"John Bachman" wrote in message
...

I used to live trap and relocate Chip, Dale and all his pesty cousins.
Then, last year a pair of redtail hawks took up residence in my back
yard. What fun!

Now when I spent the winter tossing bread crumbs to the little
critters and the wife asks what I am doing I answer, "Fattening the
hawk food."

So, get some hawks.

John

Hawks do a good job of keeping the squirrel population down. A pair of red
tails nested in an oak in our neighbors yard two summers ago and kept the
whole squirrel tribe away as long as they were there. I occasionally picked
up road kill squirrels and put them on a stump. It seldom took more than an
hour for them to find my offerings. Unfortunately they didn't return the
following year, nor have I seen them around this year.

I seldom see a chipmunk or mouse since neighbors who formerly resided in
Saudi Arabia brought back a small, silver gray tabby cat from there with
them when they moved into a house across the road. I wish that small
predators was big enough to tackle squirrels, but the grays are almost as
large as she. Yes, she occasionally uses a pile of sand I have for a
bathroom, but she does a great job and earn her bathroom privileges.

John