Squirel Farm West

[nybirdman]

I would get a couple Jack Russell's.

 

[gsganzer]

Find some folks that squirrel hunt with dogs. Squirrels are great to eat. Especially when they've been fattening up on almonds :licking:

 

[r porter]

put an underground fence around the trees and insert a hyper rat terrier or jack russel. and keep the 410 handy.

 

[bigdeano]

Can you shoot a pellet gun where you are? Some of them are very effective on small pests. I shot thousands of ground squirrels where I used to live with a pellet gun with a scope. When they get into an alfalfa field they multiply out of control and strip it bare. Mine had a lever under the barrel you pull down, put the pellet in, and close the lever. Don't get one you have to pump multiple times.

 

[oosik]

Strange - many have problems with squirrels - we have pine squirrels but very, very seldom see even one. Some years I will nail a Shed Spread butter container to one of my pine tree and put unshelled, unsalted peanuts in the container. Beyond the chipmunks going ape s**t over the peanuts - occasionally it WILL attract a pine squirrel. They are a completely different, solitary animal and quite interesting to watch. Once the peanuts are gone the pine squirrel never says around.

 

[jfh28]

I use to fight with the tree rats every winter......I have to put out bird food to keep the woodpeckers from drilling holes in the barn.......and there is no such thing as a squirrel proof feeder.......I tried them all.......eventually I gave in and started to feed them.......got some wildlife mix at tsc.....corn nuts sunflower seeds......and spread out about a cups worth on the ground in the morning away from the feeders......the squirrels are quite happy with that and leave the feeders alone.......although they are very clever I think they are inherently lazy so an easy no effort source of food keeps them fat and happy........might be something to try......Jack

 

[beowulf]

Update re our squirrel adventure. We have caught about 8 - 9 in the trap I linked to but I discovered a more entertaining way to address the problem. When ever I would shoot them with my 4-10 I might get one but then they would sound the alarm and they would all hide for a long time. . . it seems once they saw me it was over as far as getting any good shots. But today I took the screen off the bathroom window - a window that looks out into the small orchard. Well, within an hour I shot 14 of them. It seems they don't see me at all, or well enough, and even after I shoot one, more will be scampering in the orchard within minutes. And overall, not a bad way to entertain myself. 14 is only a small dent in the population, and only for those harvesting our orchard (there are others in other areas around the place) but 14 is better than zero.

 

[RSKY]

The summer that we killed nearly 200 off three acres my neighbor and I both saw a squirrel in his yard with half his tail and some fur missing on his back. Later in the week he saw the same or an identical squirrel on the road more than a half mile straight line away. Over the summer we saw the same squirrel several times but never shot him. It was all over the neighborhood in about a quarter mile circle.

You have to kill a bunch of squirrels over a large area to clean them out.

RSKY

 

[beowulf]

You have to kill a bunch of squirrels over a large area to clean them out.RSKY

Yeah, that would seem to be the case. There are fewer in the orchard than before but there are plenty of them scampering around behind the barn and in other areas. I went out this morning to gather up the dead ones from the orchard that were scattered around and getting ripe (I had to leave for town yesterday before I could get that done) but they were all gone. I assume coyotes came in last night and took them all.