Some squirrels, like the infamously cheeky red squirrel, store their nuts in a single stash or “midden,” and then defend their territory. Fox squirrels and gray squirrels bury many nuts in individual locations—that's scatter hoarding. ... Once the squirrel has made an assessment, it buries the nut.

Do squirrels find the nuts they bury?

According to the study "Grey Squirrels Remember the Locations of Buried Nuts," published in Princeton University's journal "Animal Behavior," squirrels use spatial memory often to locate stored food. ... Squirrels often bury their food near landmarks that aid them in remembering where they stored the food.

How does a squirrel find its buried nuts?

The rodents recognise ripe nuts by smell, much as we tell a ripe melon from one that's hard and tasteless. Squirrels also reject acorns and hazelnuts that have been hollowed out by weevils, whose larvae develop inside the protective shell.