Sep 2010 PA Game News Article Red Oak/White Oak

[uncle buck]

Outstanding article on the Acorns in the September issue...


As you all know you find the stands of acorns your going to find the wildlife...Also you learn to ID trees your going to find shrooms too.. In the case of the Oak Tree..Sheep Head AKA Hen Of The Woods mushroom grow on Oaks..

I will probably read this article over and over and over again.. Explains the difference in White and Red acorns.. How the Indians cured them... How the wildlife eats them...Just all around good data for the Woodsmen or Woodswomen..

[uncle buck]

Some of the things I got from the article I would like to share on here:

As you know...Acorns are bitter...Even the white are bitter but not as bitter as the red... Native Americans would place the white acorns in a basket and sink it down in a stream and let the water cure them to take some of the Tannin out of the acorns.. tannin is what makes acorns bitter...God...put tannin in acorns so critters would not eat them.  In the Fall all critters eat the White Acorn...since they are less bitter.. Now in the Spring.....The critters eat the red acorns...They have more tannin in them..However the weathering of winter causes the red acorns to not be as bitter.. Since the white acorn is not as bitter...Their seed germinate each year... Red acorn has to be in the ground about 18 months before it germinates.  See since the critters eat the white acorn...God has made it that they take seed faster... Since the red acorn does not germinate like almost two years.. Critters don't eat them right away so they don't need to germinate the same year.. there are so many other good things in the Game News article that I don't want to wreck it on you.. I want you to read about...This is the kind of stuff that separates  the sportsmen from the woodsmen...