And here I was, thinking chipmunks were singers

ALBANY — When you sit in a stand trying to pray up a deer, your senses are frequently more finely attuned than they might generally be. You listen for the slightest hint of rustling in the leaves on the ground surrounding your stand. It is not unusual in this situation to mistake the sound of squirrels scampering across the woodland floor for that of deer trying to sneak past you in the fading afternoon light.

When I first began hunting in Terrell County several years ago, I routinely heard something moving through the litter on the woodland floor. Even with my poor hearing, I was relatively certain that the interloper was not a deer. However, try as I might, I could not see what was rustling through the nearby leaves. Finally, in the fading light I saw a small mammal scurry past me only to stop and pick up the acorn from a nearby white oak.

My first thought was that it was a flying squirrel coming down for an early snack. However, when I noticed the stripes running the length of its tail, I realized it was a chipmunk. I was truly amazed as I had never seen a chipmunk in all my years hunting in Dougherty County. Over the past decade, I have enjoyed the antics of these little rodents as they fill their cheeks with acorns before scurrying to a nearby burrow to hide them.

Looking at maps of the range of the Eastern Chipmunk, it does appear to cut through SOWEGA, limiting their apparent range to the northwestern counties in the region. They are easily distinguished by their reddish-brown fur with white and black stripes running along both sides of their back. Chipmunks are very capable of climbing trees but construct their nests in underground burrows.

Chipmunks live a solitary life except during their mating season. They’re apparently also tasty because resting at the bottom of the food chain, everything from an avian raptor to a larger mammal seems to enjoy them as a snack.