Just a general observation and topic I have been questioning to myself this year...
Arkansas has had a plethora of rain this year as many States have. The nut tree crops are booming and actually hanging tight in the timber. No drought this year has probably influenced this sort of late crop...during a drought, nut trees will drop their crop in order to conserve water.
With this in mind...I’m not seeing any cutting around the hickory trees, minimal cuttings around the Oak timber. I heard the squirrels are in the Elms cutting the buds...but usually by now, the ground around the Hickory trees are piled with cuttings.
I asked the group of Old Men that play poker every Wednesday if they had noticed squirrel cuttings. Evidently some Hickory’s have been cut...but I’m in the woods everyday due to my occupation and haven’t seen much if any at all. One of the old Men said there aren’t any squirrels this year...at least not in the numbers that he would have expected or normally seen. I on the other hand have seen squirrels on a daily basis in the multiple States I cut timber in. I think the general population is low. It doesn’t make sense to me though because last Winter wasn’t a hard Winter and this Summer has had plenty of water and not ratchet heat.
My theory is the nut crop, having ample water has been delayed more than a month and maybe the squirrels are just eating other things that aren’t generally available due to the rain we have had. Still though...I can’t out rule the fact that the squirrel population may indeed be low...but I can’t figure out why!
I hope to get a discussion started here because this is something I question daily. Something just isn’t normal and honestly I would like to figure it out. Thanks in advance!