Q.Food Sources & Mast
Do deer eat beechnuts and hickory nuts?
A.
Yes — beechnuts are a top-tier deer food, on par with white oak acorns and often preferred over reds. Hickory nuts are eaten when available but are tougher to crack; deer take them but they're not a top draw compared to beech and oak.
American beech is the underrated mast tree. The triangular nuts are high-fat, sweet, and drop September through October. In areas where beech survived past blight pressure, a producing beech grove is a reliable rut-week stand setup.
Hickories — shagbark, mockernut, pignut — produce hard-shelled nuts that deer eat opportunistically but rarely concentrate on. Squirrels and turkeys do most of the work cracking them. Pair stand decisions with state mast reports.