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April 13, 2009

Comments

Part of my daily schedule from May until September is to take a 5 minute walk twice daily and shoot every single one that I see.
After about 5 years of this in the 90s the population dropped greatly.
At first, I burned through a 525 bullet box every year.
Now I use a bit over 100.
Before you pull the trigger make sure that you are not shooting a Silver Gray Squirrel or a chipmunk.
So be quick to take aim but not quick to shoot.
Our chipmunk population has increased dramatically in the last few years and I wonder if it is due to the suppression of the invasive grey diggers.
Also, when I shoot the little bastards (as you called them) I just let them lay. Almost all of them are gone in the am I am assuming due to hungry coyotes.
Now if you think I am yank'in your chain; lets talk gophers.
When we purchaced this property 20 years ago there were so many gophers that the front field looked rototilled.
Today: zero gophers.
We enjoy every sort of critter and they are all welcome here EXCEPT gophers, grey-diggers and skunks. All are considered "target practice".
Tip: Get your cases of 22 ammo before our total failure of a president cuts you off.
:-Q

LOL Brian! Interesting transition from Colonoscopy to squirrel control! I have to say I don't think I could ever shoot a living animal, but I can see how others could feel driven to that point.

I have to laugh a little in terms of your previous poster worrying that Barack Obama is looking to take away your bullets/firearms. Sounds like an clever marketing plan by Smith and Wesson to get conservative/republicans to buy up ammo and weapons. I think the president might have a few more things to take care of before he tackles the second amendment (i.e. pirates, health care, recession, war in Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan). Yep, that's right, Pirates are ranked no. 1 :)

I'm always curious when someone is using a live trap. What will you do with a trapful of the little furry beasts?

Since you live in the country, I'd think you would have had enough of people transplanting their problems to your back yard. Surely you wouldn't contemplate transplanting them to become someone else's problem?

The main problems with pests like these are they don't have any natural predators to keep their numbers in check and they run the natives out of their habitat. It just seems like eating our houses and digging under them is the real problem.

We don't own a gun, but if we had these guys as well as the 'coons and the fluffy tailed grays, I'd carefully weigh Harry's response and maybe begin some target practice myself. ;<

Deb

Deb, we wouldn't transplant the squirrels near any other homes. But you raise a good point. The California "best management practices" site that I linked to indicates that euthanizing (i.e, killing) ground squirrels is the only acceptable/legal thing to do after trapping them -- in that state, at least.

You're right: if we had more coyotes around here, or other predators, there would be fewer squirrels. When people mess up the balance of nature, nature gets messed up.

My husband shoots them at various times and he's quite good at it. I can't bring myself to do that; so we also set live traps. When I get one (sometimes two on one trap which is amazing but guess they are fast), I carry them to the back of the farm, which is good arm exercise and maybe pointless; but it's their chance for a wild life. If they return to the house, their odds become worse for survival. I don't like them because they actually are not safe for cats.

Bob's Mother became a crack shot in shooting ground squirrels. Why? Because ground squirrels attract rattlesnakes. Which would you rather have?

Do you mind if I live trap the ground squirrels on your property? I'll do it for free of charge. I plan to relocate these critters to a 100 acre property in a rural area. Email me at [email protected] if you want your squirrels live trapped and relocated. I don't live far from Salem.

george, thanks for the offer, but we'll pass for now. We have a live trap also and have had some success with it.

Badmouth'em. Everytime you see one give it shit. Be vicious--attack their self-esteem. They're really quite sensitive. Make fun of their coat,their stupid little feet or the fact they're all inbred. I've got around forty of them in the one acre where my house and outbuildings are. I go out twice, sometimes three times a day and lay into'em. You can't imagine the sense of reward that comes from seeing one run crying down its hole. I fantasize about it running into its little squirrel house and throwing itself down on its little squirrel bed and bawling for hours. Every now and then I'll send one into an actual breakdown. You can tell, becuase they go into their hole and never come out.
I'm sure it's suicide

Walt, we like your approach. Non-lethal, but it leads to the ground squirrels dying. Excellent! I wonder how they commit suicide...being from California, it probably involves overdosing on tofu, or sticking their acupuncture needles in farther than normal.

It is Illegal in Oregon to live trap and then release an animal to a place other than property you caught it on. In other words you can not release it somewhere else where it will become a nuisance.

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