Where i hunt here in 5r in hardwoods where i depend on the oaks has been very poor. Last year i was able to find some spots that had acorns that was great hunting. I scouted several 100 acres where i live and went up in the adirondacks with a friend and scouted a mountain and found no acorns and premature beachnuts. Where i live at night you used to hear the coyotes at night but not anymore. I shot a doe during bow season back on oct. 21st... gut pile is still there! Gun season I heard less then 5 shots opening day and for the first few days were scattered shots. Yesterday i heard a shot for the first time in a week and i hunt almost everyday. The more i think about i really dont think i have seen a single chipmunk this hunting season either and probably only several squirrels. The only people getting deer i know of are hunting meadows and farm land. There was lil food last year where i lived in the woods and next to nothing this year. Saw less then half the deer i saw last year and if the winter is bad next year will be worst for offspring and the hopes of the deer making it threw the winter. Ive seen 3 bucks and 10-20 doe this year thats all. Looks like this will be my 2nd year buckless but its fine... im already excited and cant wait for next year to come. This winter before new year im going to fertilize small patches of oaks here and there.. probably do a good 100 trees. My friends father works on a orchard and has tend to trees for many years so its not gauranteed if fertilizing the oaks will work or not but atleast i have a better chance of having my oaks produce next year. I talked to several "old timer" hunters and they said every so often you have a couple years where oak trees do not produce. Its mother natures way of thinning out wildlife i guess. Is this true or is it more weather then just a cycle the oaks go threw. What causes oaks not to produce if it is the weather?