How do you freeze aquirrels? Don't they just wake up when you thaw them out?

Sorry, couldn't resist! ;) The little buggers are a problem here too, mostly with raiding the bird feeders, though. An air rifle is the best "cure" I've found, but it's only temporary till the next one claims the territory.

-Ed

We've had good success with two styles of "bells" attached just under the feeder base. One is a cylander about 2' long and 6" dia. The other is maybe 2' wide, shaped like a flared skirt. Both pivot and are on ~5.5' poles. The squirrels can't get to the top and must deal with off fall.

Big coons though somehow manage to reach around and can only be prevented from wiping out the feed in one night by tying the top down tight. They must have an easier supply somewhere near since we notice they still try on occaision but not so much once we started locking down the top.

Dave, your "bells" sound interesting; would you be able to post a pic?

My father has a hard time believing squirrels eat tomatoes, even though I tell him I have seen them with tomato in mouth running from my yard. I live in a twin and my neighbor, never a gardener, has a nice volunteer growing about 10 feet from what used to be the base of the squirrel's home (PITA English Walnut tree, since removed, yay!).

Someone else just posted that she is using bird netting, which was what I thought I would use if I have a problem this year. I guess it depends how many plants you have, but I know you can purchase it in at least 100' length.

Aspen, on this page, " Wrap around Squirrel Baffler - 18 inch " and "Woodlink Torpedo Squirrel Baffler" are very similar to what we use. I think the key is height. Both of ours are above 5ft.

~~~ Someone else just posted that she is using bird netting, which was what I thought I would use if I have a problem this year. I guess it depends how many plants you have, but I know you can purchase it in at least 100' length. ~~~

There will be a lot fewer squirrels in my area before I resort to any kind of cover.

Young ones are dandy fried with a little corn meal, flour, salt and pepper, tomatoes on the side.

Old ones are fixed the same except once fried, a gravy is made and then slowly simmered till tender.

Any projectile with enough ft.lbs. of energy placed in the head is instant, ruins no meat and turns what was a garden marauding pest one moment into, as the title of this post mentions, a different crop, the next.

Vegans will ofcourse find the whole thing disgusting but for those that eat meat, are allowed by ordinance and follow game laws ... why not?

Here is a link that might be useful: Squirrel baffles

OH! Thanks for posting the link... I was a bit confused though so I had to reread the prior posts. I missed the part about your "bells" being attached under the (bird)feeder base. I thought you had made some type of device to use on the tomato plants... LOL

I'm not a vegan, but I'll pass on the fried squirrel. I'm sure my dog would find it enjoyable. Bless her, she tries like the dickens to catch them, although she hasn't had any success yet. If I rev her up a bit with "where's the squirrely?" then take her to the backdoor she rips into the backyard at about 100 mph. The squirrel is always faster though, but it is amusing.

My squirrels are a lot more interested in my apples. They hop along the top of my fence, jump to the apple trees, pull one unripe one off and hop away with it.

Better a few apples than all my tomatoes, for sure...

Squirrels 13 (that I know of), Dave 6.

The German Queen finally started setting but BER got some and as of today, the squirrels got the rest. Not happy.

I've got one pink beefsteak so far, they took all the rest.

They took the biggest lemon boy today that was looking like it would blush soon.

Looks like a poultry foul cover is in the cards, as well as additional "harvest" of the offenders but several of these plants can't realistically be covered and a couple of those that can are approaching 7'

Again, not happy.

I live in the woods, the human urine method is freely in use and ineffective, far as I can tell.

I need shooting lessons with my son's bb gun. I keep missing. I did manage to shoot out a sliding glass door window though. Of course, Now I hate the disease ridden rodents worse than ever ...LOL

Lemme guess, the BB gun has no safety?

You may not need shooting lessons but you probably do need a more appropriate projectile delivery system.

A sliding glass door is about all I could hit without a scope and IMO a BB gun is way under powered for the job.

Its a tragectory problem. Unless very skilled at all ranges and the ability to accurately estimate those ranges ...

A decent pellet rifle would shoot flatter and be the minimum choice with enough practice to assure head shots.

There is probably some scare value to the BB gun method but I prefer a more permanent solution and a payout for my trouble.

I've probably eaten hundreds of em. I've never, ever, found one with any sort of abnormality or visible illness. Maybe city squrrels are different.

There is no such thing as surrender. Well, not yet :-)

I went from picking 1 or 2 every day or 2 (Zone 5b-6a) to none for the past week and likely none for the next week but ...

A dozen squirrels are in my freezer, a new bobble head owl is on the deck, a couple of fake snakes are in the beds, 48" poltry fabric wraps all the free standing toms and I haven't seen a squirrel since.

I looked at the chemical deterents but decided on this strategy instead.

If those not wrapped still exhibit theft, we'll know how effective the fabric was. If not, we'll know how effective the preditor decoys and true predation was.

Stay tuned.

lmao! now this is some fun reading!
lots of mental pics of people
shooting at squirrels,putting up
crazy contraptions,squirrels
running off with tomatos... !!
i know its not funny though,
if it were my tomatos i would
be mad as a hornet! i live in
a town just full of squirrels and
havent had any problems.
i'am worried more about a
another week of of over 100 degrees!!
and just remember "squeeze the trigger
dont pull it" lol
lots of luck, dan

Dan,

I'm worried about squirrels and other "varmint" this year, too. My dog Carmen normally keeps them at bay with barking, chasing, and peeing/crapping all around the garden. Last year she got several melons and a mess of tomatoes all for herself for her efforts. This summer she had knee surgery, and until the end of August, she is at "zero activity" under doctor's orders.

A rabbit has already eaten half my carrots - Carmen would have put the fear of "dog" into that bunny before it even hopped within 20 yards of the garden. Worst of all, Carmen is just so sad being confined indoors where she can smell and watch everything outside.

A good dog is an immense help. My gal Lady loves for me to pick up my BB gun, or just say the word squirrel and she is ready to go squirrel hunting. The BB gun will not kill them, I doubt that it even breaks their tough hide, but it sure can put them into overdrive going across the tree canopy. They have never bothered anything in my garden, but when the figs start to ripen in the fig tree, the battle is on between me, the birds and squirrels.

Little to nothing, besides me and Lady, deters them. A stereo blaring on a nearby picnick table, Kawliga my fake Owl in the tree or other measures probably bring gales of laughter form them critters, as they select the plumpest, biggest, sweetest fig to sample. Year before last I was able to get enough to put up 17 pints of excellent fig preserves, last year there was not much because of the second year of a severe drought, but the tree is this year. Nothing bothers them till late July or early August when suddenly, almost overnight it seems, they swell and start to ripen.

As a side note, the girl at the vets office was amazed at Lady's understanding of one word questions, suggestions or commands. Even in the dreaded confines of the little room in the Vets office, and after having blood drawn and being poked and prodded, she would get excited by asking if she wanted to go for a ride (I am sure that she wanted to leave there) or go for a Walk, the word squirrel started her looking around the ceiling of the room to see if one invaded there, just to mention a few. It is my pleasure to be her friend.
Bill P.