Non Lethal Squirrel Deterents?????

[FISH4BUGS]

I have had it. A new world's record was set this morning with 14 gray squirrels feeding on the bird feeders and corn on the ground. We have 5 feeders and put out corn for the turkeys.
I could easily pop the squrirels with my scoped Marlin 80 and CB caps, but they are just trying to make a living like the rest of us.
Is there anything I can do to keep them away without shooting all of them?

[ErikO]

Well, getting an outdoor cat would work but that'd not fix the birds' ability to get to their food. lol

Squirell feeders that are easier to get to than the bird feeders might help. http://www.woodworkersworkshop.com/r...ex.php?cat=474

[markinalpine]

My oldest brother started a war with the local squirrels and raccoons over his bird feeders. What he ended up with (sorry, no pictures) was two 4X4 uprights 8" tall (10' posts embedded in the ground) about 4' apart. He placed 4" PVC over the bottom 3.5' of these posts. Then he built a platform between the two posts for ground feeding birds, and covered the platform with a shed roof hung between the tops of the posts, and hung various tube feeders and hummingbird feeders from this roof. Everything was working great until the deer moved in and trashed it, so he rebuilt the platform using 2X4s and plywood, and enclosed the whole platform with wire fence (12 gauge with about 4" square openings, IIRC) to keep the deer off.
He kind of went a little nuts!
Mark

[Blacksmith]

You might want to shoot some of them as they can be destructive. Chewed up the wireing in a car and did over $500 damage to the fuel system of my truck.

But here are some suggestions. My son has a Yankee Flipper and it is entertaining.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEW9TG6Dcgg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgDa_cpgHWs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5-d3rZZ-_M

Blacksmith

[Dale in Louisiana]

We had 'em attack the control wiring to one of my 7000-horsepower compressors. They'd crawl into the cable tray and start chewing away. My tech started out spraying Tabasco until he got some 'official' squirrel repellent. Problem has stopped.

Another one cost us a two-day outage when he took down a transformer. He didn't survive the flash.

I offered to spend the weekend in the station with my 10-22, but they pointed out that I was inside city limits...

dale in Louisiana

[Tom-ADC]

I use mothballs to keep cats and other critters out of the garden and flower beds.

[oneokie]

Well, getting an outdoor cat would work but that'd not fix the birds' ability to get to their food. lol

Squirell feeders that are easier to get to than the bird feeders might help. http://www.woodworkersworkshop.com/r...ex.php?cat=474

Have you personally witnessed what happens when a cat takes on a squirrel?

[ErikO]

Have you personally witnessed what happens when a cat takes on a squirrel?

Only a Maine Coon. Squirrel stood no chance once that big guy got ahold of him. It did take a while, but the cat suffered no damage. Never knew just how much blood there was in a squirrel...

[quilbilly]

Cayenne or hotter pepper powder mixed in with the food I am told works and doesn't affect the birds. After I moved our bird feeder that is on a skinny metal post farther away from our deck (about 4 feet), the squirrels quit bothering it but ours are the little native red squirrels, not those big alien gray squirrels.

[Pepe Ray]

Brunswick Stew

[Houndog]

Fried Squirrel makes a mighty good entre for dinner!

[DCM]

Short of lead poisoning we have found the twirl a squirrel to work best.

I tried for a long time to "train" them with a low velocity target air rifle to no avail.
We put a piece of heating pipe around the post to our XL size feeder, that was fun to watch for a couple of days but they learned to leap from the nearest perch with some success.
I don't shoot what I can't eat and the wife refuses to cook them but she does want them gone at almost any cost so we got the twirl a squirrel and they don't go near the feeder hanging from it.

[bearcove]

Magnum pellet gun and squirrel stew. They require a predator if food is available. The young ones aren't bad.

[bearcove]

PS. don't know any non-lethal methods. 22lr is best.

[Mk42gunner]

Have you personally witnessed what happens when a cat takes on a squirrel?

Yes. Sad to say that my Mom's house cat has gotten more squirrels in town than I have in the timber over the last few years. She is teaching her current crop of two kittens to do the same.

Cats don't have a problem killing squirrels, suprisingly enough. Cottontails are just a little bit too big so it takes them a while to kill a rabbit.

Robert

[dragonrider]

Here's what you need.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=fDng7wajzHA

[MtGun44]

How about rigging up a fence charger to some sort of a barrier, maybe a structure with
some insulators and string wire on the insulators and every other wire in the array being
grounded?

Bill

[contender1]

I am a state certified Animal Damage Control Agent. I deal with these questions all the time. Most of my squirrel work is to deal with the ones that have already invaded homes & are causing damage.
Chemical deterrents are, at best marginally effective. Even the "tried & true" mothballs do not work. (I know, I know, some folks swear by them. I just happen to see too many cases where they are tried & do not work.)
Bird feeders are a constant battle for homeowners.
A squirrel can leap up to 8 ft horizonally. It can leap up to 5 ft verticllly.
Think about these measurements when constructing a squirrel proof bird feeding station. First, a pair of metal poles, (slick ones,) or good wooden ones about 10 ft long with metal flashing wrapped around them, sunk in the ground approximately 7 ft apart, AT A 60 DEGREE ANGLE OPPOSING EACH OTHER. (Think of a "Y" without the bottom leg.) That will make the tops of the poles more than 7 ft apart. A 1/4" steel cable tightly strung inbetween each pole top. Attach a clamp for the feeder to the center of the cable where it can not slide to either end. On the cable inbetween each end and the clamp, add a 3" diameter piece of slick metal lightweight pipe. (The pipes should be about 1-2 ft long each.) These act as rollers if & when a squirrel actually gets on the pole or cable. If they get in the roller, it will roll them off. A short step ladder can be used to attach & fill the feeder. Just make sure the bottom of the feeder is at least 6 ft off the ground.

Then there is the guy I know who built a homemade catapult to launch the squirrel out into the lake,, as he had a lakefront home,,,!

[firefly1957]

I can tell you that 2 "AA" batteries connected to a old cameras strobe circuit can be fatal to a squirrel. I though it would just shock them and recharge but it killed instantly. If you have that many squirrels at feeder it is time to thin the herd I just know of no other way to prevent damage to nearby occupied spaces as if you cut them off from their food they will look elsewhere!

[crappiejig]

I have squirrells eating the handrails on my deck!They act like it's like crack or something.Shot a few of them with BB"s, and they just come back.I have new lumber to replace they old handrails, but i don't want to replace them if they are just gonna eat those too.Any suggestions?????