Few other foods attract squirrels more quickly than hickory nuts. So that is your key to success. Find the nuts and most likely you will find the squirrels, especially during the early season. Later on, squirrels will move to mast-bearing oak trees and even soft mast, including grapes and dogwood berries. I am beginning to see acorns, but it is a bit early to tell what kind of crop it will be.
Most soft mast looks promising.
In fact, food may be so abundant that it will scatter squirrels. Preseason scouting will give you the edge. Surveys conducted by Mike Fies, small game research biologist for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, reveal that squirrels are most plentiful in the northern and eastern portions of the state. The west doesn't fare as well, but I have been spotting impressive numbers of squirrels in the mountains. In most Southwest Virginia counties it is open Sept. 2-Jan.