Well, after eight years of watching nifty birds at my feeders,
suspended from my eaves, the squirrels have figured out they can just
climb up my siding and leap to the feeders.
This started when cowbirds began to use the feeders a few months ago,
flinging vast quantities of seeds to the ground, which attracted the 5
squirrels who then noticed that the manna from heaven wasn't from
quite as high up in the sky as they'd thought.
I've noticed that the squirrels reach the feeders from various places
on the siding, and from the screened porch roof, landing on various
parts of the feeders.
My (faulty) ideas to date:
-Chicken wire between the feeder and the house:
1. they would just land on it and crawl around to the other
side.
2. it's ugly and would also be between the window and the
feeder, and impossible to refill the feeder.
-Chicken wire around the feeder:
1. DOH! Then the birds couldn't reach it, either
-Slinkys (which I heard possibly here, are entertaining to watch as
the squirrel grabs it to climb onto the feeder, and goes falling):
1. They aren't coming up a pole, but leaping from various
angles onto various parts of the feeder.
-Standing near the window, with fly swatter stuck through small
opening at top, yelling and hitting at squirrel:
1. Works great for aprx. 3 minutes
-Showing Mingus (my Plott Hound) the squirrel through the window,
getting him all psyched whispering "LOOK Mingus, squirrel!" and
letting him out the door.
1. Yeah!!! Fun show. Ming gets good exercise. Squirrel never
gets caught, so never have to feel guilty. Lasts a good 15 minutes,
and then they are back.

I would not use guns or poison. Traps? Are squirrels territorial?
If I relocated them, would they die or be killed? Darn! I have
really enjoyed watching the squirrels cavort among the trees all these
years. I even liked them cleaning up the seeds from the ground. But
they have overstepped their boundaries.
Kira