Did you ask your significant other if you smelled like skunk after you did this…
It really work. When a skunk is not spooked, it does not spray. If you look around, you will find that many use this method.
I’m teasing you. I’ve done the same thing - in various forms. I’ve caught a whole family of 4 skunks in one trap.
Gregory,
Does the squirrelinator trap work well for you against ground squirrels? Do they find a way to escape from the trap? Is it easy do dispose of the dead ones (take them out of the trap)? How do you secure the trap to the ground? What do you use for the bait?
Thanks!
The squirrelinator trap works quite well. I’ve caught as many as 10 in one setting. They don’t escape from the trap. It is a live trap, but a pellet gun takes care of that. Of course, if you leave them trapped too long in the sun, they fry and die on their own. The trap is fairly heavy, the ground squirrels can’t move the trap, however birds of prey have picked the trap up and dropped it 50 yards away. I just stick a heavy rock on top. For bait I use chicken feed, but in general you can use whatever your squirrels are going after in the trap. I’ve even used watermelon. Disposing of the dead is easy, flip the top and dump them out, provided they haven’t died with their jaws locked around the cage wire, in which case you need a stick to unclench their jaws.
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Trapped another Trash Panda this morning…
That’s 4 for the year so far…
When I started this project the last thing I thought I’d be dealing with in Brooklyn NY are Raccoons.
I shot 2 more rabbits last week and missed another one last evening,
but he’ll come back, and I won’t miss the next time.
Reviews on Amazon complain that squirrels do escape
I’ve never experienced any prison breaks with ground squirrels (my primary application). Perhaps an arboreal species might be smart enough to free itself. On the other hand, I’m not sitting there watching the trap all day, I bait it in the morning and then dump out the squirrels when I come home, I’m at about a squirrel every other day now, down from peak of 10 a day.
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Squirrels can adapt surprisingly well. Recently I have had many fewer catches in my Kania traps, the way you have to put your head into a dark box is a harder “sell” for the squirrels. I am still doing very well with the tube traps though and recently ordered two more of them - while they are working the squirrel count is massive this year. I never had much luck at all with the live traps but I should put a few out again just for fun - all they are doing now is gathering dust in the garage.
Praying for the nut crop soon! Once it appears I can mostly forget about squirrels until the following summer.
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This year the varmints are luckily at a minimum. We have a Beagle and a Golden Retriever, and my daughter is home for awhile with her 2 Shepards.
Had a brave rabbit streak thru the apple orchard and veggie garden awhile back, with both Shepards in hot pursuit followed by the Beagle and then the Retriever. The Shepards gave up first the Beagle (Copper) never does as long as there is a scent, and Penny our Retriever is always her back up plan so they stick together. The rabbit hit the bush running and Copper began baying. Then, lo and behold, Penny came away with the prize. She was very proud of it and showed it off to all who dared to look. I cannot take credit for her varmint count this year, a couple of muskrats, a weasel, and now a rabbit. I am sure with all these dogs and their scent on the farm, most varmints give the yard a wide berth. Haven’t seen a racoon or deer in my yard in months. Squirrels are another matter altogether and they love to tease just because they can.
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I had an arboreal squirrel caught inside the net on my plum tree - it wriggled out in short order thru the opening it had found to get in
I am feeling the same way here in NJ. I live in a town with mature trees and the squirrel population is extremely high. I have 13 squirrels caught and honestly there are 2-4 squirrels in my yard at any given time still.
I guess my follow-up point is, is this method a losing cause? Do you feel it’s possible to actually reduce population with 2-3 tube traps? Initially I thought, if I can get the 4-6 that are eating the fruit (the most guilty that were trained to get breakfast in the orchard) I would be good. But now at 13 I am realistically thinking 40 maybe the real number. But is it possible the real projection needs to be more like 500? Ugg, that is a lot of peanut butter!
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After you remove the squirrels that populate your yard, other ones
will take their place, It’s a constant battle. I kill anywhere from 15 to
50 squirrels every year,
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Was out yard sailing last weekend and bought a small game trap. Set it last night and got my 3rd possum of the year.
Put it out of its misery this am…
It, and I’m hoping it’s the last, has taken out all my apples, most of my grapes and I bet pawpaws (as far as I have noticed) for this year. It’s been ripping my magnolia vine and silvervine to shreds.
Glad today is trash day
Scott
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I’ve been battling squirrels for 10+ years now, and while the first couple years I was defeated, since then I have been able to shut them down every year. They have a pattern of waves of migrate-stay-migrate-stay and if you hit hard after a migration wave you will be clear until the next one. For me its usually Chojuro pear that is the pivot point - the pear is right by their escape tree and they almost always get all of those, but not long after that I can shut them down for the rest of the year. One to two weeks ago I had a bad migration wave come in and they cleared out Chojuro, but now its silent. Soon they will be after nuts and the remainder of my fruit will be safe from squirrels (but not deer sigh).
One other thing is you need lots of traps, the number of traps goes with the number of squirrels. I just got two more tube traps yesterday so now I have 8 traps total in my yard located in different spots (and, the tube traps are all movable, they are screwed into boards and I bungee them to tree crotches). When a wave comes in I will find 3-4 squirrels trapped at once. And, keep the traps well-maintained and well-baited. Its harder than it sounds, I have had continual issues keeping my traps in good firing shape.
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How often do you have to move your tube traps? It seems like I need to move mine weekly to entice new hits.
Caught my security guard last night. The coons and possums munched away while Mr Fox was locked up. I hope he learned a lesson, his job is in jeapordy. I’ll give him another chance or 20.
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I caught my cats more than once
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John do you release your foxes or euthanize them? Are they aggressive if you let them go?