I am sorry, I can’t do that😟I understand why people do it, but that’s not for me. Maybe one day I will turn around, but not today.
I don’t think relocating a couple squirrels a couple miles is all that big a deal, yes maybe they will die in the new location and maybe their offspring will die without a mom but the deaths will all be definite with a lethal trap. Also a few miles will not be a major different disease milieu.
The PA game service also appears to be OK with relocating, a bit surprising as I had not seen such before:
“Troublesome rabbits and squirrels can be relocated to another area.”
I occasionally relocate wild animals, not very often though. I had a squirrel in my groundhog trap a few weeks ago. I used to shoot 'em in the trap but it is not the easiest thing to do… easier to pop in the trunk for a quick road trip.
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Scott, thank you for the link! Now I know it’s ok to relocate them in PA.
I vaguely remember reading Allan using baffles. But back then I had zero squirrel problem, didn’t pay attention to the details. I will go dig out what he did.
As trapping wouldn’t be legal in my city/state, I’ll be building one of these for my beds, it’ll have to be about 6ft tall though. Not much help for a tree I guess
If I ever have to resort to trapping them, I’ll be relocating them to my dinner plate. Absolutely simple and delicious, better than chicken
https://youtu.be/u30y9MndW8Y
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Trapped a young groundhog today. He’ll be going in a batch of Brunswick stew next time I make a pot of it.
Update: Caught a littermate later this afternoon… didn’t even have any bait in the trap (I’d been using watermelon rind).
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I suspect my fence does not adequately “ground” a squirrel even though I have two sets of alternating hot and ground wires, spaced vertically about 5 inches apart.
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Gray squirrels used to get all my filberts. I tried wire fencing (trees eventually too big), electric fence (squirrels could jump over), and daily pick-up of nuts (squirrels wait for me to go to bed?) but nothing worked. Daily trapping did work well but not my favorite past time.
Then I tried 4’ metal venting tubes. That has worked! Tubes are sold in different lengths at big box stores. They are for dryer venting. I greased up my first ones, but found that even ungreased, the smooth metal is impossible for squirrels to climb.
As long as you can keep your trees 10’ from any climbing structure, you will have success!
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Round? Square? Got any pics? How about a sketch? For some reason my brain is not firing on all neurons and needs a nudge.
Round, galvanized 30ga. Sold as open tube in different diameters (3"-12") and lengths (2’-6’). Snap to close.
Thank you for the tip! I will go to big box store look for them.
Hambone,
I used wire fencing, (2 x 4 openings), about 16 inches tall. From there hot wires to 5 ft. I wished I had used smaller fence to keeps tree rats out.
At the time, my goal was to keep grass off the first hot wire and to stop raccoons and deer. The fence wire touches ground so if a raccoon climbs up the 16 inch fence, he is grounded when he reaches the hot wire at 20 inches.
If the gaps are to large the varmint can be to far in before they are hit with the shock. E-fence suppliers say, shock from ears forward, they go backwards. Behind the ears, they jump in!
I used “Critter Fence” metal fence with one inch square openings- the only metal fence I could find with small openings.
Catch n release…into peanut oil
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Things are getting worse, I just found this under my Ayer pear tree: shredded pear. Most of my Ayer pear are gone. They were still very small, about golf ball size.
What is shredding my pears? This is very different from before. I have never seen this.
Please ignore the weeds, I know I should weed them.
Second picture is taken after I pulled out some weeds .
Cameras, cameras, cameras.
I have two cameras, 10 fruit trees. Can’t watch all the trees.
I just want to say thank you for your service. I am safe here because of people like you and your friends. Best wishes for your recovery from surgery.
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Yesterday, a groundhog ripped two green tomatoes off one of my potted plants and ate half of the bigger one when saw it in action.
Groundhogs can be as damaging as squirrels. They can also climb trees.
I set up a video camera, just saw two squirrels in action, two! The second was chased away by the first and came back later when the first one left. Neither one got close to the trap, one threw down green plum from the tree hitting the trap.
I need to get a better trap.
What height is your lowest branch on the tubed trees?