Since I cant wait for oaks to grow up and mast, I planted 6 chinease chestnut tree's, which gurney's said produce in 5 years. Now, hindsight makes me wonder, will deer eat the chestnuts? I want to have something with a decent protien content.

Sure they will eat chestnuts. Try some sawtooth oaks if you want some quick producers. Getting 2 year old saplings you could see acorns in about 6 years. They bear early in the fall.

exactly my thoughts...

This country used to be covered with chestnut trees prior to the emergence of the chestnut blight, oaks and other hardwoods eventually replaced them. From what I've read both deer and turkeys relish chestnuts, and the Chinese variety is blight resistant. There are also American/Chinese hybrids out there too. Another nut to consider would be the hazlenut(filbert).

How much protein do you think 6 trees will provide your deer? If they are grouped together they may make a nice little spot to hunt but they aren't going to provide much food for your deer in the long run.

Its a small part of a larger picture. I want to combine as much natural food sources as possible. I've little land to work with, and tree's can be easy to care for. Something is better then nothing

Has anyone grown the oaks in the north? I'm in Upper Michigan.I would assume the sawtooth is a southern tree, so might take awhile longer to get production out of them.