PAWPAW TREES
 

Any hunters here hunt near any pawpaw trees? How much do whitetails like this fruit?

RE: PAWPAW TREES
 

Okay, I'll be the ignorant one, what is a PawPaw tree?[8D]

RE: PAWPAW TREES
 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawpaw
I heard the deer love them. looking for someone that hunts around them. I also heard that the deer hate the smell of the stem

RE: PAWPAW TREES
 

my farm is loaded up w/ pawpaw trees... And as far as Im concerned the deer primarily use them for cover... which is what they love about them... 90% of the deer I see are moving through the pawpaws... That being said, it is one of the sweetest fruits around and is extremely nutricious. Its amazing that cutting one in half and less than a min later its brown. My guess is that the deer nibble on them when they go by, but since they ripen in early fall there is so much other food that the deer walk past em... IE: corn, beans, and acorns. It could also be that they are so abundant on my farm the deer just dont eat them fast enough... They get rotten really quick. I will take note this weekend when im hunting to see if the deer eat them... but I usually stay out of the pawpaws and hunt the edges since the deer bed in them.

Rob - Its a deciduous tree native to the eastern us. ranges from FL to NY. ITs very abundant on the eastern shore of MD... maybe thats where our bucks get their size :) Interestingly it bears the largest fruit native to North America. It looks like it should be asain or from the rainforest. Big huge leaves in large clusters.. Basically a big bush w/ big leaves...

RE: PAWPAW TREES
 

I have hunted around a few of them when i was in Kentucky but never saw any deer around them. I sure did like them.

RE: PAWPAW TREES
 

Well thank you very much. You see, today I learned something and now I'm exhausted...wheew and reading that website I you'd thunk I'd seen one. Must not be any near me. Thanks.;)

RE: PAWPAW TREES
 

Rob, I know you've spent all that time on wikipedia learning what a pawpaw is.....Simply, it's basically a wild banana, we have a truck load of them in the woods behind my parents house.

Oh yeah, deer eat 'em....Like they're goin out of style!

RE: PAWPAW TREES
 

And the trees behind my house are starting to drop them right now. I have seen some with what looked like a deer bite out of them.

RE: PAWPAW TREES
 

I've never seen the tree. After reading the webpage and saying they run form NY to Fl, perhaps PA is too far off the east coast....never saw one, nor heard of them but now I know!:)

RE: PAWPAW TREES
 

well i know that there are alot in the woods i am scouting right now. They actually are very tasty. The fruit i found also has big bites out of it and deer sign around, so i hope this is a great whitetail snack.

RE: PAWPAW TREES
 

They are all over the farm I hunt.

Never noticed a deer eating the fruit.


I will say this,the deer love the cover the large leaves provide.There aretrails all through them where I am.


I had a smart ass doe come in on me and she spotted me.She moved into the trees right at daylight and she stopped behind a large tree,looked at me and started slipping through these trees.I saw a small clearing ahead of her and when she turned her head,I drew.She got to the exact spot I was going to shoot and ran through the opening.( I was a little pissed at this point)At the bottom of the hill was a clearing and I would have had a good 30 yard shot so I stayed ready and was going to shoot when she hit that clearing but quess what she did,YEP,took off at a dead run when she hit the clearing.

These are those PRIVATE land deer that are supposed to so easy to kill.:D

This isn't even the slickest doe I have encountered.[&:]

Edit: edited out the $ for s's...allow the profanity filter to do it's job. Rob

RE: PAWPAW TREES
 

Thanks TFOX. I wonder if they are just not prevelant in my area of PA or PA at all?

RE: PAWPAW TREES
 

They are not prevalent where I live but they are plentiful where on the farm I hunt.

The conditions must have to be just right.

I usually see them at or near the bottom of hills inside the woods.They are usually dark places with a good canopy above.

Just my experience.

RE: PAWPAW TREES
 

I've seen quite a few of the trees in my part of Pa.-usually around creeks and streams-but they don't seem to really attract the deer