Co2 seems very humane in comparison to how we get them which is anyway we can. Im not sure co2 would be effective at all here but in some locations i could see it working very well. These are not located in a den you drop a chunk of dry ice in the door and slap mud over the entrance.
1 Like
I have a 20 gage shotgun and have been regularly killing squirrels here for 25 years and they still come to my property. I also trap them and have killed about 30 squirrels this year, but there is a small one running around and taking fruit that I haven’t been able to trap or shoot. We are in drought, but even when there is ample food in the woods my wildlife never becomes permanently spooked no matter how much killing I do.
I think this is true in most places and I can’t say why your particular wildlife would somehow be different, but such mysteries confront me on a daily basis in my business of tending orchards.
As far as I’m concerned, the only long term solution is a very good dog- or two- that and electric fencing and baffles. . .
1 Like
Alaska and N.Y are very different as are the types of squirrels. the reds we have in the north are much more fearful because there are alot more predators and their numbers are small compared to the nearly domesticated grays in the lower 48. ive seen the same results as Don. by shooting a few now and then, they stay away. crows are much harder to deal with. they are so overpopulated here, when a field of hay gets cut, thousands descend on it to eat the bugs/ dead mice/ voles. sometimes i have flocks in the dozens in my big pines. if 1 finds a fruit source they are relentless. they have only so far targeted my blue fruits.
2 Likes
You have a great predator population and very small ratio of humans to acreage. We have red and gray squirrels, but only gray on my prop. Funny thing is that when I shoot a crow the rest stay away- unlike my squirrels. Go figure!
Of course I do have to protect cherries with nets to stop crows and other birds. Crows seem to be stopped by just drooping a net over a tree- they are none to nimble compared to most fruit eating birds.
3 Likes
This truly sucks, it would drive me nuts.
When I was living in Maryland I gave up on the idea of growing most fruits, the insect and predation pressures where just too horrible. Here winters can be a pain in the neck but at least I don’t have to spray much of anything and besides the moose fence and robin netting on the haskaps and raspberries I don’t have to cover much.
3 Likes
I think everybody’s responses are based on where they live. For me I’m in the woods and I have the full package. Shotguns, traps, poison, and coming soon baffles or pipe.
2 Likes
Initial responses. This forum can show that wildlife behavior varies not just region to region, but site to site- sometimes sites within walking distance.
Actually, the forum only teaches that last part because I keep writing it- most people don’t observe wildlife behaviors towards fruit trees at more than one site unless they have established orchards at more than one. Bob is the only member here I know who grows fruit trees at multiple sites besides myself, although Olpea grows peaches at at least two separate sites. I manage about a hundred home orchards in several distinctly different eco-systems.
2 Likes
I am currently dealing with a chipmunk problem. I use the Jawz Rat/Chipmunk snap trap. They are so easy to catch. I have caught at least 15 so far. I just bait it with bird seed from my bird feeder and I catch at least one a day. I check the trap twice a day. Easiest animals I have ever tried to catch and my garden has been far less bothered.
Get a few snap traps, set them where the chippys like to run, check em daily and you should be set.
1 Like