Migrating squirrels

[Gunplummer]

Do you think squirrels do small migrations like deer do when there is an area with no acorn crop? I hunted in WV for three days and did not see a single gray squirrel. I hunted in PA for 2 days and did not see a single gray squirrel. I had to bust my butt to see a deer tail because there were no acorns back there, and asked others if they saw any squirrels. Nobody else hunting those areas saw any grey squirrels either.

 

[NoSecondBest]

Many years ago I was hunting on my father's property right on the NY/PA border. It was a very dry day and you could hear stuff coming for a long ways off. It was deer season and I was sitting at the bottom of a hill and heard something coming down the hill. I heard it getting closer and closer. I thought it might be a deer or two. Finally, nine gray squirrels came into sight and went past me and headed off the hill and across the pasture I was sitting next to and continued on to the next hill. I think they were migrating. It was so odd that I've never forgotten it and that was probably close to forty years ago. I remember my grandfather saying they migrated when the food supply in the area panned out. I guess it makes sense.

 

[roashooter]

thank your lucky stars you were'nt crushed in the stampede...

 

[Doyle]

I don't think they truly "migrate" but I'm sure they will go look for a different clump of woods if there is no food where they are.

 

[Slamfire]

Do you think squirrels do small migrations like deer do when there is an area with no acorn crop? I hunted in WV for three days and did not see a single gray squirrel. I hunted in PA for 2 days and did not see a single gray squirrel. I had to bust my butt to see a deer tail because there were no acorns back there, and asked others if they saw any squirrels. Nobody else hunting those areas saw any grey squirrels either.

Suburbs are just full of grey squirrels. My neighborhood is full of oaks and the mast on the ground makes it a squirrel paradise. And they get huge eating all that food




Maybe those canny squirrels have moved from the woods to the attic of your neighbor. Or his bed room!

 

[Blindstitch]

I don't think they really migrate but if they do it has to be because there is no food left in the area to survive. I would think if they did migrate longer range it would probably happen in the summer/spring time.

 

[Boogershooter]

Depends on your definition of migrate. I've seen squirrels go across a 400 yards stretch of open pasture just to feed in the mornings but always came back to the nest or den tree they were living in. They could have easily circled around the pasture thru hardwood timber but chose the shorter faster route instead. I live down n louisiana and the squirrel population had dropped off in the last couple of years but is back in full swing now. Up north were winters are much harsher and don't have the huge oak bottoms we do down here they may migrate to some extent. I've seen others studies and research on squirrel populations and it's either incredibly funny or much more complex than most can imagen. I've read where the mother of a litter will castrate the young males at birth if there has been a drought. I've also read where mother squirrels have to massage the baby squirrels to make them poop. I'm not sure if any of this is true but maybe the tasty Lil tree rats are smarter than we think. Are you hunting with your orange vest on? Squirrels aren't color blind like deer.

 

[Blindstitch]

All you need to attract squirrels is a deer rifle and license.

 

[mete]

Rodents do at times migrate .Squirrels and lemmings for example.They leave for a better food source usually though there are some silly stories sometimes told. There also may preddators who clean out an area.

 

[Erno86]

Your hunting spot might be devoid of squirrels, because they might have been shot out by hunters or hawk predation.

Squirrels do migrate though. Mountain fox squirrels migrate up an down river and stream tributaries.

"Squirrel Migrations

When virgin forests covered much of North America, vast armies of gray squirrels periodically migrated over the landscape. They swam across major rivers and swarmed over farmers fields, eating every last ear of corn."

quote: https://markgelbart.wordpress.com/2012/08/24/squirrel-migrations/

 

[Gunplummer]

There are certain areas where we see Fox squirrels in WV. A couple guys saw Fox squirrels, but no greys. Every once in a while the woods just goes dead and nothing is moving, but 3 days?

 

[Bill West]

Roashooter: "thank your lucky stars you were'nt crushed in the stampede..."

You should have climbed up in a tree for safety.

 

[bamaranger]

migrate

Yeah, I'd say without reservation that squirrles will move or follow food sources as available.

I'm not sure that migrate is quite the right term......as a migration likely needs to be seasonal, and in mass I believe.

 

[Erno86]

Besides the lack of squirrels --- if you fail to see many chipmunks --- the woods has been generally shot out --- Though they may be pocket locations of squirrels here an there.

Evidence of small cracked nut hulls is key evidence for squirrels and chipmunks. The large cracked nut hulls a done by deer.

Get set-up by dawn for squirrels an stay late at sundown. Grays fear big hawks more than anything else --- which is the least prime hunting time for hawks; besides total darkness. On cold winter days...squirrels will come out of there tree holes somewhat later in the morning. Grays love to run on dead logs and tree limbs on the forest floor --- so they can run silent. Eastern fox squirrels love to rummage in the fall leaves; more than grays.

Male Pine squirrels will try to bite off the testicles of Gray squirrels.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Apparently some squirrels (not all) do "migrate" in one sense of the word. Then again, many animals do. In the simplest sense, they will change localities apparently from environmental pressures, but they do NOT migrate in the sense of making directed, annual migrations such as are made by ducks.

I only know of a coulple of scholarly works studying the matter.

http://www.lib.umd.edu/blogs/univar...univarch_exhibits/1968-squirrel-migration.pdf

http://www.jstor.org/stable/1373740?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

The squirrel migrations of the US seem to be limited to the Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) and apparently occur during the normal fall reshuffle. Depending on what you get from the article the 'migrations' may be the result of overpopulation (previous bountiful year) and simply non-directed reshuffling as the squirrels attempt to move out and find new homes/ranges.

Such migrations are now thought to be uncommon, in part because of breakup of habitat and other factors precluding such population explosions that would result in such apparent displays, thought the squirrels will reshuffle annually, just not in the mass numbers seen and reported during "migrations" since the 1700s.

 

[JWT]

Only the flying squirrels migrate....

 

[kcub]

My dad would never eat rabbit here in Texas saying they got diseases; worms and Lymes disease and such.

Same with squirrels in warmer climes?

 

[Doyle]

The fear of rabbits comes from a disease called tularemia. The risk there is with infection traveling into cuts on your hands. Solution is to wear disposable gloves when cleaning. Lymes disease comes from ticks - which you can get from simply walking in the woods. With squirrels, many people won't eat them during warm weather because of parasite common in squirrels called the bot fly larvae (commonly called "wolves). They are harmless to humans - just look bad.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

kcub, all animals have diseases and all animals get eaten, such as squirrels, rabbits, deer, feral hogs, etc. I think your dad was being over cautious and a bit misinformed.

http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/transmission/

You will not get Lyme disease from eating venison or squirrel meat, but in keeping with general food safety principles, always cook meat thoroughly. Note that hunting and dressing deer or squirrels may bring you into close contact with infected ticks.

 

[alex0535]

Back when the east side of this country was continuous forest, there were massive grey squirrel migrations. Imagine a million squirrels all going somewhere. In the trees, on the ground, making a racket like we can't fathom. I think I may of read about one such migration in the 1700's in a book about the early history of Walton county.

There have been large scale grey squirrel migrations recorded as recently as 1968. Google it.

So basically what causes this is an incredible acorn crop followed by an easy winter with low amounts of predators, they breed to great success, there might be a number of years of great acorn crops that sustained them and easy winters that didn't kill many. But then the trees fail to make acorns, this large population of squirrels is now starving and the only thing to do is find somewhere the acorns did great. A hungry squirrel, thousands to millions of them will cover some ground.