Squirrels

this is biously to  by JohnRoberts
your  Squirrels are in so many threads, didnt wanna wake anyone up  :

so,
how is the war  going against the Squirrels in your backyard, eating your fruit!
last time u had some air pistols
whats the news
:

kambo said:

this is biously to  by JohnRoberts
your  Squirrels are in so many threads, didnt wanna wake anyone up  :

so,
how is the war  going against the Squirrels in your backyard, eating your fruit!

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Front and side yard eating my pecans.  This year I upped my game and added security cameras pointing at four of my pecan trees so i can see them before going outside.  Perhaps they are camera shy because I have not shot one this summer so far. Pecan season is not in full swing yet, but last year by this time squirrels were already trashing my green pecans (even more irritating).

Earlier this spring I paid a tree guy to take down a bunch of my pine tree branches that squirrels were using as a high road to get to my pecan trees. Now they have to use the yard, down at ground level, which is not their cup of tea.

My neighbor across the street, who is more of a red neck than me by several miles, killed two this week... I thanked him, because that means I didn't have too. He has pecan trees too. I think he uses .22 cal but the squirrels don't much care about caliber, after they're dead. 

last time u had some air pistols

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0.177 air rifle with scope...  Gamo

whats the news
:

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No news yet which is good news... I do not take pleasure from killing critters. If they just stay away, I'm OK. If anything I may need to brush up on my aim since I haven't drawn a bead on squirrel for several months. This will heat up in another month or two.

Earlier this spring I caught one down on the grass in my yard (squirrels also eat green pine combs). I didn't get a good shot at him but pointed and shot as he was running away... He ran out of my yard, across the street into my neighbors yard... but did not stop running there. I lost sight of him maybe 100 yards further away than that, and still running. So I guess I got his attention.  8)

JR

sounds like fun  ;D

kambo said:

sounds like fun  ;D

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Not really.... If I do kill one then I need to dispose of the body... They are heavier than you think...  I do not cook them despite stereotypes of everybody down south cooking possum and squirrel. Reminds me of a squirrel hunting joke****. I have neighbors tell me how good they taste, but decline my offers when I kill one. 

If I put them in the garbage they stink like holy hell after only a few days... I have burned a few on my fallen tree branch fire, if I have one going.
====
I am also fighting tent caterpillars on my pecan trees.. I need to get one of those flame thrower drones, so I can burn them out (actually insecticide would probably work).

JR

**** OK these three hunters are out in the woods and they come upon a clearing . In the middle of the clearing they see a man making ugly faces up at the tree and splat a squirrel drops out of the tree... He makes another ugly face and another squirrel drops. The three hunters interrupt him and ask what is he doing. He answers that "he is uglying them out of the tree. He used to let his wife do it but she tore them up too bad. "  ;D ;D

but did not stop running there. I lost sight of him maybe 100 yards further away than that, and still running. So I guess I got his attention

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Ha. I'd like to imagine squirrels can learn.  Either it's a reduction in squirrel population around my parts, or I'd swear they've learned to navigate around cars better.

boji said:

Ha. I'd like to imagine squirrels can learn.  Either it's a reduction in squirrel population around my parts, or I'd swear they've learned to navigate around cars better.

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They can learn, but hunger is a powerful motivation, and there are new squirrels every year. I see lots of them in neighbor's yards but not so many in my yard, and that's a good thing.

I hope I have taught more than few to stay away from my pecans... I know about a half dozen squirrels that are gone permanently.

I killed one squirrel last year that may have been sick... or was in a feeding frenzy... Usually after I miss, they are gone before I can get a clean second shot. This one just stayed up in the tree and kept eating... Giving me a do-over was not a very smart idea.  8)

JR

A buddy of mine used two lenghts of galvanised wire to secure a perimeter around the base of his raised veg beds for slugs .The two wires are spaced apart about 1cm and run in a loop around the lower edge of the bed ,its connected to either side of a 9 volt cell housed in a plastic enclosure . Seems to work well although Im not sure if a mini 9volt is he best thing , maybe an ever ready 12 volt lamp battery would be more appropriate as leakage could be signifigant in the rainey climate we have here . definately seems to work though .

Maybe an insulated 'electric fence' out an inch or two from the trunk  and above human reach on your tree's could be just the ticket John, 55vac is about right to spark him without any danger of injury ,a simple battery opperated device like that could save an awefull lot of accidental shoot em up's ,much smarter and more humane ways to do pest control than guns of any sort nowadays.

> If I put them in the garbage they stink like holy hell after only a few days...

My radon fan quit. A year later we were selling the house so I went-in to see why it stopped. The saw hit fur, and then stink so bad it was all I could do to bag it.

So when this house needed furnace vents I *SCREENED* them.

Squirrels have been scarce this year. But heard a porcupine 8 feet up in the pear tree. Got pix. Hit him with a  shovel (yeah, the quills shed easy). Threw firewood at him. Squirted vinegar. Stubborn bastid was not going to leave while we were harassing him. But that night he did leave and has not been back.

Must be a lot of porcupine this year. Every day I see a dinner on the roadside.

If you are hungry in the woods and have no weapon or snare, "they" say a porky is by far the easiest meat. They don't run, don't fight, just turn their back on you (which is a nasty weapon). A good stick to the head should stun it... and then what? I don't see how to butcher a porcupine without heavy equipment.

You get kabab sticks out of the bargain too.  ;D

Bit OT, but I read an article few months back where they subjected pregnant mice to a yellow square on an LCD screen, followed up with a nasty shock. Controls were also pregnant and saw the same type of yellow square, but did not receive shocks.
When the mice had their babies, they hooked up electrodes to each of the younglings brains and flashed a yellow square at them.  The babies that came from the mothers who were shocked were purported to have elevated neural activity in threat response regions for the color yellow. Fascinating if true!

Can't find the article atm, but this is near to the same idea, however the pups studied were already brought to term.
https://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/epigenetics/rats/
"Through her licking behavior, a mother rat can write information onto her pups' DNA in a way that completely bypasses eggs and sperm. In a sense, her nurturing behavior tells her pups something about the world they will grow up in."

I saw a doc on tv before about a guy who lived wild up in Canada for a month or two . He wound up trying to butcher and eat a skunk , by the time he got it skinned the stench had putrified the entire carcass , he did manage to eat it in the end but there was lots of gagging and tears.

Ive mentioned the robin redbreast before , here in Ireland he has almost no fear of humans , in continental Europe the little robin was taken for food during hard times and  has a built in fear of humans there . I wonder if you took an egg from the continental bird and had it raised by the tame ones we have here ,would the bird still have the innate fear of humans built in  .

if'n they cant take the high road, you can block the low road;wrap some tin sheeting around the trunk. then if the ground is kept clean of pecans they will have no accessible food.

I got black walnuts shooting up as bad as weeds cause of the tree and ground squirrels. It is really hazardous when the nuts fall-- Like ball bearings and the dogs dig ankle-breaking trenches going after moles.

have had little luck shooting into trees with .22 pellets but high accuracy during rabbit season

shabtek said:

if'n they cant take the high road, you can block the low road;wrap some tin sheeting around the trunk. then if the ground is kept clean of pecans they will have no accessible food.

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I will have to see how they react to the new conditions...

I got black walnuts shooting up as bad as weeds cause of the tree and ground squirrels. It is really hazardous when the nuts fall-- Like ball bearings and the dogs dig ankle-breaking trenches going after moles.

have had little luck shooting into trees with .22 pellets but high accuracy during rabbit season

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I do not have great shot efficiency, but the 0.177 will drop them if I can hit them. Usually have to get them with my first shot because pretty much impossible to get them on the run after a miss. Forcing them to use the ground will help a little, because the high road was fast and easy for them, but they will still be moving quickly.

JR

Shooting small animals in a residential area with a rifle...  Over here the people attempting something like that would usually be teenagers, and not the smarter ones...  They would end up with community service, an adult with a criminal record.

Surely there are better ways of dealing with the big bad squirrel...

living sounds said:

Shooting small animals in a residential area with a rifle...  Over here the people attempting something like that would usually be teenagers, and not the smarter ones...  They would end up with community service, an adult with a criminal record.

Surely there are better ways of dealing with the big bad squirrel...

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WWJS (what would Johnny say)....  ;D ;D ;D

Use your imagination, probably far worse than I would come up with. 

Prost.  8)


JR

they look cute!
where there is no fruit to protect  ;D

we have couple buzzing around here 

> wrap some tin sheeting around the trunk.

May discourage a squirrel. I knew when the porcupine was here because I heard him climbing the tin and chicken-wire around the tree (this was not his first snack at our tree's expense).

I dunno John's neck of the woods (except it isn't really woods). Up here in the sticks of Maine, gunshots are an everyday thing. One of the further neighbors shoots dozens of shotgun shells a day. That would be the next step for my porcupine, except I don't want to have to drag the carcass way back in the woods.

living sounds said:

Surely there are better ways of dealing with the big bad squirrel...

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Terriers

PRR said:

> wrap some tin sheeting around the trunk.

May discourage a squirrel. I knew when the porcupine was here because I heard him climbing the tin and chicken-wire around the tree (this was not his first snack at our tree's expense).

I dunno John's neck of the woods (except it isn't really woods). Up here in the sticks of Maine, gunshots are an everyday thing. One of the further neighbors shoots dozens of shotgun shells a day. That would be the next step for my porcupine, except I don't want to have to drag the carcass way back in the woods.

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I am in a rural area but not out in the country. I would not be comfortable shooting a long rifle in any direction from my property. I was taught 22 cal long could carry 1 mile. That said I can often hear gun fire mostly from one neighbor...(he killed two squirrels last week). I think he uses 22 cal birdshot on his squirrels.

When I was a kid growing up in NJ we routinely fired 22 longs in our back yard, despite living in a suburb of NYC, our property abutted  a reservoir watershed pine forest. We were taught gun safety from a very young age. We were encouraged to shoot the wood chucks who would tear up mother's garden. 

JR 

I just nailed my first squirrel of this year... I found out a few weeks ago after missing way too many squirrels that the hex cap screws holding my scope onto my pellet rifle were loose (not good for aim). Last weekend I printed out a paper target and taped it to a board. I used my laser bore sight to get on the paper, then put some metal into the paper target to finish dialing it in. My shot group was not as tight as I'd like (I'm old), but the sight is dialed in good enough to drop the first squirrel I saw today with one shot.

The squirrels eat my pecans later in the season and I find that unacceptable. The first year I bought this rifle (Gamo) I nailed 4 or 5 squirrels, but nothing for the last year or two. I am now sighted in and ready for the tree rats.

JR