Some years, an oak tree drops a handful of acorns. Other years it drops thousands, and so does every other oak for hundreds of miles. Squirrels look overwhelmed. Then the next fall, almost nothing. If your street is suddenly paved in acorns this week, you might be standing in a mast year. It's a season when oaks across a country produce a huge acorn crop at once. A single large oak can drop as many as 10,000 acorns. A forest floor can hold more than 250,000 per acre. It happens roughly every 2-5 years, with lean years in between. High acorn supplies obviously benefit deer, black bears, wild turkeys and, of course, squirrels. In strong mast years, wildlife tends to stay deeper inside forest and woodland habitats, rather than moving out toward agricultural edges. Although a myth exists that says a mast year is a predictor of a harsh winter, there’s no scientific evidence that supports that theory. Trees are highly sensitive to climate. A warm, dry spring often triggers massive synchronized flowering across an entire region because the weather is perfect for wind pollination. That, of course, results in an increase in acorns.
