season of pine cones

The other day I brushed up against a pine cone hanging low on a branch in the front yard. It felt like it had been coated in honey; very sticky. I wonder why that is? You would think that pine cones would be fairly unobtrusive but they're not. They make a real racket as they fall out of the trees outside the house. Sometimes the only noise here is the sound of a squirrel, high in one of the spruces outside, chewing on a pine cone.