They are chewing everything I own, including dock cleats, plastic furniture, gas caps, battery anodes.

I have a nice collection of .22s but I can't bring myself to kill them. If I do manage to dispatch one I feel guilty.

What is the matter with me?

Get a live trap and let them go in a public park miles away. I had to do this with a family of chipmunks making sink holes in my yard and pissing off my dog.

Stop being a little bitch and shoot em

It’s really your choice. Kill/remove them or keep putting up with them tearing your stuff up. Which do you prefer?

I could but this isn't approved here in Georgia. I have a hunting license and can take 12 a day! season open until Feb.28.

Moving them isn't legal but no one would know (but me).

quote:

Stop being a little bitch and shoot em

I know! I'm such a wimp.

quote:

Originally posted by 9x18:
I could but this isn't approved here in Georgia. I have a hunting license and can take 12 a day! season open until Feb.28.

Moving them isn't legal but no one would know (but me).

Who's going to know?

The squirrelinator trap (https://squirrelinator.com/) is the bomb. Available in a ton of places, online and otherwise.

A few tips:

1) Set it on a piece of plywood (or whatever) about the size of the trap. This keeps the little buggers from just digging under, then eating the bait when it falls into their hole.

2) Set a piece of plywood on top of it which hangs over 4-6” on all sides. This allows the little monsters to “get under cover” and feel secure enough to nose around until they figure out how to get in instead of giving up because they don’t want to be exposed to raptors too long.

3) Take some wire or a cable and secure the trap to a T-post or something else secure. This will keep the coyotes from carting your trap off once you get a few squirrels in it.

Once you have caught them, if it is legal in your location to move your pest problem elsewhere (or you don’t care whether or not it is) and you’re okay with making your problem someone else’s, relocate at your leisure.

Most folks I know toss the trap in a water trough for a bit, then empty it where the scavengers can take advantage. Except my neighbor, who for some reason thinks shooting them while in the trap is a better idea. To each his own I guess…

I have a couple of old grays that live in big knot hole in our maple tree. Been hanging around for years. They are not tearing things up and pretty much mind their own business. Red ones are different. Malicious little bastards that get into everything! Those are shot on sight. They are abundant up at our lake cabin. If you don't dispatch them they will be in the cabin an hour after we leave. If you trap them and release them you better not let anyone in the area know or you will be dispatched.

Just get one of those cage traps, bait it with peanut butter and relocate the squirrels several miles away. I had a squirrel decide the engine compartment of my truck would be a great place to build a nest and chewing on wires was a great snack before bed. I didn't want to kill the squirrels either so I caught over a dozen and relocated them to a sanctuary about 10 miles away where they were actually safer. They can cause a lot of damage if they get into your house or like me the engine compartment of my truck and at that time you need to go on the offensive and get rid of them.

My neighborhood is infested with tree rats. I look out my front window and count 3 or 4, look out my back window and count 4 or 5. We used to have redtailed hawks that kept the population down but haven't seen them in about 7 years.
They love me because of my gardening and bird feeders. Nice soft dirt for them to dig in.
My Crosman pellet gun, I would pump it just once, thump him in the butt, stupid SOB would come back to the same spot in twenty seconds.
I gave up, they win! They win.
I just look out the window and watch them chase each other around and dig up my flower beds.

Blast those tree rats. My Gamo has about 50 notches on it's stock.

You wouldn't let a human destroy your shit, would you?

How about a repellent ?

Something like this . I have no experience using anything like this but might work for you.

https://diypestcontrol.com/bon...gEAQYAiABEgKzjfD_BwE

I was once told that everyone in rural Oklahoma loved the deer and had disdain for the hunter, that is until they hit a deer with their BMW.

My dad’s grandmother used to make squirrel brains and scrambled eggs when dad was a kid.

quote:

Originally posted by 808:
How about a repellent ?

Something like this . I have no experience using anything like this but might work for you.

https://diypestcontrol.com/bon...gEAQYAiABEgKzjfD_BwE

I've tried store bought repellent, crushed red pepper, cinnamon, crushed oyster shells.
They just laugh at me.
A couple of my neighbors feed them. I walk out my front door, a rat will race down the tree trunk, come to within one foot of me and look up at me thinking I will feed him. No fear at all. One day I'm afraid he's going to climb up my leg, those little bastards have sharp claws!

This worked good for me.

Animal Stopper 073095, 32 Fl Oz (Pack of 1), Messina Wildlife SQ-U-016 Squirrel Stopper 32-Ounce Trigger Bottle, Organic https://a.co/d/gjPrm63

I grew up in the country and hunted as a youngster. Squirrels were game and not pests. I still carry that mindset and see them as a game animal even though they are truly just trouble.

also, they aren't great table fare .

I just need to reset my thinking and dispatch them with the same prejudice I have towards mice and rats.

How will you feel if they get in your attic and chew wiring ? A friend lost her entire home due to this very situation. Another friend had thousands of dollars damage done to the engine compartment of a Mercedes he was storing from squirrels chewing every wire and rubber insulation under the hood.
Squirrels attacked my attic and did a thousand dollars damage to my gables and some wiring .
Squirrels are not your friend.

quote:

Originally posted by 9x18:
I grew up in the country and hunted as a youngster. Squirrels were game and not pests. I still carry that mindset and see them as a game animal even though they are truly just trouble.
also, they aren't great table fare .

I just need to reset my thinking and dispatch them with the same prejudice I have towards mice and rats.

All of that is true...
They can be eaten, but they aren't great eating.
I dispatch of them because they are just trouble like mice and rats. I have no ill feelings about it.
I don't eat them, I just put them in a plastic grocery bag and throw them in the trash. No matter how many I kill, it doesn't seem to reduce their numbers.

Hillbilly Wannabe, Ha.

A real hillbilly would be having squirrel for dinner.

Squirrel Recipe