Raptors don’t have much peripheral vision, so they frequently fly in front of moving objects. I was excited when we had a boom in red-tailed hawks about a decade ago. It didn’t take long before I started seeing a lot of hawk carcasses along the highway. Now they are mostly gone. Last year I almost hit an eagle when it flew in front of my vehicle. It was real close and scared the hell out of me. It’s unfortunate that such beneficial animals dont’ fit into the modern human world, a score for the vermin.
Here in central Ia also. Our go to for rabbit and squirrel control is a 22 single shot w/hollow pt. subsonic ammo. Quiet like an air gun but deadly. All our trees need both trunk wraps of chicken wire and deer cages.
Just watched a squirrel climb one of my English walnut trees. I was thinking there used to be more green nuts in that tree! They are nowhere near ripe. There should be lots of mast out there after the wet spring we had. I got my pellet gun and cocked it and the bugger took off before I had a shot. The tree is about 75’ from where I was so it would have been a Hail Mary at best. If the start on my pecans it will be war!
Chuck
As to rabbits, I have killed five so far. They were getting my beans and maybe some low hanging tomatoes. Much easier to hit than the squirrels.
The rabbits really decimated my garden this year. I finally got a bunch of metal cloth to fence off what I wanted to keep but there’re so many thing that I want to keep!
It’s almost a no win battle with them!
Remington 22 hollow point subsonic. #SUB22hp1. Win back your garden.
Chikn, doesn’t matter the gun if they only come out at night.
slap a night vision lens on that thing.
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We relocate the most rabbits to the next dimension at 1st light or last glimmering. Over 35 from last check of rifle stock scratching.
I’m using a 20 g. shotgun for the purpose. 1st light they are out there but I’m reluctant to awaken my wife and neighbors and by late dusk I’ve had my bottle of brew allotment and am probably better serving all involved to leave the gun in the closet. In the dim light they seem at an advantage anyway and disappear at the first sign of movement on my part. My land is not very open.
The more I read you guys posts , the more I appreciate the job my tom cat did this year. He really got rid of chipmunks, mice, bunnies in the neighborhood, I don’t need to net strawberries, gooseberry, and really enjoyed picking fresh fruit every morning. He deserves a can of wet food and a lot of massage 
I caught a feral cat last winter and brought her home( calico, a sure bet it was a female) she had a litter of kittens this spring but none made it to adulthood. It was her first litter and sometimes they don’t take very good care of the kittens. I notice she is getting “fat” again. I hope she gets a few raised this time.
keep fingers crossed. 
I learned a new one just minutes ago. I had my havahart baited for a week with Peanut butter and sunflower seeds and the squirrel would walk right by it and up the tree.
So tonight I thought of using field corn. Less than 30 minutes he was trapped. I saw him follow my little bait trail right in the trap.
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one down 
, how many more to go?
Best bait i’ve used for squirrels are dried nuts you buy around the holidays…i usually toss a few of those walnuts/hazelnuts in there and they can’t resist. Then i laugh as i box (the squirrels) up and send them to members on this forum 
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Send the nuts 
, not squirrels.
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