over graze acorns and eat oak sprouts, heavily affecting oak regeneration, and in places, oaks are being replaced by less valuable trees.
Foresters understand that an important and effective approach to managing forests is to choose strategies that resemble natural processes. I think the same approach to farming and raising livestock is good and wise as well. So, if you are like me and also like to manage wildlife populations according to a natural process, then grab your bow and get busy climbing a tree near that stand of big healthy white oaks with a fresh carpet of acorns.