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Prescribed fire increasingly is used to promote oak (Quercus) establishment in many hardwood forests across North America. However, how prescribed fire affects several key components of the oak regeneration process, including acorn survival and germination, is relatively unknown. Acorn mortality during a prescribed fire is likely affected by acorn dormancy, burn season, and previous burial (caching) by scatterhoarding rodents. We assessed the effect of fall and spring prescribed fires on seedling emergence for artificially cached and un-cached northern red oak (Q. rubra) and white oak (Q. alba) acorns in situ in granivore-proof exclosures through eight prescribed fires over two years at two sites in central Indiana. The odds of cached acorn emergence were 3.4–12.1 times higher following fall and spring prescribed fires than the unburned control. Red oak emergence was 1.7 times higher following fall burns than …