Squirrels & Racoons - Alternative Options?

I use a Havaheart trap. This method works well.

I hold a large piece of tarp or cloth that goes from a waist height down to the ground. Hold it with two hands in front of me and walk quietly to the trap. The point is not to let a skunk see a person coming toward it. When it does not spook, it does not spray. Green tarp works well for me.

Once I get to the trap, drop the trap gently to cover the whole trap.

Gently roll the trap to its side while a skunk is still under cover so a trapdoor can be opened. Pull the cover up a bit on that end so the dummy knows which way it should walk out.

Sometimes, I need to roll the trap one more time so it will be upside down and the trap door is fully open.

Everything I do, it has to be quietly, gently done. It works every time. Never got sprayed.

11 Likes

Great review. As soon as the door opened I would be running away.

just hold still and they just walk out, sometimes taking a glance back. Iā€™ve had them pass me in the yard in the evening. i just hold still and let them walk by. they donā€™t have very good eyesight.

1 Like

I have a friend with a home in middle of town practicallyā€¦with 3 mature pear trees.
Squirrels are already eating themā€¦wasting them to get to the seeds.
Said last year he didnā€™t get to eat a single pearā€¦several squirrels at a time just chew off the fruit and eat the seeds.
Shooting or trapping is not an option.

Any bait that could attract the squirrels and kill them? Any ideas?
If it was in the
country, Iā€™d recommend target practice.

Cities have no gun laws, and feed th squirrels with bird feed, and sometimes even squirrel feed. (If they ever start carrying the PLAGUE or something, millions will die from disease in our cities. Afterall, theyā€™re just bushy-tailed rats.)

1 Like

id have rat traps baited with peanut butter put on everything they could crawl on. just before the fruit starts to form. compost the bodies! :wink:

2 Likes

I let it go during day time. Skunks canā€™t see well during day time. If you stay still, it could easly walk into you. The key is to move quietly.

I stayed still when they walked out of the trap. They did not know or care.

3 Likes

Iā€™ve heard a partially-filled barrel of water with plastic wrap floating on top covered with sunflower seed. One year 19 squirrels fell into our above ground pool after we removed some Styrofoam we had floating on the partly- lowered surface. Apparently they had been used to jumping on it to get drinks.

3 Likes

Good one!

1 Like

Girly I hope you find an a solution to your problem. There are only 3 solutions that i am aware of all mentioned in this forum.

  1. An enclosed area and let dogs roam 24 x 7.
  2. An electric fence surrounding your fruit trees. In my location this would likely be effective against raccoons only. To Susu point I doubt electric fencing for trees is against ordinance.
  3. Baffles as Alan mentioned. Like most of us it sounds like your tree limbs are too low for baffles, I have the same problem.

A possible 4th solution might be cats but I doubt this will work for most people.

I grow fruit trees in three locations, a 5 acre lot where my house resides, a five acre lot where my father resides (next door) and a 40 acre piece of land several miles away. The varmint pressure is much higher in the residential area than the farm. In the last three months I have trapped over sixty squirrels and five raccoons on the residential property. I have lost over 100 peaches that I can see under the trees and who knows how many have been carried off. I keep 6 squirrel traps loaded with corn and two raccoon traps loaded with corn and marshmallows on an almost daily basis. I have no idea how many traps my father sets ( a lot). Unfortunately I started trapping the raccoons late and i am paying the price every night, What I see even when i eliminate one set of squirrels another set moves in within 3 to 4 days. When we trap the offending raccoon another starts within a week. My belief if i want undamaged fruit/fruit trees I will have to trap 24 x7 year round and even that may not be sufficient.

Long story short I do not see how you can resolve your varmint problem without killing the varmints, even then you are likely to only slow the problem, not eliminate it. I hope you prove me wrong :slight_smile: . Best of luck.

4 Likes

@SpudDaddy Richard - I too hope you are wrong but you have been right so far! Everything I have tried until now TEST1-6 doesnā€™t work. The only other options I am left with to test for this year is netting the trees & tree bags. I have done this with 2 trees so far to test. Iā€™ll post back on the results in a month or soā€¦ Sooner if I lose to the squirrels before that :slight_smile:

2 Likes

In the mean time, here he is plotting his attack on my fruits!!!

4 Likes

BANG! no more squirrel. :wink:

4 Likes

I just happened to see this video,when looking for information about a Peach variety,that was brought up on the forum.
He talks about a possible Squirrel deterrent,using mulch.Has anyone heard of this or is doing it?It seems too simple,but could be working for him.bb

1 Like

I have a neighbor down the street who feeds squirrels peanuts. They bring the peanuts to my backyard, dig holes in the mulch and bury it here. They never dig on the lawn, but love digging up the mulched areas. I am not sure how adding more mulch will helpā€¦

2 Likes

What material is your mulch made of?
It looked like the stuff in the video was different materials,like small branches and twigs,along with leaf litter.Maybe something an animal might make a den out of.bb

2 Likes

Yes, your right, the video looks like small branches, twigs, leavesā€¦ not bark mulch like mine.

1 Like

Just so you know, I have a Florida King Peach if that is what you were researching. Iā€™ve been extremely happy with it. Here in north middle TN it is super early-usually the first week of June. I wonā€™t pretend its as good as a late season peach, but it is a very, very good peach. Iā€™d call it semi-cling even though most sources call it cling. When very ripe the pit comes loose fairly easy (though not completely cling free). Itā€™s been a fast growing, healthy tree.

3 Likes

Thanks Kevin,I think it was from one of your posts that I first found out about the variety.
There sure are a lot of different ones coming out from the southern Universities.I wonder how they might do in my area.bb

1 Like

That I canā€™t tell you, of course, but its been a great peach for me. I actually got it at a nursery so unfortunately I donā€™t know what rootstock it is on-but itd s good tree. It even survived being stampeded by cattle when a neighborā€™s cows all got out one day. I was badly broken and even the main trunk had a long vertical crack running almost to the ground. I was certain it was dead and just didnā€™t get around to removing it. next thing I knew it healed itself up and sent out new growth and became a great tree. ha.

2 Likes

My squirrel trap!!

5 Likes