i get pumped when i see the squirrels, because that means that they dont know your there and i feel that i may make the deer feel a little better about entering the area. Also crows are a good indicator but not alway. Crows will usually follow coyotes as their eyesin the sky.

Knight and Hale have always said to pay attention to squirrels because they will often alert you to approaching deer.

I tend not to pay any attention to the squirells but pay all attention to the blue jays they are the biggest tattle tales in the woods. When a blue jay screams you know somethings commign and they will sometimes follow whats comming in.

Thanks fellows,
Makes sense to me.I never thought of that before.

classified..deeze nutz....you arent loozin it..you speak words of IRON...its true...its damn true

Well it makes me feel better that i am not the only one who thinks this way, but i told my wife about what i thought and she told me i need to spend a little less time in the trees and come back to earth.I DON"T THINK SO.

One thing I have learned when hearing leaves rustle is to listen for the sound of a breaking stick. Once you hear that, something heavy is walking, and it usually is a deer. (or another hunter) Squirrels, chipmunks, mice etc never break twigs when they go scampering around.

Of course, deer sometimes don't break any either...

I always like to see squirrels around because it tells me that the animals are active, and there is food in the area the deer are after. (unless the nuts are pignuts)

-c_str()

Its funny what some of you wrote about blue jays. When I was a kid my dad and hunting partners always said when the blue jays start squawking pay attention because they squawk at bucks.
Honestly, in almost 40 years of hunting and lots of it, I've never seen a blue jay squawking at a deer. Never, not once. I always think of that when I hear them andthey always seem to be just squawking at each other.

Dab

Not just squirels, but all wild animals have 1000x better senses than us (all but the brain) so i am suprised that more people do not pay attention to whatever: be it squirels barking, other deer looking in a direction, blue jays or other birds acting up somewhere, etc. They WILL tell you if something is near if they sence it. Also, if the woods suddenly goes dead, then there may be another preditor around be it human, coyote, fox, hawk etc.

Wonder why squirrels bark at deer anyway? They certainly aren't a threat.......competition for food maybe?