Advanced & Specialist Squirrel Hunting Advanced

Late-Season: Hunting Dens & Caches

Lesson 39 of 41 · Module 8, lesson 3

Assumes the Hunting Primer. New here? Start there first.

Your objective

By the end, you'll be able to explain how the late-season pattern shifts squirrels to dens and ground-caching, and decide where and when to hunt them in cold weather.

Concept ~8 min

It’s late January. The oaks quit dropping acorns weeks ago, the canopy is bare, and your old reliable feed tree is dead quiet. Did the squirrels leave? No — the woods just changed the rules on you. Cold-weather squirrels live in different places and eat in a different way, and if you keep hunting October’s pattern in January, you’ll go home empty. Here’s the new pattern.

Quick recall

Recall from the Food & Mast module — in cold, wet weather, do squirrels shelter in leaf dreys or in cavity dens?

Cavity dens — sheltered holes in trunks and limbs Leaf dreys — balls of leaves high in the branches Underground burrows

Show answer

Correct: Cavity dens — sheltered holes in trunks and limbs — Right. Dens are weatherproof and warm; dreys are exposed. Cold pushes squirrels into dens, which is why den trees are the late-season feature to hunt.
Not quite: Leaf dreys — balls of leaves high in the branches — Dreys are mostly warm-season and exposed. When it's cold and wet, squirrels abandon them for protected cavity dens.
Not quite: Underground burrows — Tree squirrels don't winter underground — they hole up in cavity DENS in the trees. That's the shelter that matters in the cold.

Chunk 1 — The food moved to the ground

In early season, you hunt the canopy: squirrels cutting nuts in the treetops, hulls and clippings raining down. By late season the fresh drop is over. Squirrels now live off the nuts they scatter-buried in the fall, digging them back up one at a time.

That means feeding has dropped from the canopy to the forest floor. Your late-season sign isn’t falling hulls — it’s fresh diggings: small, dirt-fresh holes with disturbed leaves where a squirrel uncovered a cache. Find a patch of fresh digging under good den trees and you’ve found the dinner table.

Deep dive Why you can hear them digging

On a still, dry day you can hear a squirrel digging and rummaging in dry leaves from a surprising distance — it’s one of the best ways to locate a ground-feeding squirrel in bare winter woods. Rain kills that sound (and the sign washes flatter), so a calm day after a front is prime for listening.

Chunk 2 — The home moved to den trees

Cold and wet drive squirrels out of those flimsy leaf dreys and into cavity dens — holes in trunks and big limbs that hold warmth and shed rain. So the single most valuable feature in the late-season woods is a cluster of active den trees near a ground-feeding area. The squirrels don’t go far from home in the cold; the den is the anchor.

When the leaves are down you can spot den holes and old dreys easily. Note where the dens cluster, then hunt the feeding ground within a short walk of them.

Chunk 3 — Hunt the warm part of the day

Temperature now controls when squirrels move. On a bitter, sub-freezing morning, squirrels often stay denned up to conserve energy and barely stir. The fix is patience with the clock: let the sun work. Once it’s been up a few hours and the temperature climbs above freezing, squirrels come out to feed — so the mid-day window is frequently your best action in deep winter, the opposite of the dawn rush you hunt in October.

Read the late-season woods

The picture flips from October: bare canopy, feeding on the ground, dens as home base, action later in the day. (Diagram, not a photo.)

Explore

Tap each marker to read the cold-weather squirrel pattern.

Schematic bare-woods ridge in winter: markers show a cavity den tree, fresh ground diggings where a squirrel uncovered a cache, the open visibility of leaf-down woods, and a mid-day sun.

A bitter morning — what’s your move?

Decision

It's 22°F at first light in late January, clear and calm. You're at the truck with the whole day open. When and where do you start?

Hit your October feed tree at first light

You freeze under a bare, silent oak. The mast is long gone and it's too cold for squirrels to move — they're denned up. Wrong pattern, wrong hour.

Wait for the sun, then still-hunt ground near a den-tree cluster

Smart. You scout den trees while it's cold, and by late morning, as it warms above freezing, squirrels come out to dig caches near the dens. You hear one in the leaves.

Glass the leaf dreys and wait under the biggest one

In this cold the dreys are mostly empty — squirrels are in cavity dens, not exposed leaf nests. You're watching the wrong home.

Check yourself

Knowledge check

It's deep winter and your treetop feed-tree sit has gone dead. What's the single biggest shift in WHERE squirrels are feeding?

Feeding has moved to the GROUND, on buried caches They're still in the canopy, just higher up They've migrated to a different woodlot

Show answer

Correct: Feeding has moved to the GROUND, on buried caches — Right. The fresh drop is over, so squirrels dig up scatter-buried nuts. Look for fresh diggings on the floor, not falling hulls.
Not quite: They're still in the canopy, just higher up — No — the canopy food is gone with the mast drop. Late-season feeding is on the GROUND, where the caches are buried.
Not quite: They've migrated to a different woodlot — Squirrels don't migrate. They've shifted to ground-feeding on caches near their den trees — same woods, new pattern.

Knowledge check

On a clear, 20°F January morning, when is your best window to actually catch squirrels moving?

Mid-day, after the sun has warmed it above freezing First light, the classic squirrel hour It doesn't matter; cold doesn't change squirrel activity

Show answer

Correct: Mid-day, after the sun has warmed it above freezing — Correct. In hard cold, squirrels den up at dawn and move once it warms. The mid-day window flips the usual dawn-first rule.
Not quite: First light, the classic squirrel hour — That's the early-season rule. In bitter cold, squirrels barely move at dawn — wait for the mid-day warm-up.
Not quite: It doesn't matter; cold doesn't change squirrel activity — It matters a lot. Hard cold suppresses movement until temperatures climb, so timing the warm part of the day is half the battle.

Take it to the woods

On your next late-season scout, ignore the canopy and read the floor. Find a cluster of cavity den trees, then look nearby for fresh diggings. Plan to hunt that ground in the warm mid-day window, easing in slowly because the bare woods expose you as much as the squirrels.

Late-season pattern checklist

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Locate a cluster of cavity den trees (easy to spot, leaves down).
Find fresh ground diggings nearby — your late-season feeding sign.
Plan the hunt for the warmer mid-day window on cold days.
On a calm, dry day, stop and LISTEN for digging in the leaves.
Move slow and use cover — bare woods expose you too.
Safety Layer up and keep hands warm enough for safe muzzle control. Numb fingers and an upward shot don't mix.

Sources

Project Upland — How to Hunt Late Season Squirrels: Winter Food Sources, Hunting Tactics, and Weather Impacts. https://projectupland.com/small-game-hunting/squirrel-hunting/how-to-hunt-late-season-squirrels-winter-food-sources-hunting-tactics-and-weather-impacts/
Henry USA — Wintertime Squirrel Hunting. https://www.henryusa.com/the-henry-repeater/wintertime-squirrel-hunting/
Bass Pro Shops 1Source — Hunting Squirrels During the Winter. https://1source.basspro.com/news-tips/small-game/7241/hunting-squirrels-during-winter

If you remember nothing else

Late season = mast drop is over, leaves are down, and squirrels live off the nuts they buried (caches).
With the fresh drop gone, feeding shifts to the GROUND — look for fresh diggings, not nuts raining from the canopy.
Cold and wet pushes squirrels out of exposed leaf dreys and into protected cavity DENS, so den trees become the key feature.
On bitter mornings squirrels move little; wait for the sun to warm things above freezing and hunt the mid-day window.
Bare woods cut both ways — you can see squirrels better, but they can see and hear you too, so move slow and stay hidden.

How ready do you feel?

How ready are you to read the late-season pattern and pick where and when to hunt squirrels in cold weather?

Before you go — a quick look back

Distributed practice: one fast recall from an earlier lesson keeps it from fading.

Quick recall

From Caching & Scatter-Hoarding — when the fresh mast drop is over, where does a squirrel's feeding move, and what sign does that leave?

Show me the answer

Show answer

Correct: Show me the answer — Feeding shifts to the GROUND as squirrels dig up the nuts they scatter-buried in fall. The sign is fresh diggings — small, dirt-fresh holes with disturbed leaves. That's the core of late-season hunting: you're hunting ground-feeders on their caches.

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