On 6/1/10 7:00 PM, Big Duke wrote:
Hi all,
I seem to be having a excessive amount of chipmunks around my house. I
started catching them in my have a heart trap and letting them go about 1
1/2 miles away from my house in a nice wooded area. In the past week I have
caught 6 of them. My father and wife think it's the same ones coming back
again. My wife being the wise girl that she is also says they like going for
a ride in my pickup truck. What do you all think? Is it possible they are
finding their way back to my house? Would it help if dropped them off
farther away? Thanks for reading my post.
Big Duke

I use a Havahart trap, which I use to catch squirrels. When I catch
them, I drive 5 miles across a freeway to let them loose in the Santa
Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. There are many hungry
coyotes, owls, and hawks there. And there are 10 lanes of never-ending
traffic if they want to cross the freeway.

However, something was reaching through the cage wires and stealing the
bait. I wrapped 1/4-inch steel mesh around the end of the trap where
the bait is set. Something tore or chewed through the mesh and stole
more bait. I packaged the bait in another piece of the steel mesh and
put it into the trap. Yesterday, I found the package on my back lawn.
It was not opened, but the bait was gone.

I now have fruit starting to ripen. I want to eat more of it than the
squirrels. I made a small box of the 1/4-inch steel mesh with a hinged
lid and a catch to keep the lid closed. It also has a hook to fasten it
into the trap. The box is about 1 inch on each side. It's been 24
hours, and nothing has touched the trap yet.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary