I’m sure that over the last couple of months, most of the talk amongst we outdoor types has centered around deer, turkeys, and bears, and thanks to today’s cell phone cameras, we have seen plenty of photos of successful hunters posing with their trophies. What you don’t see in those cell phone photos is someone posing with the squirrel they got on opening day, probably because there aren’t many adult hunters who pursue them. As I look back to my early hunting years, however, the gray squirrel occupied much of my hunting time, and I suspect that most of us hunters probably started our hunting endeavors with the lowly gray squirrel. Even today, I believe that squirrel hunting may be a good way to get youngsters into hunting.
Of course, when we mention squirrels, most of us think of the commonly seen gray squirrel or maybe a pesky little red squirrel, but there are actually four squirrel species roaming about in Pennsylvania. It’s a pretty safe bet that, by far, most of the people reading this article have, in fact, only ever seen gray squirrels or red squirrels, but we also have fox squirrels and flying squirrels. I have been fortunate over the years that I have lived here I have been able to spot all four of our squirrel species.
To be fair, the reason you may never have seen a fox squirrel is that they are mainly found in the western and southern parts of the state. That being said, however, years ago, I was in a wooded area along the Susquehanna River when to my surprise, I spotted two fox squirrels up in a large oak tree; I have never again seen another fox squirrel in this part of the state. Fox squirrels are larger than gray squirrels and have reddish-gray on their backs with orange-brown undersides. They can weigh nearly two pounds, and they are slower and less vocal than grays.
The other squirrel that few people have ever seen is the flying squirrel, and even though it is found throughout the state, the flying squirrel is seldom ever seen because it is nocturnal. This squirrel is about eight to nine inches long, including about a three-inch tail, and its fur is a very soft, grayish-brown in color. The flying squirrel can’t actually fly, but rather it glides. The gliding is made possible due to a loose flap or membrane of skin between the fore and hind legs, allowing the animal to glide, not fly, for up to 40 yards in a downward direction while Its broad, flat tail acts as a rudder.
It’s highly unlikely you will ever spot a flying squirrel during daylight hours, and you won’t find them running around on the ground because of their arboreal habits-they’re usually clinging to a tree branch or gliding to another tree. Again I have been fortunate to see flying squirrels on a couple of occasions. Once while hunting near my home, I stopped to look into a small woodshed near a camp; to my surprise, there were a couple of flying squirrels clinging to the small 2×4 rafters overhead. On a couple of other occasions, when hiking out of the woods near dark, I have been able to spot an occasional flying squirrel.
By the way, there are a couple more squirrel sightings that don’t happen very often either; I’m talking about the sighting of a black squirrel or an albino squirrel. A black squirrel is actually a black phase of a gray squirrel, and they are most often encountered in the northcentral part of the state. I have, however, spotted black squirrels along the Susquehanna River right here in our area. I have also been fortunate enough over the years to spot an albino red squirrel and an albino gray squirrel; albinism can occur in many species of animals, including deer.
By the way, you don’t have to go far and wide to spot gray squirrels; just check out some of the critters flattened on our roads-a good many of them are gray squirrels.
