Just as the acorns begin to fall, squirrels are gathering supplies for their winter food stash.
Acorns are the main winter food source for all kinds of animals, especially the gray, bushy-tailed creature. Oaks provide shelter. Squirrels make nests using the leaves or twigs, or curl up in the trunk’s cavities.
Squirrels scamper up and down the trees, searching for acorns to bury and store for the coming winter.
Acorns are so important to these critters that the population will fluctuate depending on the acorn and nut crop from the previous year.
The most common squirrels in Missouri are the eastern gray squirrel and the fox squirrel, with eastern grays populating the smaller bottomlands and the foxes taking on the higher-ridged areas.
Talk a walk outside, and witness the busy gathering.
Squirrel hunting is big in Missouri. Learn more about it in the video below.
It’s a Squirrel’s World
- A squirrel’s home is a leafy nest located in a cavity or fork of a tree.
- The gray squirrel is more abundant in the Ozark and Mississippi lowland regions, while the fox squirrel is more common in the northern and western prairies.
- In the prairie regions of the state, fox squirrels are found along the few remaining Osage orange hedge fences, in farm woodlots, along timbered fence rows and in timbered draws.
- 1.5 to 3 million squirrels are taken annual in Missouri. Squirrels furnish a large supply of meat each year for Missouri hunters.
Find out more about squirrels with the MDC’s Field Guide.
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