Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Small Game Squirrels cutting pines in SE Tennessee

In this area, the squirrels are currently cutting pine cones. The litter under the pines on my property is incredible. The forth Saturday in August is the opening day of the fall squirrel season in Tennessee. I plan to be in the woods at day break and enjoy a relaxing time hunting grays with my .22 rifle. If things go well, I'll have squirrels for supper tomorrow night.

So, when they cut the pine cones, do they store them till they dry out later, or go ahead and dismantle them for the seeds? Just curious cause our little pine squirrels out here make quite a mess tearing pine cones apart....
Ingwe

The squirrels tear the pine cones apart for the seeds as soon as they get them. Yeah, the mess under the trees is obvious, leaving no doubt about what their eating now. A bit later in the season, they will switch to various acorns, black gum berries, and finally hickory nuts. I've even seen squirrels eating mushrooms. They also raid our peach and pear trees.

Thanks for that elaboration....you are the only person besides me who ever mentioned seeing squirrels eating mushrooms....and Ive watched them in the spring eating the new shoots of leaves on some hardwoods....
Just guessing, but if you notice things like that going on around you, you are probably a good hunter!
Ingwe

Squirrels will eat a wide variety of things right up to and including baby birds in the nest.

Several of the peach and pear thieves met their demise this morning. They should make a good meal.

Ingwe, in the spring, the squirrels in this area really hit the buds on the maple trees.

Bingo! Seen that exact thing in NC in college...spring was when I saw them eat shrooms too...
Glad you had a good morning on them...I used to really wear them out, back in the day...
Ingwe

Tree squirrels are protected throughout the state of Id. NO shooting allowed.

Last weekend we had the camp trailer parked near a doug fir tree. The little bastid squirrel was in the tree cutting cones and pitching them at the roof of our trailer.

I am told that squirrels can get pretty aggressive in this manner when you park a vehicle in their territory.

He was lobbing fir tree cones over twenty feet. And peppering the roof of the trailer pretty well, made it damn tough to sleep in on a Saturday morning.

If I had a choice in the matter, we would have had squirrel for lunch that day.


The litter of shredded cones was pretty intense all over the area. The little buggers should have a pretty good supply stored up for winter.

Idaho Shooter,

That is an interesting fact about Idaho that I wasn't aware of. In Tennessee not enough of us hunt them anymore, if the TWRA numbers are to be believed. I've hunted squirrels since I was a kid and I still really enjoy a morning or afternoon in the squirrel woods. I also eat them. Years ago, my wife asked me to not shoot any near the house. The buggers soon were cleaning out her bird feeders. Now, she says kill 'em all!

I think Idaho Shooter has the same thing going on in the conifers that we have in Montana...Red Pine Squirrels and Chickarees( look the same but darker)..I too have had them pelt my camp with hard little unopened cones...we don't shoot them either.
However, did I mention we are overrun in a couple towns here with a "non-native" variety of squirrel...the Red Fox. I can't even shoot a pellet gun in town, so I live trap them in a Havahart,take them to the garage to "transition" them for relocation...to a hot pan of butter!!
Ingwe

I have to admit, I do not really know my squirrels very well. If he has a long bushy tail, he's a tree squirrel. If not, he's a ground squirrel and fair game for target practice. Grin

The tree squirrels in this timbered region were dark gray with a body maybe ten or twelve inches long from nose to base of tail.

In all honesty, I imagine you could get almost as much meat from a mourning dove.

My Uncles who immigrated from the Eastern hardwood forests as kids have told me about squirrel hunts in preparation for family reunions. They told of squirrels "big as house cats" and clothes lines loaded near to breaking with carcasses waiting for the skillet.

FWIW; Ive actually know people who tried to eat our squirrels...they are little, really bony, and apparently taste like pine, which makes sense.
The red fox squirrels I mentioned here in town are not protected, as they are non-native, and since I went to School in NC and ate a bunch of squirrels, I "harvest" quite a few of these locals....
My freinds in these parts look at me as if I had two heads when I tell them I eat squirrels!
Ingwe

ingwe,

Several years ago, I hunted elk in Colorado. Our guide, who was originally from, Tennessee, said the little red squirrels there were not fit to eat. He mentioned they tasted like pine. Funny thing, the grays here also eat pine burrs, but it doesn't affect the taste of their meat. I suspect this may be the case since it doesn't comprise the bulk of their diet.