Squirrel Invasion

[sjs]

Well, to appease my wife I held out for a long time and did not shoot any of the squirrels that assault our bird feeder. They don't just bother the birds and steal the seed, they destroy the feeders, one after another. But enough is enough so yesterday I killed the four that were always around, skinned them, deboned them and will eat them soon.

But this is the first time I shot squirrel other than in a forest or swamp and I figured I was safe for a while. Not so. This morning there are more, and not just more, but exactly four more. Shouldn't it take longer for them to repopulate? Do they have a quota so only four were allowed by the squirrel police? How the heck did this happen so fast?

I hate squirrels. Well, actually I love them on a plate, but I hate them in my yard.

 

[beerthief]

Seems to be an endless supply at the bird feeder , all small grays here . No big reds , they are in the area (about one mile west) but not at my feeder .

 

[PEP3]

I have been using this squirrel buster feeder for over 10 years now. They try but can’t crack it, and you see how many I have.

 

[Airgun-hobbyist]

I know of a fellow who has "removed" nearly four hundred squirrels in his urban city setting over the past six years or so. That's a lot of meals; and the neighbor's bird feeders will fatten them up for you.

 

[Ranchibi]

Great shooting on all 4! And, yes, squirrels are opportunistic feeders and know when the resident squirrels have been eliminated and they move in QUICKLY! Just more fun and meals for you

 

[rhbrink]

Buy lots of pellets, you will need them!

 

[qball]

squirrels are territorial so they don’t congregate in large numbers. Once you take out the ones you see others will fill its place especially younger ones with no or less territory.

I started shooting squirrels because my neighbor’s roof damage. I also thought there are just a few in my suburbia track home yard but in 2 years I lost count after 50. This is year 3 and I think I’m probably close to triple digits now. Crazy part is I rarely see squirrels within 1 block of my house, but if I walk the neighborhood I see squirrels starting after just 1 block. So yeah, there a ton of tree rats, we just don’t see them all at once.

 

[BackStop]

Well, I can't seem to make AGN show me the post by QBALL claiming that Squirrels don't congregate in large numbers.

I am replying to that post because I have seen between 60 and 80 in my and my neighbor's back yard at one time about 6 years ago before I started my campaign to rid my property of them. These are/were Eastern gray squirrels (EGS).

Before that when I lived in an apartment complex, I often witnessed troops of 25-30 EGS moving en masse on the property.

Maybe QBALL is talking about another variety of Tree Rat, but NOT Eastern Gray Squirrels!

All my best!

Kerry

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_gray_squirrel​

 

[Bowhunter73]

I've been having the same problem they dig up the flower beds and eat the bird food we put on the ground for a couple of morning doves. So I got the ole L2 25 out yesterday afternoon and took care of the problem for now.

 

[HogKiller]

I pretty much leave my grays alone, the local hawks need something to eat, pigeons are getting scarce and they don't take on the Canada Geese we have, that I know of.

 

[Nattboy]

Squirrels ain't dumb. We down sized a couple of years ago. The people who were living here moved across country and left two heavily cushioned dining room chairs in the work shed. I carried one over and put in front of my shooting back stop to put my target box on. It worked great. Then last fall I managed to tear a ligament in my knee and break three ribs. Needless to say, I wasn't up to shooting for awhile. When I got mobile again. I went to check my range. Damn, if the squirrels hadn't torn the fabric from the cushion and bit off pieces of the cushion to insulated their nest.

 

[Florida_Man]

I’ve shot squirrels at 60 fpe and 12 fpe. Both are equally rewarding.
This time of year I get males looking for new territory. I hit them hard last year and after that only got maybe one a month in the feeder. I got a few more show up during the second mating period in September, but it was nothing like spring.

 

[rhbrink]

squirrels are territorial so they don’t congregate in large numbers. Once you take out the ones you see others will fill its place especially younger ones with no or less territory.

I started shooting squirrels because my neighbor’s roof damage. I also thought there are just a few in my suburbia track home yard but in 2 years I lost count after 50. This is year 3 and I think I’m probably close to triple digits now. Crazy part is I rarely see squirrels within 1 block of my house, but if I walk the neighborhood I see squirrels starting after just 1 block. So yeah, there a ton of tree rats, we just don’t see them all at once.

I think that is a lot of my situation, I get one or two move in because of the vacancy and plenty of den and forage trees. I have had a few times where a group of four or five move in usually in the late Spring and early Fall. These are usually young squirrels and I think that they are litter mates or maybe a couple of different young groups that band together for a short time looking for new territory. These are usually a wild bunch of rascals, running here and there at a constant pace, rarely stopping long enough to get shot. But they do sooner or later.

Some other thoughts, I have read that many years ago that there were mass migrations of squirrels. Growing up in West Central Missouri I remember as a young person of the old timers talking of a migration of squirrels across the Osage river. My understanding of this was that it didn't happen annually but on occasion for whatever reason. These stories were probably from the 1920 to 1930 era maybe before that, there is no way to put a timeline of this. I have also read of during the late 1700's and early 1800 some of the states back East putting a bounty on squirrels. Paying out some serious money at least for the time for thousands of squirrel ears. You had to turn in the scalp with two ears attached for a penny or two, back in those days if you had a pocket full of pennies you were doing OK!