Backyard battle with squirrels

[qball]

The backyard battle with the squirrels started with my neighbor complaining about squirrels in his attic chewed his wires and waterline. That got me freaked out and wife send me a picture of one squirrel on my roof which I just had solar installed......the war has been declared on these invasive fox squirrels!!!

first I got my Benjamin discovery .22 from a friend and I managed 7 squirrels but all body shots and some of them weren’t all that clean kill, one ran away and died in another neighbors yard. After much research I decided to get the .25 impact and the long wait was incredibly painful but it finally came. Sighted her in and bam! Stoned my first squirrel on my impact the very next day! Couple days later another squirrel and finally a third one, all head shots/clean kills. The accuracy is amazing!

Looking forward to more squirrels but they might of gotten emails about Johnny hasn’t come back after visiting certain backyard......



anyone in NorCal/Sacramento area care to share some secret pesting ground? Hehehe 

 

[d1lazarus]

Excellent! Enjoy the shooting!

 

[Raden1942]

Anywhere that's national forest is legal to hunt. I'd go as low of elevation I could find in El Dorado national forest to find ground squirrels and Jack's. 

 

[qball]

Anywhere that's national forest is legal to hunt. I'd go as low of elevation I could find in El Dorado national forest to find ground squirrels and Jack's.

Thanks I don’t think I can do that right now since I don’t have a hunting license as of yet, finished the online course but all the follow up classes needed to buy the license has been canceled which is a huge bummer. 

 

[Calbarry]

you're shooting a .25 Impact in your backyard? Glad i'm not your neighbor

 

[Raden1942]

If your willing to travel Nevada doesn't require a hunting license for non game. This includes ground squirrel,jack rabbit, and even coyote. 

 

[qball]

If your willing to travel Nevada doesn't require a hunting license for non game. This includes ground squirrel,jack rabbit, and even coyote.

Thanks, didn’t know that and will definitely look into it. 


just got an email back from cdfg and I can get Nevada license which can be obtained online and then use that to purchase CA license, wish I did that earlier! 

 

[qball]

you're shooting a .25 Impact in your backyard? Glad i'm not your neighbor

Well my neighbor with the squirrel problem sure doesn’t seem to mind at all. Also what‘s the difference between an impact 25 vs whatever 177 in someone’s eye or window? Even a sling shot can be dangerous so responsible discharge of any projectile is obviously required regardless of size, speed and location! It’s part of hunter education everyone supposedly have to take.



Derail over and back to hunting them invasive pests, maybe the native western grey squirrels would come back to my trees one day. Western grey squirrels rarely cause damage to homes and raid bird eggs like the fox squirrels. 

 

[Drew]

Reminds me off Chico. Same situation, squirrels and rats gone wild up here when I moved into a new place. The landowner was very happy at first, the squirrels were well fed from the restaurant next door and no predators, they were in the attic, on the the roof, building nests under the solar panel, making nests in cars, etc...

so I bought a leshiy and then a leyla 2.0 and no more squirrels. Unfortunately the other neighbor found out I was dispatching squirrels, and had a big stink about it, funny, she never made a stink when she asked me to get rid of a possum, a groundhog and rats, but she is partial to cute furry little squirrels, so for me no more squirrel hunting around the house. 


I go to the local Chanels and rivers, heavily overrun with squirrels. 

 

[qball]

Reminds me off Chico. Same situation, squirrels and rats gone wild up here when I moved into a new place. The landowner was very happy at first, the squirrels were well fed from the restaurant next door and no predators, they were in the attic, on the the roof, building nests under the solar panel, making nests in cars, etc...

so I bought a leshiy and then a leyla 2.0 and no more squirrels. Unfortunately the other neighbor found out I was dispatching squirrels, and had a big stink about it, funny, she never made a stink when she asked me to get rid of a possum, a groundhog and rats, but she is partial to cute furry little squirrels, so for me no more squirrel hunting around the house. 


I go to the local Chanels and rivers, heavily overrun with squirrels.

Trying to avoid the same here, only one of 3 direct neighbors knows about it and he has a much louder break barrel, he is also the one tormented by the squirrels. I'm going fully nija stealth mode, DonnyFL FX moderator, very low power tune and super quiet targets, I even have 3 strategic shooting spots where I won't be visible to neighbors to take shots from. If they are in their houses they won't hear anything period, if they are out and about making noise then they won't hear anything either. Only time they can hear something is when it's dead quiet but they almost never out sitting around in dead silence. I'm helping my neighbor but also protecting my own house from these east coast invaders.



Glad you have channels and rivers with squirrels, I'm in urban area so options are non-existent unless I go up into the hills which will need a license which i'm working on.

 

[Hunter82]

Round here, Massachusetts i have done a fair amount of pest control at my home and work. Normally getting a few using the quarters call trick. But the squirrels in the woods around here aren't your neighborhood squirrels. As soon as they see or hear you they hug a tree trunk, and keep the tree between it and you. Not as easy unless they are in the mating season or the storage season. Good luck.

 

[SilentSquirrel]

Round here, Massachusetts i have done a fair amount of pest control at my home and work. Normally getting a few using the quarters call trick. But the squirrels in the woods around here aren't your neighborhood squirrels. As soon as they see or hear you they hug a tree trunk, and keep the tree between it and you. Not as easy unless they are in the mating season or the storage season. Good luck.

We (wife & I) both hunt grey squirrel to keep them out of our backyard orchard.

They love the fruit & do not not understand sharing

We've been pretty successful, as we go after them year round

Tell me please!

What is the "quarters call trick"?

Thanks

Ed

 

[Drew]

Qball, if you can, set up a cheap amazon sensor with a chime set up. If you can, set up a concealed position, maybe inside a structure, shed, room with window etc.. set up a bait station with peanuts. You can eradicate a lot of squirrels this way from the property, but they somehow come back every season (different squirrels trying to move in). A donnyfl helps, the impact is awesome for tuning, but nosy neighbors can still complain. 

 

[Hunter82]

I didn't mean to bait you with that..

Quarters trick:

Skip to the last paragraph if you don't want informational filler..lol

Squirrel calls, i have a couple of them mimic different vocalizations of squirrels. The calls i have mimic baby squirrels that are seasonally effective with nesting pairs and ineffective when a squirrel has no young. A distress call imo, useless unless you have hero squirrels in your area. Aggressive challenge, i am pretty sure it mimics a fox squirrel or grey, to attract a red squirrel defending its territory.

Quarter, clasping a coin in your nondominant hand wrapping your pointer finger around it creating a drum head. With your dominant hand holding a second quarter you lightly tap the "drum head" quarter. If done right it does not have a metallic sound, it mimics the sound of a squirrel eating a nut. It basically gives squirrels the "all clear" and will counteract a chipmunk alarm call. You can pop one squirrel spooking the others, then do the tapping and they will come out of hiding and go back to their routine. Give it a shot, it is weird how calm they get.

Found a video.. 



https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MreMonAC3Yw

Oh and if this post isn't about the joy of airgun hunting, and more about the squirrel problem, you can use conibear 110 or an goodnature A24 or the bigger version of the A24 

 

[KWK]

Round here, Massachusetts i have done a fair amount of pest control at my home and work. Normally getting a few using the quarters call trick. But the squirrels in the woods around here aren't your neighborhood squirrels. As soon as they see or hear you they hug a tree trunk, and keep the tree between it and you. Not as easy unless they are in the mating season or the storage season. Good luck.

We (wife & I) both hunt grey squirrel to keep them out of our backyard orchard.

They love the fruit & do not not understand sharing

We've been pretty successful, as we go after them year round

Tell me please!

What is the "quarters call trick"?

Thanks

Ed

Round here, Massachusetts i have done a fair amount of pest control at my home and work. Normally getting a few using the quarters call trick. But the squirrels in the woods around here aren't your neighborhood squirrels. As soon as they see or hear you they hug a tree trunk, and keep the tree between it and you. Not as easy unless they are in the mating season or the storage season. Good luck.

We (wife & I) both hunt grey squirrel to keep them out of our backyard orchard.

They love the fruit & do not not understand sharing

We've been pretty successful, as we go after them year round

Tell me please!

What is the "quarters call trick"?

Thanks

Ed

Squirrel hides on the far side of the tree? Toss some stones on it's side and keep your gun trained on the tree. He hears the stones and thinks it's you. Around he'll come. Works pretty well. Lean against a tree to break up your silhouette and stay perfectly still. 

 

[qball]

Thanks for sharing some awesome tips and tricks guys!!!

 

[qball]

Qball, if you can, set up a cheap amazon sensor with a chime set up. If you can, set up a concealed position, maybe inside a structure, shed, room with window etc.. set up a bait station with peanuts. You can eradicate a lot of squirrels this way from the property, but they somehow come back every season (different squirrels trying to move in). A donnyfl helps, the impact is awesome for tuning, but nosy neighbors can still complain.

thanks for the tips! Unfortunately I don’t have a way to shoot from inside but I did setup feed station with amazon security camera so I get alerted every time something goes there. My position is somewhat concealed since it’s by my side yard near my AC unit, no one really can see me with the fence and brushes. It’s also 30 yards away so squirrel doesn’t notice me getting out and sit down. This system netted the latest squirrel, I also have targets underneath the feeder so I can make sure my shots are 100% dialed in so I can take headshots with confidence. 


I learned a lot from that edgun leshiy guy on yiutube, but don’t have the same lux indoor sniping station. 

 

[SilentSquirrel]

I didn't mean to bait you with that..

Quarters trick:
Found a video..



https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MreMonAC3Yw





Oh and if this post isn't about the joy of airgun hunting, and more about the squirrel problem, you can use conibear 110 or an goodnature A24 or the bigger version of the A24

You may not have meant to bait me, but you did get me to show my bushy-tailed curiosity; and reveal my position

Thanks for the video tip, Hunter82

Will try this asap.

Ed

 

[profsrgary]

I never tried the quarters but have used peanut shells for years. You simply take one shell half and scratch the other shell half's broken edge. Sounds like a squirrel chewing on a nut.

 

[DanielL]

you're shooting a .25 Impact in your backyard? Glad i'm not your neighbor

Well my neighbor with the squirrel problem sure doesn’t seem to mind at all. Also what‘s the difference between an impact 25 vs whatever 177 in someone’s eye or window? Even a sling shot can be dangerous so responsible discharge of any projectile is obviously required regardless of size, speed and location! It’s part of hunter education everyone supposedly have to take.



Derail over and back to hunting them invasive pests, maybe the native western grey squirrels would come back to my trees one day. Western grey squirrels rarely cause damage to homes and raid bird eggs like the fox squirrels. 

I don't get the .25 comment either. As long as you mind your backstop (true for any caliber) a .25 is fine...especially if it has been quieted well.

In fact, at similar power levels you will get less penetration from a .25.

On the other hand, I made the mistake of using my .30 Impact to eradicate a nighttime pest. I forgot how loud it was even with a DonnyFL and people had their windows open. A couple lights turned on.