Baiting station without tools

[Bigragu]

Sometimes it’s not lazy hunting, though, Willie, but a way to get them to one spot for quicker dispatch. Example- when we first moved out to where we live now, this place was over run with squirrels. Wifey says no go to the use of my Beeman RX. So, I honoured that, till one day we went to the vet for a check up on our German shepherds. The vet came out and said our dogs were infested with fleas and tics. He started asking us about our place, then I asked him if a rather huge squirrel population would cause that. He said with eyes wide open, for sure!

So wifey gave me the green light. Within an hour I had nine down. That didn’t even hurt the population. And they were all over. I saw a squirrel literally throw a large pine cone down onto my Shepard, and a pine cone leaf imbed into my dogs nose and snapped off. That was a trip to the vet.

So baiting brings them all to one spot, for ease of dispatching. They are easily monitored/controlled.

Fast forward to just four years ago. Wifey is pissed because patio furniture pads are torn up with traces of the cotton padding on the lawn. We witnessed a squirrel pulling that stuff out for his own bedding purposes. Come to find out, a neighbor less than 50 yards from me is feeding squirrels, about 50 lbs of feed a week. They also feed raccoons and bobcats. Out comes the bait station, and before long, my place is rid of these pests again. 

Anyway, I’ve built a couple of these for friends. One of them just likes to watch the squirrels come and work for their food. So, it’s not all about killing these creatures.

 

[Dingfelder]

I don't consider what I do hunting much. Maybe it's parsing words, but I consider it pesting. I don't seek them out anywhere outside our grounds. YMMV. I just don't want them here.

I also want to be able to choose my target background better. If the squirrels are running all over, then when a steady target presents itself, my background may be unsafe. All the moreso if I think of using my .25. Ideally I want something at a good fixed distance so my zero is good for it, that can take impact without falling apart, and be safe from raids by ground guests like turkeys or other birds.

And I want it to be tempting enough to lure squirrels away from the bird feeders and pond in front. That's a powerfully tempting combo for a squirrel, but that points onto the neighboring yards.