Hardwoods are a must for gray squirrels. They require partial hardwood stands of trees old enough (25 years) to produce mast and provide dens (40 years). The squirrels home range is 2-8 acres. Reproduction is 2 1/2 times more successful in tree cavities than nests. Den entrance holes are usually 2 1/2-3 inches in diameter and den cavities 14 inches in depth. They should be waterproof and 15 feet or more above ground level. A squirrel needs about 1 1/2 lbs. of hard mast per week from September through March. Preferred foods are hickory nuts, beechnut, white oak group and black (or red) oak group acorns, in that order. Supportive foods are berries, soft mast, buds, seeds, and fungi. Red maple is particularly important in early spring and mulberry in May and June. Typical seasonal foods of gray squirrels are:

August-October:                       November-January:             May-July:
 Hickory & Pecan                       Hickory                       Buds & Flowers      
 Beech                                 Beech                         Berries
 Blackgum                              Walnut                        Mulberry
 Acorns (White oak group)†             Acorns (White oak group)†     Fungi
 Acorns (Black Oak Group)              Acorns (Black oak group)      Blackberry
 Sugarmaple seeds                      Blackgum                      Yellow Poplar
 Pine seeds                            Yellow Poplar
 Walnut                     
 Fungi                              February-April:
 Dogwood                              Acorns (Black oak group)†
 Hawthorn                             Hickory
 Hornbeam                             Beech
 Chinquapin                           Buds & Flowers (Maple, Oak, Elm, etc.)
 Yellow poplar                        Fungi
 Black Cherry                         Magnolia
                                      Cucumber
                                      

† The black (or red) oaks are characterized by bristles on the tips of leaf lobes and fruit matures at end of second season. White oak fruit matures at the end of the first growing season and leaf lobes are not bristle tipped

Interspersed open forests, brush, grass, and cultivated fields are the best habitat for quail, but they survive in many forest types. Choice nesting cover is one-year-old grass. They also nest at the edges of forest clearings 1/5-acre or larger. Eighty-five percent of the quail diet consists of seeds. Legume, grass, and weed seeds are most important foods (in that order). Normal range is 40 acres. Quail nest from April to September.

Important Food Species common to Piedmont and Coastal Plains forests, together with plant part utilized are:

Good turkey habitat contains mature stands of mixed hardwoods, groups of conifers, relatively open understories, scattered clearings, well-distributed water, and reasonable freedom from disturbance. Home range is about one square mile. Turkey diet consists primarily of grass and weed seeds in the fall, mast and forage in the winter and spring, and forage and insects in the summer. Acorns, dogwood berries, clover, and pine seed are the foremost foods. Soybeans, corn, chufas and pasture are the agricultural crops most frequently used. Openings are essential for brood range.

Food of Wild Turkey:

This game bird is found in the southern Appalachian Mountains and the Cumberland and Appalachian Plateaus, usually above 2,000 feet in elevation. It prospers in the early stages of forest succession but occurs in mature stands as well. Grouse use fruit, seed, catkins, buds, and green parts of over 300 plants for food. Broods require insects from late May through July. Thickets, vine tangles and dense shrub growth are used for escape cover. Nesting cover is usually open understories near drumming logs and openings or old logging roads that serve as brood range. Home range is 40 to 50 acres.

Some Favorite plant foods of grouse are:

Deer Survive in most forest and non-forest conditions and types. The early stages of timber rotation and intermediate cuts produce abundant deer browse and fruits. During the fall and winter, deer prefer hard mast (acorns, pecans, beechnuts) and evergreen forage. Rapid-growing green browse and herbage are principle spring and summer foods. Deer require about 6 to 8 lbs. of green weight food daily each 100 lbs. weight. Their home range seldom exceeds 300 acres where food, cover, and water are interspersed. Prescribed burning and fertilization attract deer because of improved nutrition and palatability of food plants.

Important deer browse species by physiographic province, in order of preference are:

Seedling or Open: Sapling: Pole: Young Sawtimber: Mature Sawtimber:

Seedling or Open: Sapling: Pole: Young Sawtimber: Mature Sawtimber:

Seedling or Open: Sapling: Pole: Young Sawtimber: Mature Sawtimber:

Seedling or Open: Sapling: Pole: Young Sawtimber: Mature Sawtimber:

Seedling or Open: Sapling: Pole: Young Sawtimber: Mature Sawtimber: