Photo by Bill Lea.

If one constant applies in squirrel hunting, it’s this: From September well into October, the little gamesters will be cutting hickory nuts throughout much of the eastern half of the country. Depending on the variety of hickory and the elevation, this is likely to be the case in early September, when the leaves are mostly green with just a touch of yellow here and there, and certain to be taking place in late October, when the leaves are golden and about to drop from the trees.

Indeed, if you can spot a patch of gold among the forest canopy and wend you way toward it, you can get into some fantastic sport with gray and fox squirrels.

My family lives on a rural tract, and I frequently go out the back door and head for the woods. On one particular occasion, my destination was preordained -- a lone mockernut hickory (Carya tomentosa) that grows not far behind our house.

When I arrived at the tree, the sounds coming from its crown quickly drew my eyes upward. At first, all I heard was the telltale raspy racket of a bushytail’s teeth grinding away at the hull of a hickory nut. Then came the noise of slivers of shaved hulls cascading through the canopy. Next, a bough slightly trembled, and its leaves shook as the creature jumped to another limb.

The animal soon found another ripe nut and began to repeat the above process. One of the most pleasurable aspects of hunting the hickories is waiting for just the right moment to shoot, as this particular squirrel was hidden behind a large limb.

Inevitably, though, he finished off his prize, and his head popped up as he determined where to move next. It was then that I touched off my scattergun, and the squirrel tumbled to the ground. My favorite part was yet to come, as the meat from this bushytail would simmer along with potatoes, carrots, turnips, and onions in a crockpot for six hours.

The squirrel-hickory connection is strong throughout the region, and if sportsmen learn to identify the various trees and where they grow, they can experience some satisfying action.

For example, the mockernut thrives in moist uplands, often in stands with oaks. Its compound leaves feature seven or nine leaflets and have a pleasing odor when crushed. Shiny dark green in high summer, the leaves show an occasional splash of yellow early in September and, like those of most other members of the genus Carya, turn to gold by sometime in October.

In the summer, the nut’s round outer hull is thick and dark green. Its turning to brown seems to signify ripeness to gray squirrels, who diligently labor to remove the husk in order to arrive at the light brown nut itself. Once more, some gnawing is required for the critters to reach the nutmeat inside.

We humans have no idea what a mockernut hickory nut tastes like to squirrels, but I can attest that the flavor is slightly sweet and quite appealing. I regularly gather mockernut hickory nuts both to snack on and for my wife Elaine to use as the prime ingredient in nut bread.

Another important member of the family is the shagbark hickory (Carya ovata). The most visible characteristic of this tree is the rough, shaggy bark that often hangs in light gray curved strips. This species sports five green leaflets that, come autumn, have more of a golden-brown hue than the mockernut’s do.

Shagbark nuts are noticeably larger than those of the mockernut; the former feature hulls that can be as much as 2 1/2 inches long but are more commonly less than 2 inches. This tree thrives in both the moist soil of valleys and in upland slopes, where it sometimes dwells near mockernut trees. But from my experience, the shagbarks never seem to be as numerous as the mockernuts, and the squirrels always seem to visit the latter first in September.