Q.Food Sources & Mast
What is a soft mast crop and why does it matter?
A.
Soft mast is fleshy fruit from trees and shrubs — persimmons, crabapples, pawpaws, wild grapes, autumn olive, and the like. They drop earlier than hard mast and provide concentrated, high-sugar food that pulls deer like a magnet from August through October.
A producing persimmon tree in late September can be the single highest-traffic food source on a property. Soft mast peaks before hard mast in most regions, so it bridges the gap between summer browse and the acorn drop.
Identifying soft mast trees in summer — and protecting or planting more of them — is one of the best long-term habitat investments. State mast reports increasingly track soft mast alongside acorns.