Desperately need help with squirrels!

TxMex · #1 05/22/12, 09:59 AM

I'm desperate! The danged squirrels are eating all my strawberries, have just about denuded all my fruit trees and are now starting to eat my tame blackberries! Because of the orientation of my fruits and the oak trees where the squirrels live, shooting isn't a good option because I'd be shooting towards the road. I'm so desperate that I'm considering cutting down the big oak trees where they live!

Normally, I wouldn't use poison as I think it is a cruel death, but I'm at the point that I'll try anything! They are ignoring the nuts I've used as bait in the live traps.

Help! Help! Help!

shdybrady · #2 05/22/12, 10:11 AM

what comes to my mind is you have three options. Employ a natural predator, buy a dog to stay ontop of them, or get a pellt gun and get under the tree and shoot up. The natural predator I would suggest look for someone who has a hawk they hunt with. And have him come out to the property and have the hawk do is work. It may take some time but between him killing the squirrels and scaring them, just might push them out. I have a dog that keeps the squirrels off the ground. If they are in the trees I dont mind. Good luck

DarleneJ · #3 05/22/12, 10:18 AM

Try peanutbutter in the live traps.

Also, squirrels LOVE fresh basil. It is fragrant and draws them like cotton candy draws kids at a fair. I tried planting basil outside once. I planted my starts in the afternoon and they were gone by morning.

Ozarks Tom · #4 05/22/12, 10:22 AM

Shooting towards the road? How far from the road are you? Small pellets from a shotgun, like #8 or #6, will kill a squirrel out to about 40 yards but won't penetrate skin if the range is over 80 yards. Wouldn't you shoot them when they are up in a tree? If you do that your pellets go up and just come back down as a rain of pellets. Again no damage. Can't you hear a car coming? Don't shoot if there is a car on the road.

Leagle disclaimers: Don't try this at home. Some restrictions may apply. Not leagle in the state of California.

TxMex · #5 05/22/12, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nimrod

Shooting towards the road? How far from the road are you? Small pellets from a shotgun, like #8 or #6, will kill a squirrel out to about 40 yards but won't penetrate skin if the range is over 80 yards. Wouldn't you shoot them when they are up in a tree? If you do that your pellets go up and just come back down as a rain of pellets. Again no damage. Can't you hear a car coming? Don't shoot if there is a car on the road.

Leagle disclaimers: Don't try this at home. Some restrictions may apply. Not leagle in the state of California.

The trees are between my fence and the road. The neighbor directly across from me has about 50 hunting dogs tied out all over his property...including right across the road. My best chance of shooting them would be as they are sitting on top of my fence posts stuffing themselves with my organic fruits rather than trying to shoot them up in the tree.

I'll pick up some peanut butter today. Hmmm, I have cinnamon basil planted out in front of the house. Wonder why they haven't touched it?

Theront · #6 05/22/12, 10:44 AM

Ok, this is something that works quite well. Place and empty 5 gallon bucket upside down where it is safe to shoot for a distance. Place a piece of bread on the bottom of the bucket. The squirrel will find the bread on the bucket sit up while he chews on it and now employ your defense system. A pellet rifle is quite effective in the 20-30 yd range with this setup.

I have never used it myself, but a friend of mine had such an infestation they would overtake anything set outside. He would come to work each day with his squirrel stories. He would shoot one off the bucket and another would run up and grab the bread and would wait for his demise.

Of course this requires you to be accurate enough to shoot a squirrel sized target. If this is a problem let me know I can send you some links to some organizations that could help you with your accuracy problems. My teenage boys shoot peanuts off a a sheet of plywood edge at 25 meters with iron sights now.

Theront

4crumleys · #7 05/22/12, 11:51 AM

Buy a LARGE rat trap, nail it to the fence post and bait with peanut butter, the trap will kill the squirrel when it is sprung.

Timothy · #8 05/22/12, 12:04 PM

Cats worked for my mother. They liked hunting (and eating) squirrels. tim

bluemoonluck · #9 05/22/12, 02:30 PM

Buy a terrier! Squirrels are nothing more than flying rats.... and terriers hate rats

frankva · #10 05/22/12, 02:59 PM

Go out to the road and blast away back at the trees. That should rile the neighbor's dogs up. Might want to speak to them first.

GrannyG · #11 05/22/12, 03:05 PM

We had a squirrel in our attic the last few months, chewing, especially around the metal on the wood stove pipe....grating noise ! We tried and tried to humanely get it to move out, even threw moth balls in the small hole to get it out...and endured the smell in the house...nothing worked, so we reluctantly tried to poison it out...it thrived on it...so finally DH had it with the squirrel....he got his gun out, sat in a chair in out front yard, and blew it off the house to my cringing and hoping the neighbors did not get upset with us.....we have securely filled the hole so nothing can get in........

DryHeat · #12 05/22/12, 04:13 PM

You might also try a half slice of bread in a live trap. Maybe several HavAHearts from Ace Hardware would be a good investment. I have four for pack rats and occasional marauding ground squirrels and consider them one of my better prepping investments, even.

farmerDale · #13 05/22/12, 04:28 PM

You could try setting up a snare pole. Lean a strong 4" pole against a tree at a 30-40 degree angle, and make or buy some snares. No bait is necessary, as squirrels can not resist climbing these poles to inspect the area. Once snared, the jump off the pole and hang themselves. Quiet, effective, potent, and no bait or poison needed. Just remove the dead squirrels once in a while.

Or use the Rat trap as mentioned above. The oversized mouse type should work well.

Grandmotherbear · #14 05/22/12, 08:35 PM

When squirrels ruined our strawberry bed as a kid my father put out leg hold traps. This was in a suburban area. Lucky he didn't catch any kids. We ate squirrel fricassee a few times.

MushCreek · #15 05/23/12, 06:06 AM

New 'SSS' for squirrels: Shoot, Stew, Serve.

flowergurl · #16 05/23/12, 06:36 AM

You have all that free meat running around. Trap/ shoot them then clean them and eat them ! I ate many squirrels growing up and it never hurt me any. Think of it as a way to stretch your food dollars.

TxMex · #17 05/23/12, 09:19 AM

LOL....I'm a vegetarian. I'd hate to waste the meat though. I'll see if a neighbor would be interested. When I did eat meat, I enjoyed eating squirrel.

Yvonne's hubby · #18 05/23/12, 10:10 AM

I am with the "free meat source" crowd. I get more meat out of my garden than I ever do veggies!

TheMartianChick · #19 05/23/12, 10:16 AM

I use rat poison placed in little baggies up in the trees. Within a few days, I'm down to about 3 squirrels in my yard. I do this about 3 times per year. I don't have time to empty traps and firing a weapon is illegal in the city.

gapeach · #20 05/23/12, 01:12 PM

Squirrels are so bad here too. We have lots and lots of big Live Oak trees. Squirrels bury their acorns in all of my hanging baskets, flower pots and they eat my flower bulbs.

I bought Nature's Defense - Organic formula - professional strength - all purpose granular animal repellent - at Walmart in the garden shop.
They advertised it as Squirrel repellent. I put it up in my hanging baskets and all around the caladium bulbs.

It is advertised to repel 20 different animals. It is not poisonous and main ingredients are garlic, cinnamon, clove, white pepper, rosemary, thyme, pepperment, calcium carbonate.