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Pining for bushytails in the tall trees
By John Felsher
Time grew short. Already beginning to set, sunlight barely penetrated the forest canopy. Then, I heard it!
High in a pine tree, I detected a faint scratching and clicking. Only one animal
makes such sounds. Somewhere in that tall stately tree, a squirrel munched contentedly
on a green pine cone. I could faintly hear the scratchy chewing as the squirrel ripped
seeds from the cone.
Unseen, it could hide in any of several pines clumped together in this patch of mixed hardwood and evergreen forest. I must get closer. Sometimes, I thought the squirrel feasted in one tree; sometimes in another nearly identical pine. Loaded with cones, either evergreen could easily conceal a herd of squirrels in its intertwined branches.
Shadows grew as the sunlight diminished; I had little time to waste. Finally, a sparkle of vanishing sunlight glinted off a stream of telltale cone chips dropping from one tree. Then, a shelled cone husk nearly bounced off my head as the squirrel fatally reached for seconds.
Now, I had it. Silhouetted against a reddened sun, the bushytail crouched at the
base of a branch. It fell at the pop of a .22 from the top barrel of my trusty old
Savage Model 24 over-
Few hunters look to the evergreens when chasing squirrels. Although a solid pine
forest yields little nutritional value for squirrels, bushytails thrive in mixed
hardwoods and evergreens. Even in a mostly hardwood forest, they frequently flock
to pines like children to a candy store. In late summer and into the early squirrel
season, bushytails especially relish large, green cones. Squirrels tear apart green
cones to get at the succulent seeds and drop the chewed-
On quiet, foggy autumn mornings or still afternoons, every sound seems amplified. Hunters usually hear squirrels long before they see them. Claws make distinctive scratching sounds on rough pine bark. Teeth click and scratch on gnawed cones. Hunters hear discarded cones or chips dropping to the forest floor. Sounding like raindrops, falling chips or husks can lead to feeding squirrels.
When squirrels intently concentrate on devouring cones, hunters can often stalk close
to them. Quiet needles, husks, chips and other relatively sterile ground cover often
litter most heavy-
When hunting any forest, take only a few steps, stop, look and listen. Be patient. When squirrel hunting, the amount of ground one covers is less important than how thoroughly one covers the ground. One acre of good habitat could hold quite a few squirrels.