I live in the woods in middle TN and when I first moved here there were squirrels on every tree, that is a lot because I am almost totally surrounded by trees for miles! Anyway, for several years the squirrels were everywhere. then one year I noticed the squirrels were just GONE! I mean NO squirrels anywhere around my house. I finally decided they must have just moved, I don't know why...I have hickory nut and walnut trees all around me and there were nuts on the trees and a pond and creek for water. I guess they just moved to a different area for some unknown squirrel reason. They did eventually move back into my area but they were gone for about a year. Weird!! I thought squirrels would be like a lot of wild animals and live in a certain 'home range' and not cross over much into other squirrels 'home range'. I actually missed seeing them hop up onto the trees when I opened the front door.