Squirrels chattering??

[emerson]

I'm presently solo moose hunting "deep"in 7-7. No other humans around; I'll admit a bit wary
of bears. Country is heavy bush, low vis. Often squirrels start chattering/scolding near enough to hear, but too far to be cranking at me. Anyone ever found any rhyme or reason to their noise?

[Grumpa Joe]

Not always the case but they will rat on bigger critters just like they do on you. Once listened to them barking for about 20 minutes and finally out lumbered a nice bull moose. Unfortunately LEH only and I didn't have one. :-(

[Morleystw]

Ok well back in the day when I used to smoke a lot of weed and do mushrooms I used to think they were just telling me that keeblers were putting all the snacks in my pack.years later I found out it was my wife!!lol!!

[adriaticum]

I believe they are an indicator of something around them.
They won't scream unless they are threatened by something.
Either a larger animal or another squirrel.
And I think animals also pay attention to the commotion.
I've noticed when they shriek deer will lift their heads and move their ears to listen.
Maybe I'm just superstitious.

[Daybreak]

Yes, the annoying squirrels will squeak at anything, be it ungulate or predator. The other animals pay attention to their squawks too. I have watched deer immediately focus all their attention in the direction of a noisy squirrel and watch for any threat.

One time I was resting after booking it out of an area where I spotted a grizzly and suddenly squirrels went berserk. Minutes later a cow moose stampeded across the road and disappeared into the bush on the other side. I'm sure that grizzly chased her out and I hadn't booked it far enough. So much for resting... off I went.

[ravensfoot]

Squirrels are the forest's intruder alarm. I always stop and listen when I hear the little buggers squawk. Notice sometimes how far they let you pass before they let out an alrarm. Remember when you hear them off in a distance, what ever they are chirping at most likely has already passed them.

[Treed]

I read an article on some researchers in Canada figuring out they have different calls if the threat is aerial or on the ground. Be great to be to understand what the squirrels say. Jelvis...?

[Treed]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/learn-to-speak-squirrel-in-four-easy-lessons/2012/04/09/gIQAV8Jr6S_story.html

squirell talk for dummies.

[hunter1947]

I have found that squirrels start chattering when danger is near this at times tells me that there might be a game animal nearby so I keep close eye open where that squirrel is chattering..

[blu-nsr]

I have found that squirrels utilize two main calls. Squirrel 'chat' is more of a trilling sound which is used to communicate general location with others. Squirrel 'rat' is their distinctive staccato "chirp chirp chirp" used as an alarm call. The will let that one rip for anything in the forest they perceive as a potential threat. Pay close attention, if they stop chirping, the thing they're alarming about started moving again....

[wideopenthrottle]

it is always satisfying being able to be stealthy enough to sneak up on a squirrel...yes they can be your eyes and ears in the bush if you pay attention!

[caddisguy]

Squirrels seem so temperamental... squirrelly even! A couple weeks back we were sitting still on the ground all cammo and had a squirrel come right up to use and then get surprised. It ran up a tree and proceeded to chirp in full freak-out mode for 20 minutes, maybe longer. With a 10/22 handy, the thought crossed my mind but only in a comical (wouldn't actually do it) kind of way "well, if he is going to interfere with the Wildlife Act and interfere with our morning hunt, I should be able to ignore the regs too". Same day we actually had a chipmunk crawl on both of us and my rifle. That mossy oak is no joke!!

If you hear a squirrel that is going off and it's not because of you, then it could be anything from a bear or moose to another squirrel or even a pine cone falling unexpectedly. Other animals do pay attention to the alarms. Ravens can also bust you or other animals, but not as frequently as squirrels.

[Fella]

We once had a chipmunk follow us while bear hunting, chirping away. We didn't see any bears that afternoon.

[Elkchaser]

Listen to the squirrels young Jedi. As has been said already, they have what I call a location call, rather short and usually followed by neighbours same sounding answers - kinda like a roll call or sound off. Then there's the call that you hear from 20 ft while in your tree stand that just doesn't seem to end and eventually makes you want to draw your bow or release your safety. That call sound, sometimes shorter, has provided me advanced notice on bears stalking me twice and also many deer, moose and elk coming to calls. I often look for overflying birds when hearing distress chatter to eliminate causes. Anyways - point is, they have helped me out both stand and ground hunting so as annoying as they can be sometimes, I'm glad to have them around.

[sdurango41]

I agree. I use the squirrels all of the time. More often then not when they start nattering away and I know it is not me that has alarmed them shortly after I either see an animal or hear it moving through the bush. They are a great help at times...... and a huge pain in the ass at other times when you have made the almost perfect stalk into an area and are just getting settled and all of a sudden almost above your head the staccato starts!!

[wideopenthrottle]

Squirrels seem so temperamental... squirrelly even! A couple weeks back we were sitting still on the ground all cammo and had a squirrel come right up to use and then get surprised. It ran up a tree and proceeded to chirp in full freak-out mode for 20 minutes, maybe longer. With a 10/22 handy, the thought crossed my mind but only in a comical (wouldn't actually do it) kind of way "well, if he is going to interfere with the Wildlife Act and interfere with our morning hunt, I should be able to ignore the regs too". Same day we actually had a chipmunk crawl on both of us and my rifle. That mossy oak is no joke!!

If you hear a squirrel that is going off and it's not because of you, then it could be anything from a bear or moose to another squirrel or even a pine cone falling unexpectedly. Other animals do pay attention to the alarms. Ravens can also bust you or other animals, but not as frequently as squirrels.

I have found many cool things by going to the raven calls...gut piles of moose deer and even geese carcasses (breasted out ones -near babine), full deer (3x4 with a bullet through the eye but not into the brain so it was able to get away from the shooter before dieing-loon lake), moo cow (was same colour as a whitetail but much bigger of course-rock creek)...one time they led me to some butchering scraps thrown beside a road (near vanderhoof) where tracks (there was about a foot of fresh snow) showed wolves and a cougar had been feeding. there were cougar tracks on the top of a knob about 12 feet above the road and a landing spot on the other side of the road and down about another 8-10 feet to where the scraps were. it must have been a winged cougar cuz it was close to 30' distance from launch to landing and down about 20'...not sure if the cougar interacted with the wolves or not (looked like only about 2 or 3 different wolf tracks)...I can't help it, curiosity gets me every time I hear a group of ravens calling...approach them very carefully if in grizz country or if you are less curious and more precautious avoid chattering groups ravens.

[ACB]

It can be a lot of fun playing around with both Ravens and Mr. Squirrelly. You'll hear them looking fore their brethren going in a straight line cawing and searching. What i'll do is get behind a good size tree and give them a couple caws, they'll turn around and do a circle around were your at; say a 100 yard radius. When he's kinda got his back to you, you give him a caw or two and he'll do about 4-5 circles with you still cawing at him. Until he realizes there's an ahole out here and goes away going caw caw caw caw caw caw. Squirrels can be a lot of to, in the fall you'll see where their building their cashes along blow down trees about 1 ft. off the ground. I seen 3-4 piles of pine cones along the same tree. When you get close to their cash tree they start really given it to you, well I'm not going to get shit fore nothing so I take 1 well then you got to hear them go at it and when you throw it back they don't stop.

[emerson]

Good stuff, appreciate the replies. Reinforces what I thought about their "alarms". Like my dog, only barks when there is something there, but not always something I care about.

[Fella]

It can be a lot of fun playing around with both Ravens and Mr. Squirrelly. You'll hear them looking fore their brethren going in a straight line cawing and searching. What i'll do is get behind a good size tree and give them a couple caws, they'll turn around and do a circle around were your at; say a 100 yard radius. When he's kinda got his back to you, you give him a caw or two and he'll do about 4-5 circles with you still cawing at him. Until he realizes there's an ahole out here and goes away going caw caw caw caw caw caw. Squirrels can be a lot of to, in the fall you'll see where their building their cashes along blow down trees about 1 ft. off the ground. I seen 3-4 piles of pine cones along the same tree. When you get close to their cash tree they start really given it to you, well I'm not going to get shit fore nothing so I take 1 well then you got to hear them go at it and when you throw it back they don't stop.
It's also fun to fool with Ravens by blowing on a dying rabbit call. I've even called in a group of buzzards that way.

[REMINGTON JIM]

Ok well back in the day when I used to smoke a lot of weed and do mushrooms I used to think they were just telling me that keeblers were putting all the snacks in my pack.years later I found out it was my wife!!lol!!

It was FOGGY out for you a lot EH ! lol :biggrin: RJ

[morris]

They're squirrels! The most mentally challenged animal to inhabit the earth...look at their road crossing decision making skills! They are also the only animal on earth that can imitate a moose walking through the woods by dropping pine cones!

[nature girl]

Those squirrels can be so annoying. You are sitting in a great spot and then they start chattering and wont shut up. But they are good for letting you know that something is coming. One minute you hate them the next minute you like them.

[M.Dean]

The deer and moose pay the squirrels to make all the noise they can when they see a guy with a Rifle! It's like "Alarm Force" but the squirrels don't get paid near the amount that great big black guy get's paid on there commercials! You see, the squirrels get paid way more if you get so pissed at them you "Blow" your cover and shoot at them with your hunting rifle, and if you miss they get paid more yet! I remember seeing a huge bear on one hunting trip, the guy with me wanted to take a good look at it, so we got out of the truck, he went one way, me the other. About the last thing I wanted to do was chase after this huge bear in the thick brush, so I backed up to a tree and waited to see if it came out my way. Suddenly, I heard a branch break right behind me, I near Shit my Pants! I wheeled around with my rifle leveled, then Bang, something hit me on the top of my head!!! It was a squirrel 10 feet above me, the little prick!!! It had dropped a pine cone down and that's what hit me, and No, I did not shoot it! Every time I hear a squirrel now I thing about that encounter!!!