Many animals store food for the winter months. Gray squirrels bury nuts one at a time, by first digging a hole three-inches deep, in which to place the nut, and then covering the hole with dirt followed by leaves. During the month of October, a gray squirrel will bury several hundred nuts for the winter months. Even with ten inches of snow covering the ground, a squirrel is able to locate buried nuts by smell. Those nuts not found will sprout the following spring.
Although the chipmunk is considered a hibernator, this tiny rodent also stores a cache of food for winter. During autumn, the chipmunk begins storing food, which could be as much as a half bushel of nuts and seeds, in its burrow. In October, or even as late as November, the chipmunk enters its burrow; plugs the entrance at ground level and goes into hibernation. Unlike most hibernators, the chipmunk periodically awakens during the winter months to feed upon the stored food and then goes back to sleep.
In the fall, the blue jay caches seeds and acorns under the leaf duff, and limb crotches and bark crevices of trees. During the winter months, the blue jay visits the caches; however, many are never found.
Chickadees, titmice and nuthatches also store food in bark crevices, curled leaves and knotholes. These hoards are relied on when food becomes scarce.
The northern shrike (butcher bird), which migrates south into Pennsylvania, kills small mammals and smaller birds and then hangs its victims on either a thorn bush or barbwire fence. Later, the butcher bird returns to feed.
The beaver feeds upon the inner bark of trees, especially the aspen trees. After cutting down a tree, the beaver will cut the branches from the tree and then drag the branches to the dam, where they will be anchored in the mud at the bottom of the pond. After the pond freezes over, the beaver can still get to its cache of food, which will be carried back to the lodge.
The bobcat, which stays active all winter long, also stores food by covering the carcass of its prey with leaves, twigs, etc. During the winter months, bobcats will occasionally kill a small deer, or perhaps come upon either a deer that had been shot and not located by the hunter or a deer that had been hit by a car and crawled off to die. The bobcat feeds on a carcass until sated and then covers the carcass, with leaves and snow, to be preserved by the cold temperatures. The bobcat will return to feed until the carcass is completely gone.
A fox often kills more than it can eat. To preserve the kill, the fox will dig a hole for the extra food, cover it with dirt and then urinate on the cache to mark the area. Later, the fox will return to feed upon the food. (Fox trappers will use this same method to set a trap, including the using of fox urine to lure the animals into a trap.)
While the wild animals are busy caching their winter food supply, many humans are also storing food and replenishing the wood pile for the winter months ahead.