I used to hunt a property like that. Had this one water oak deer would just camp out under. Acorns dropping all around, but they stayed under this one.

Water oaks are from the red oak side.

How long till Dr. Dumbass got their picture on a bag of hickory nut scented toilet paper?.... they just waiting on their "new study" they'll come out with in a few years....

In the meantime get you a Grain Drill and some specially formulated superior seed guaranteed to grow on a door knob. Can't grow seed without a grain drill everyone knows that. Coyotes ignore deer that's why they are always lurking around a feeder with their medical kit ready to help a doe who's sick and in need..... and if you do a study next to a place no hunting is allowed the deer won't go there once you get into the woods and start raising hell. All make sense? Is Bigfoot real?

OP, I had to look this up because I had never seen a deer eat the thick hickory nut commonly known as the Shagbark. I wonder if the one you have is the Pignut variety, which most deer can eat due to the thin shell?

Here's pictures put together into a video ... https://vimeo.com/1020336361?share=copy#t=0

The best pics wound up at the end, so you may want to skip to the end.

I gathered up a few of the hickory nuts the deer didn't find to eat a few and see how they tasted. The shells were hard enough I couldn't crack them with pliers well enough to get to the nut. I had to use a hammer to crack them open good.

They tasted pretty good, but weren't worth the trouble for what little bit of nut was inside.

The Indians actually made what they called hickory milk. They would crush the nuts and boil them. Shells sunk, flour floated, and the liquid was nutritious.

Nut milk? That sounds like 1/2048th Indian.

I use a vise. Seems to be the easiest way to get them open.

I've eaten live oak acorns that tasted like butter. Way better than a white oak.