Sunday, December 05, 2010

It's a Mast Year

Red Oak Acorns, November 2010,  Munroe Falls, Ohio
Not long after the start of this year's deer bow season in Ohio, which opened September 25, I started reading reports that Ohio was experiencing a "mast year".   For some reason(s) that are not entirely understood, some years, most every oak tree in a forest will produce a bumper crop of acorns, far more than normal. During a mast year event, the woods can just be littered with acorns.

But why is this event called a "mast year"?  A little searching through online dictionaries and I found the answer- this usage of the word "mast" most likely derives from an old English word that meant food.  So a mast year is when the woods is full of food, and in the case of this year's deer season, full of food for deer.  And that brings me back to the deer season.  The number of deer harvested during the early archery season was down- a fact attributed by many to the deer staying put in the woods and feasting on the bumper crop of acorns, instead  running out into fields and farmland to search for leftover corn and soybeans.  I'm not sure if I buy this argument, but I recently visited my parents house and experienced this "mast" event first hand.



"Mast"
 
They're lucky enough to have a nice red oak in their backyard.  When I was growing up, I remember finding a few acorns underneath this tree- maybe five or six per year.  The gray squirrels got all the other ones. So I was absolutely shocked to see the pile that had formed at the base of this tree.  Granted- my dad had raked the acorns off the lawn and moved them all closer together, but what a bonanza of acorns.

Why does this happen?  The prevailing theory seems to go like this: In one year, if you flood the woods with many more acorns than the squirrels, deer, and other wildlife can eat, than there is an actual chance of getting some of those extra acorns to germinate and eventually become trees.  By in large though, from my brief research this morning, there is much that needs to be learned about this phenomenon.

My hand with "mast"
This morning I asked this question-  Is it just Ohio's oaks that are experiencing a mast year?  After a quick search for "mast year" at the newspaper article search topix.net, I found stories from Florida to Connecticut and New York to Chicago.  I can't make the argument that the phenomenon is happening across the eastern U.S.  Perhaps every year there are places that experience local mast events. Still, I was surprised to see so many articles.  Maybe something unusual is going on, or quite possibly, it could just be a coincidence.  Needless to say, my interest is definitely piqued- I'm starting to see a whole PhD dissertation developing in my brain.....

My question to you is- are you having a "mast year" in your neck of the woods?

Tom

11 comments:

  1. now that's a lot of acorns. i don't know that i've seen that many in one place before. interesting facts about a mast year though. i'll be on the lookout more closely here. have a great day.

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  2. You cannot walk up to my friends front door this year without stepping on tons of acorns. She has been making fall crafts with them like crazy. I would say that Florida is definitely also having a mast year. It is funny because as I was walking to her door a few nights ago, I was wondering why there were so many more acorns than usual.

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  3. Our neighbor had a lot of acorns this year too- Weston enjoyed them on walks around the block...

    Now...are you serious about a PhD? That's a big thing to say "out loud".

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  4. Definitely not a mast year here. Overall acorn and other nut production was way below normal. The deer and turkey are definitely foraging away from the woods.

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  5. Not in the backyard here in Maine! Actually, the acorn production in my yard was 'average' this year. Last year, on the other hand, was a different story - that must have been our 'Mast' year.

    This is very interesting. I'll have to look it up. :)

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  6. Definitely a mast year in my part of Cincinnati. The acorn numbers are staggering. A friend who is a deer hunter and I were discussing this a few weeks back and he mentioned that deer were much harder to find in mast years.

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  7. The shagbark hickory trees were very productive in Richland County this fall.

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  8. Seeing the same thing in southern Illinois....TONS of acorns!!

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  9. Thank you everyone for your updates- I am going to pose this question again next fall- it is just so intriguing to me that so many places across the eastern U.S. are experiencing a bumper crop of acorns.

    Tom

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  10. No mast year here in the PA Piedmont--just the normal number of acorns.

    Thanks for doing the etymological research on "mast." I've used that word for as long as I can remember and never took the time to even look up its origin in the dictionary.

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  11. No mast year up here in Cleveland. Acorns are VERY scarce. - Bob Hinkle

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