Pat,

Cat squirrel is just another name for grey squirrel.

When I was a kid back in the 60's I use to squirrel hunt quite a lot. Back in those days there seemed to be a lot more fox squirrels than there are today. Now about all I see in the woods are cat squirrels. I don't know what the reason for that is. Back home in Ark. the woods are full of cat squirrels... more squirrels than I have seen in many years. They say that squirrel hunting is on the decline. I guess that might account for why their numbers have risen over the past several years.

As far as acorns go, I don't know if they are a preferred food source for squirrels. It seems squirrels prefer hickory nuts, pecans, pine burrs and beech mast over acorns. Of course I could be wrong. It just seems I have seen a lot more squirrels eating all of the above more often than acorns. Even so, with this year's bumper crop of acorns it looks like all the acorn eating critters will have plenty to eat for a little while longer, at least until all the acorns have either been eaten, buried, sprouted or soured.