Got a hickory close to the house. Very light crop this year. Usually a lot on the ground by this time of year, but not one has dropped yet. Local squirrel hides in tree to wait for the wife to put a few peanuts on the front porch for him, but no sign of him eating the few hickory's. Have quite a few oaks also with very little sign of acorns. Been very dry here for two months +.

 

Be aware that peanuts are lacking in certain nutrients that squirrels need. They are not native to North America and they are not a nut, but a bean actually. So it’s not good to give them too much. A treat occasionally is fine.

 

Scared of the bears?

 

They are working on them here.

 

Same here...Thats all I heard this morning was them cutting everywhere..

 

Maybe there are other hickory trees in area that there tearing uo

 

They moved to Tn. Loads down here.

 

I've watched the one property hickory for years. It's a small window of opportunity. They barely touch them until their just right, then will wipe them out in less than a week, with squirrels never seen in the area coming in for the raid then gone moving on.

 

Hawk eye nailed it I think, they know when hickory nuts are ripe and ready, around our house we have lots of white,red and black oaks, pines dog wood
and a few hickory, seems hickory is the last to get ate.

 

Hawk eye nailed it I think, they know when hickory nuts are ripe and ready, around our house we have lots of white,red and black oaks, pines dog wood

and a few hickory, seems hickory is the last to get ate.

I think they know if they are good or not also.
One year while squirrel hunting before I left I gathered up about a gallon containers worth. Took them home, huscked them and let them dry for about a week. I started to crack them open and almost all the ones I did had a worm in them. So threw the whole batch on the fire. So I believe the squirrels pick them and drop them to the ground knowing they are bad.

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In my area its the simpliest reason, no nuts this year, I have several shag bark and black hickory in my yard, none bore hickory nuts this year and usually they are loaded. Its a poor mast crop here, a few post oak acorns, a few willow leaf acorns no red oak acorns, its going to be a hungry year for the deer and squirrels.
A friend and I scratched out a small food plot yesterday to hopefully lend a hand to the local deer herd.

 

They ain't got but two thigs to do their entire life and one of them is eat. They are either on something they like better or the hicker nuts ain't ready yet.

 

Actually, squirrels are extremely obsessed with their investment portfolios and can often times be snuck up on while
they're studying the latest market fluctuations.

 

The ground is covered with hickory nut cuttings at all my spots here.

 

Yep, its true. The Squirrels just started to eat the hickory nuts in the woods behind my house. Until this week, they were obsessed with their 401 retirement fund fluctuations. They all seem to know that after November, the winter could become cold and cruel.

But seriously, when I went hunting North of where I live in NE Arkansas, I noticed almost all of the hickories that had nuts last year, don't have any this year.

I guess it is like what Hickorynut in Yell Co. AR is seeing down his way. A lot of trees didn't make hickory nuts this year.

 

Squirrels here are eating moslty the slick bark hickory trees. A few shag bark trees. The slick bark tree have more individual nuts on them. Been seeing above average for conditions numbers wise in the woods. There are so many squirels here they may leave when they eat everything up. Massive population here now. Best I have seen since 1972 with only one other year that could compete -1977. Best hunting ain’t even here yet. Latter in Sep early- mid Oct squirrels more active, can be active all day long burying nuts. I may have to change my game plan. Bow hunt deer in the afternoons and squirrel hunt in the mornings. I am curious as to how many I can bag before 28 Feb this year. Curious because of the numbers I have already seen and already bagged plus this hm2 rifle. Could be a real record breaking season for me. Where I am hunting, I am preserving the nut crop. More squirrels will move back in. Already been noticing. Have seen some beech mash, black oak acorns, white oak acorns, limited walnuts, some chestnut oak acorns. Beech mash can really help squirrels hang around. Problem is when it falls off trees turkeys will gobble them hem up. Beech mash usually hangs on trees long time after frost. Woods around here, ground looks like saw mill. Bushy tails are gnawing big time.

 

Squirrels here are eating moslty the slick bark hickory trees. A few shag bark trees. The slick bark tree have more individual nuts on them. Been seeing above average for conditions numbers wise in the woods. There are so many squirels here they may leave when they eat everything up. Massive population here now. Best I have seen since 1972 with only one other year that could compete -1977. Best hunting ain't even here yet. Latter in Sep early- mid Oct squirrels more active, can be active all day long burying nuts. I may have to change my game plan. Bow hunt deer in the afternoons and squirrel hunt in the mornings. I am curious as to how many I can bag before 28 Feb this year. Curious because of the numbers I have already seen and already bagged plus this hm2 rifle. Could be a real record breaking season for me. Where I am hunting, I am preserving the nut crop. More squirrels will move back in. Already been noticing. Have seen some beech mash, black oak acorns, white oak acorns, limited walnuts, some chestnut oak acorns. Beech mash can really help squirrels hang around. Problem is when it falls off trees turkeys will gobble them hem up. Beech mash usually hangs on trees long time after frost. Woods around here, ground looks like saw mill. Bushy tails are gnawing big time.

With the amount of damage you put on em I'm surprised they have a chance to multiply lol

 

Hunted squirrels for 40-45 years before I got to crippled to hunt anymore, every year the Shag Bark Hickory was always the first nuts hit before moving on to Oaks.

In my parents front yard was a huge SBH, never saw a year when it didn't have a good crop of nuts with some years better than others.

Sometime in the early 1990's I asked my dad how old that tree was and he said he didn't know, it was full grown when he built the house in 1946 when he came home from WWII.

 

I am going to point out that the squirrels did see you walking around with a gun last year..... just sayin.


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Acorns here.

 

In my area of Southern Illinois, the squirrels are both cutting shagbark and pignut hickories. Some are starting to hull nuts while others are just starting to cut pecans. There's mainly gray squirrels where I hunt and they are very active both in the morning and afternoon, especially when hulling hickories. Hunting with rimfire gets challenging with all of the movement. Very little activity on acorns.

 

Squirrels have switched from hickory to ripe acorns now. Last 5 were all getting acorns. I have 12 in fridge waiting to be cooked tonight.

 

Do squirrels eat anything from cedar trees?

 

Up in Canada. They eat the cedar “nuts”

 

Somebody at Post stumbled across one of Euell Gibbons' old TV commercials so Post bagged all the hickory nuts and shipped them out as Grapenuts. (This will make sense only to the old farts.)

 

I can still hear old Euell saying, ("They remind me of Wild Hickory Nuts.")

 

More like Grape Gravel, hated that stuff. Squirrels probably couldn't chew it.

 

Apparently they eat them in Arkansas too! Killed 6 in cedar trees.

 

The Red Squirrels eat the Cedar Tree Seeds here in WI. They also nip the tiny branch near the seed bunches and after it drops to ground they eat away whatever they didn't/couldn't grab while they were above.

 

I will not say they don't eat hickory nuts but, I will say that in the 40+ yrs that I have been hunting squirrels I have seen very little evidence that they do. They do like wild pecans which is a close cousin to hickory so I don't know why I have seen so little evidence of them cutting hickory. I have read accounts of others who say they are and I don't doubt that. During the 22-23 season the acorn crop was not so good and I saw evidence of where the squirrels were eating overcup acorns. It was at this point I knew the acorn crop was bad because pigs are about the only thing that will eat overcup on a regular basis but, there were still untouched hickory nuts on the ground and no evidence of them cutting hickory nuts. Maybe it's just a south Mississippi delta thing. I know they like to eat cypress balls. I have shot many out of cypress trees and have seen a lot of cut cypress balls on the ground.

 

The squirrels down in Mississippi must not like hickory nuts if you have never seen evidence of them cutting or eating them. Here in Va the squirrels definitely get after them. Early in the season I go to the areas with good hickory crops. If there are plenty of nuts the squirrels will be there.