This past year has been a disaster in terms of getting fruit from my trees.
The gray squirrels get them first. Among the trees with decent numbers of
fruits were apples, peaches, fuyus, satsuma mandarins. The squirrels got
them all or almost all. We actually got to eat some figs and pineapple
guavas only because the produced so prodigiously. They left navel oranges
alone.

So how can these critters be controlled? Is there a poison bait particularly
effective against them?

Bill

-- Ferme le Bush

Salmon Egg wrote:
This past year has been a disaster in terms of getting fruit from my trees.
The gray squirrels get them first. Among the trees with decent numbers of
fruits were apples, peaches, fuyus, satsuma mandarins. The squirrels got
them all or almost all. We actually got to eat some figs and pineapple
guavas only because the produced so prodigiously. They left navel oranges
alone.

So how can these critters be controlled? Is there a poison bait particularly
effective against them?

Bill

-- Ferme le Bush


Pellet gun and spagetti sauce works for me... ;-)
Seriously, it's much more humane for the animal and no
chance of poisoning anything else. If you can't stomach that
(no pun intended) then go with Have-a-heart traps and
relocate them, although that may be illegal in your area.

Honest. It's illegal where I live in NY to trap, transport
and release animals. But they're ok with me taking them out
with a trap or gun (depending on location).

--
Steve

If you can't beat 'em, they're not tied down properly.

In article ,
Salmon Egg wrote:

This past year has been a disaster in terms of getting fruit from my trees.
The gray squirrels get them first. Among the trees with decent numbers of
fruits were apples, peaches, fuyus, satsuma mandarins. The squirrels got
them all or almost all. We actually got to eat some figs and pineapple
guavas only because the produced so prodigiously. They left navel oranges
alone.

So how can these critters be controlled? Is there a poison bait particularly
effective against them?

Bill

-- Ferme le Bush



It's best to shoot them with a BB gun and eat them. They are delicious
if you have the time...
Otherwise, rat poison works just fine.

I've used the block-type baits and put them into a suet cage type bird
feeder. This forces the squirrels to eat the bait thru the wire.

I have not hurt any birds using this method and there is not a single
squirrel in my yard now. I have found them dead so I know it worked.

I'm sick to death of the damage they cause also!
They are as bad as rats.

Hope this helps?

The bait I used was "Tomcat" brand from Lowe's.
It's a rat poison and works fine on squirrels.

On Tue, 20 Dec 2005 00:30:00 GMT, Salmon Egg
wrote:

This past year has been a disaster in terms of getting fruit from my trees.
The gray squirrels get them first. ..

So how can these critters be controlled? Is there a poison bait particularly
effective against them?

We've had squirrel problems for years. One year, I 'relocated' 15 of
them. AFAICT, it made no difference: new ones come. IMO, it's a
matter of having a very hospitable environment for them: lots of trees
(including walnuts), no predators.

Lately, I've just been cursing them, which seems to work as well as
anything else we've done.

George

Are they safe to eat year round? I thought they're only good winter
food.

The trouble with trap and relocate is some other guys are probably
relocating a few to your back yard.

On 23 Dec 2005 19:57:11 -0800, "James" wrote:

The trouble with trap and relocate is some other guys are probably
relocating a few to your back yard.

'relocated' vertically.

G

In article .com,
"James" wrote:

Are they safe to eat year round? I thought they're only good winter
food.


I've eaten them in the summer.
Just be sure to cook them thru.

Wet the fur prior to skinning to keep them from shedding all over the
meat.

Cheers!
--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." -Jack Nicholson

James wrote:
Are they safe to eat year round? I thought they're only good winter
food.

The trouble with trap and relocate is some other guys are probably
relocating a few to your back yard.

As long as gutted and skinned promptly (read as immediately)
they're fine. Don't try to cook them med-rare though, they
need to be well done. They really go well simmered in
spagetti sauce. Well, that's assuming that you don't hate
the taste of squirrel. Try dredging in seasoned flower and
fry one up and see if you like it plain. If you don't, you
probably won't like it much better any other way.

--
Steve

If you can't beat 'em, they're not tied down properly.