squirrels

Like most game animals squirrel populations are cyclic depending upon several factors. Most often habitat and/or food is the biggest influence on small game populations. My best guess would be that there was a poor mast crop the last couple of years in your area. Squirrels will mass migrate by the hundreds and thousands moving to find enough food to sustain themselves if necessary. If unsuccessful they die off and the local populations are thin indeed. I have seen them swim a local river migrating through in masses that surely numbered in the hundreds as they moved through searching for food. I live and hunt the big timber of the Missouri Ozark's and when the hickories and acorns do poorly, so do the squirrels. Last year we had a severe drought and prolonged early summer heat coupled with poor/spotty mast production and squirrel numbers were affected big time where I hunt. This year was much better and next year should be a banner year for squirrels. When there is habitat and food they will rebound within a year or two.
 
Thats the problem our last drought was 5 years ago and where I live an hunt is hardwoods and many crop fields and every thing is doing great whats happening????????
 
Again it is a cyclic thing... disease, no mast in the hardwoods, crops get pulled and that leaves little behind to eat, ect. They'll be back given their habitat isn't destroyed and they have something to eat in the future.
 
From the time I was 13 till I was 35 you could go out in the woods near my home in west central WI and In a Hr or 2 get your limit every time! I wouldn't sit down till I had at least 3 or 4 nest with in shooting dist. of me. with in 20 mins I would have 3 or 4 squirrels around me. From that time on if you walked all day in the same woods I wooldn't see even one nest, that is the way its been for the last 16 years, if its a cycle its been a long one. Only thing that changed in our area was the DNR reintroduced the Fisher back to its old habitat at that time, now if you go out you will see fisher tracks in every wood lot. Only squirrels I see today are in town. I enjoyed hunting squirrels more than any other game out there, but its been so bad that I have given up, its so bad that about 6 years ago I took a neighbor kid hunting and shooting for a year ( his dad was busy trying to get a business up and running and asked me to take him hunting with me)we spent a whole day in woods and came out with 1 squirrel and saw only 1 more. When I was a teen if three of us went hunting we came home with 15 no problem. I had a bow hunter tell me he sees squirrels every time he goes out, I asked how many oh 1 or 2. I remember sitting in a bow stand one evening and having 11 squirrels around me at one time! I sure would like to see that again. May have to load up my CZ 452 F/S 22 and take a trip south where you guys still have tons of squirrels running around.
 
I'll tell ya we aint got many squirrels down here in the south I might see one or two buts thats it ,got a lot of yotes down here though and not that many rabbits either.
 


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