Squirrels under the shed. It's personal this time...

[tarmy]

I am on my way...

.50 in the ear hole outa do it...

 

[JHenke]

Kill Trap

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K6JKVK4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I had a squirrel problem, 40 kills since April 2020

 

[bbbarracuda]

ONE properly prepared Squirrel costs $99 here...

https://www.exoticmeatmarkets.com/category-s/321.htm

$99 Wow. You can't afford not to kill and eat them

 

[FSrepair&fabrication]

Rat traps with peanut butter. If you have pets or kids screw them to the side of a tree. You want to kill them out in in the open so they don’t rot under the shed and stink.

 

[JRC3]

Kill Trap

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K6JKVK4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I had a squirrel problem, 40 kills since April 2020

I've been considering one of those on a 45 degree plank leading up my walnut tree. Then wrapping the rest of the trunk with some sheetmetal or bird spikes, making the tube trap the perceived gateway up the tree.

They say squirrels love 45 degree planks. This guy uses Conibears, but not good with a dog.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Improve your aim! Get a .177 pellet gun - Gammo makes some good ones. Favorite beverage and a chalk board to keep score. Be sure the neighbors are not in the line of fire. Have Fun!

If they were all just "standing around" like the OPs picture this would be my choice !

 

[PelicanPines]

Let us know how the Squirrel Jerky tastes... I shot a squirrel once with a Winchester 30-06... it was like hitting it with a startrek phaser ... it evaporated in red cloud of ****.

 

[txvwnut]

You guys have made this a funny thread. Thanks!!

The local barn cat hangs around the hole, but I haven't see her catch any of these. There's also a fox living in a nearby culvert under my driveway, (yes, I live in a zoo), and he was out by the shed the other morning. Again, though, I see no signs of his success.



I can't see the pic well. Are those their sub-sonic rounds? We live on 5 acres, but my neighbor's house is behind what I was thinking would be my firing line. I think I came up with another one yesterday that would eliminate that problem, so these may be the solution. My .22 bolt action is a Mossberg from the 1930's that belonged to my dad. I haven't shot the thing in 50 years, so it would be a hoot to use it the way he did, growing up in the hills of WV.



That's a good idea. I used that stuff to set my mailbox.



I tried that, along with the moth balls. They asked for rice...



Ahhh, they don't seem to need much of an incentive...



Did they die under the shed, or bug out? The chief problem I'm trying to avoid is a bunch of dead squirrels under the shed, and the accompanying lovely smell of decomp.

Mark

Squirrels are extremely intelligent when it comes to hunting them. They can remember sounds around them right before their buddy hits the ground. They realized the sound of my kitchen window opening(yes I'm hillbilly like that) that they would scatter before I got it open far enough to get a shot off. Had to switch to popping them on windy days so the tree leaves would mask the sound of the window.

 

[Ben Buck]

I sprayed ammonia with an inexpensive sprayer around my barn- took a couple of days- but no squirrels or mice.

YMMV

 

[Kevin54]

This is why I just poured a concrete slab to set my shed on. Getting tired of critters getting underneath.

 

[Jackfre]

I have been in a running battle with ground squirrels since we moved west in '11. I use a scoped .177 Feiwerkbau 124. Actually spring piston air rifles are really hard on scopes and I just had to go back to a Wms. receiver sight which is not the best with my eyes these days. If you go this way, you need a real air rifle with some power.
Back in about '83 I had an infestation at the house. My wife being away for a couple hours gave me an opportunity to deal with them my way. I rolled my big cutting torch rig out with the Rosebud tip, got it burning just right, snuffed it and buried it in the hole. I then went in for another beer and a # of Bullseye for my fuse. I poured my powder fuse across the driveway, removed the tip, poured a bit of powder down the hole and touched off the fuse. I had fire coming out of holes all around me. I solved the problem and was very fortunate that I didn't burn the house down. Problem solved. My wife wondered what had happened to the squirrels. My lips were sealed...by another beer!

 

[Kodiak]

I have been in a running battle with ground squirrels since we moved west in '11. I use a scoped .177 Feiwerkbau 124. Actually spring piston air rifles are really hard on scopes and I just had to go back to a Wms. receiver sight which is not the best with my eyes these days. If you go this way, you need a real air rifle with some power.
Back in about '83 I had an infestation at the house. My wife being away for a couple hours gave me an opportunity to deal with them my way. I rolled my big cutting torch rig out with the Rosebud tip, got it burning just right, snuffed it and buried it in the hole. I then went in for another beer and a # of Bullseye for my fuse. I poured my powder fuse across the driveway, removed the tip, poured a bit of powder down the hole and touched off the fuse. I had fire coming out of holes all around me. I solved the problem and was very fortunate that I didn't burn the house down. Problem solved. My wife wondered what had happened to the squirrels. My lips were sealed...by another beer!

You're basically Bill Murray's character from Caddyshack!

 

[Los_Control]

Another squirrel story ... years ago was over at my employers house for lunch ... he had a beautiful yard that could be advertised in home & gardens magazine ... it really was his & wife hobby.
He hated the squirrels, they would dig up and eat flower bulbs and make a general mess out of his hard work.
His wife was like ... You leave them squirrels alone!

Then we spotted a squirrel running across the yard and up a tree, wife is at work ... he grabs a pellet rifle and fires at it in the tree, and it did not move. He was like, Dang I was sure I hit it!
We walk over to it and it was dead sitting side saddle on the branch.
20' in the air, perfect view from the back patio where he shot it from, you pull into the driveway which is a bit uphill and you just cant miss seeing it.
You will need a bucket truck to get up to it to remove it .... He was so busted. I know his wife tore into him good for that one.

 

[LeonardY]

A friend was really tired of the ground squirrels ripping up his new yard. Since he just moved in a few months before, he wasn't sure how his new neighbors would take to him if he started shooting them.
He got so pissed one morning he cracked the sliding door open and was lining it up in his scope. Just as he got it in the cross hairs and about to pull the trigger, it fell over. He wasn't sure what happened and went out to investigate. The squirrel was head from a head shot. He thought he must have pulled the trigger.
When he turned around and saw his neighbor was sitting on his second floor deck, drinking a cup of coffee. He said "Got it." That's when he noticed the pellet gun next to him.

 

[RonnieC]

If you have pets or kids screw them to the side of a tree. You want to kill them out in in the open so they don’t rot under the shed and stink.

oh my.

 

[chris142]

I hate Squirrels! They destroy wires in cars, steal eggs and undermine sheds, carry disease and are mean. I kill all I see. I have a squirelanator trap.

 

[Kodiak]

^^^ Talk about out of context! ��

 

[Kodiak]

oh my.

 

[MJK]

Marlin 39a or similar, and fill it with 22cb ammo. It is *much* quieter than an air rifle.

 

[JRC3]

My grandpa used a Marlin 39a, which I have inherited. The tube is always filled with 22cb ammo, and it is much quieter than an air rifle.

I also bought some CB caps to use but went with the CCI ammo I posted earlier.

I have a 39a too, my dad originally bought it in 1964 when he turned 18. It's a safe queen for the most part, it's just too awesome and purdy to sit in the corner as a varmint gun.

 

[MJK]

I also bought some CB caps to use but went with the CCI ammo I posted earlier.

I have a 39a too, my dad originally bought it in 1964 when he turned 18. It's a safe queen for the most part, it's just too awesome and purdy to sit in the corner as a varmint gun.

Small world!

My grandpa used it for the same purpose I do, in Ohio. I can still remember how excited he was for the 4th of July, mostly for the longer range it afforded him in defending his roses/fruit trees.

Get it out and shoot it! It is too nice to be a dust collector.

 

[HenryAZ]

In this part of AZ, we have these little round-tailed ground squirrels. They're only about 5"-6" long, not counting the tail. They do incredible damage, digging warrens underground just like prairie dogs, and they look and act sort of like them, too, standing up like this one scoping out the scene. Step on part of their warren, and the ground collapses and you can easily sprain your ankle. Excellent practice for your air rifle, as they are quite small.

 

[JRC3]

Excellent practice for your air rifle, as they are quite small.

Two years ago when I was really thinning the squirrel population, I got two chipmunks with the .22 who showed up to the party. Of course the dispatch was instant with a .22 blasting through the base of the head on the mouse sized varmint. I'm not sure what damage they were doing but wasn't gonna let it happen.

You gotta understand why I hate varmints so such...In just the few years I've lived here the squirrels tore into my roof three times; Though I think one time might've been a raccoon because I saw a footprint on the spouting. There was a groundhog burrowed under my deck at my wellhead and he chewed the pump wires. The dog got skunked twice and then 3 times the next year.

The birds and the rabbits don't bother anything, the rest get a dirt nap.

 

[Sevenhills1952]

In the late 50s Dad (rip) made a small shed set on blocks. Rats starting moving in underneath it. He backs our Packard car up to it and I help him chink all around shed with rags, newspapers, etc. He runs a vacuum cleaner hose from exhaust to underneath, starts car letting it idle for an hour or two.

Sent from my SM-S320VL using Tapatalk

 

[Wrench97]

Cars are cleaner now it may take a couple days.....................................

 

[shoot summ]

If you choose .22 use these in the bolt action.

https://www.ganderoutdoors.com/aguila-colibri-subsonic-lead-rimfire-ammo-.22-lr-20-gr.-269425.html

Extremely quiet, silent suppressed, just the click of the hammer.

 

[ScaldedDog]

OP here. This turned into quite an adventure. I'm laying awake the other night, wondering how I'm going to make sure all the squirrels are out from underneath the shed before we try to close it off, and it hit me: Compressed Air!! So, the next morning, my wife watched the front and left side, while I blasted the hole on the right with all my spanking new 5HP Eaton could give it. Sure enough, two of them came flying out the left side, so I kept at it with murderous, full-auto vengeance. All of a sudden, one comes flying out the little hole I'm laying 120psi air into, bounced off my blow gun and goes flying the other way. I have no idea how he even kept the skin on his face.

We kept blasting all the holes, with no further squirrel activity, so we started to fill the holes with concrete.

Then came 3' of chicken wire around the building, and we got two sides done before stopping to grab something to eat:

When I came back outside, I found another hole:

I wasn't certain it was an exit hole, so I blasted more compressed air into it without result, and figured one of the little buggers had just been left behind, and busted out. So, I finished laying mesh, and waited for the landscapers who are working on another project for us to bring the gravel I'd requested.

When I came out that evening, though, I found that there still were squirrels underneath, and they had dug all three holes out again, but were trapped under the chicken wire. They had tunneled around, but presumably given up and gone back under the shed.

I didn't get a photo, but the next morning I found that they had tunneled further, clear to the back of the shed in one place, and to the adjacent greenhouse in another, and had escaped. By this time we'd had it, and figured we'd fill the holes one more time and, if we found another, they'd get 30 minutes of exhaust from my 80's 4Runner that barely passes emissions.

Fortunately, claustrophobia seems to have done the trick, as we filled the holes again and found no others all day. Back down went the wire mesh, and the landscapers covered it with 3" of gravel. It actually looks pretty good, and I'm calling this battle won.

The war is likely not over, and my NY-bred wife, who's not comfortable around guns, and hates the idea of me killing anything, wants these fargin' bastiges dead, and she doesn't care how, or how messy. Unfortunately, buying even quiet 22 ammunition or an air rifle in the current climate is not easy, so I may just have to go with what I have. We haven't seen any sign of them for two days, though.

Thanks for all your help, suggestions, and hysterical comments!!

Mark

 

[ZRX61]

My back yard..

 

[ZRX61]

A friend was really tired of the ground squirrels ripping up his new yard. Since he just moved in a few months before, he wasn't sure how his new neighbors would take to him if he started shooting them.
He got so pissed one morning he cracked the sliding door open and was lining it up in his scope. Just as he got it in the cross hairs and about to pull the trigger, it fell over. He wasn't sure what happened and went out to investigate. The squirrel was head from a head shot. He thought he must have pulled the trigger.
When he turned around and saw his neighbor was sitting on his second floor deck, drinking a cup of coffee. He said "Got it." That's when he noticed the pellet gun next to him.

Reminded me of my step dad. Had a problem with pigeons nesting on a heater vent on the 4th floor. He sets up a lawn chair & sits in the yard with his air rifle early one morning. Pigeon comes back to the nest & he pops off a round.
Hit it, but it wasn't instant death. Pigeon fly's away about 100ft or so & dies. Drops out of the sky.
Neighbor had just walked outside to retrieve his morning paper. As he bends down to pick it up, the dead pigeon lands right next to it almost hitting his hand.
Startled neighbor leapt back & then spent about 5 minutes looking up in the air trying to figure out where the hell it came from. If he'd looked across the road instead of up he'd have seen my step dad standing behind a hedge with a hand over his mouth trying to muffle the laughing.
For the next few weeks every time the guy walked out his front door he'd look up into the air to check for falling pigeons.

 

[txvwnut]

A good break barrel springer is all you need and pellets aren’t as scarce as powdered fired ammo.

 

[greenlizard]

I too, have a .177 RWS Diana breakbarrel pellet gun. Very accurate although not as quiet as you might think. A .22 bolt rifle, subsonic ammo, and a decent suppressor are about the same. However, the big, really big difference is one is a firearm, while the other... isn’t. Don’t go shooting a firearm near a neighbor’s house unless you are good, long time friends. I’m just sayin...
BTW, at my previous house I killed hundreds of squirrels over a ten year period. They’d in effect, eat my deck. And ate through the wooden siding to get into the attic. My son suggested putting the heads on little pikes in the garden, but that seemed a little excessive.
My current property has bald eagles, hawks, and ospreys. Few squirrels.

 

[RonnieC]

... wants these fargin' bastiges dead...

"Did you know your last name is an adverb?"

 

[nadogail]

Would Squirrels eat Gopher Pellets?

 

[JRC3]

Would Squirrels eat Gopher Pellets?

Yes, the lead ones.

 

[PelicanPines]

Neighbor had a skunk under his porch slab... figured he would fill the hole with rocks and some wet concrete... problem solved, right? Skunk freaked... dug in the opposite direction... creating a sink hole in the middle of their asphalt driveway... hole was almost 2 feet wide when it was all done... OH... and the skunk SPRAYED under there... the smell stunk up their porch, hallway, stairs upstairs, etc.

 

[txvwnut]

I too, have a .177 RWS Diana breakbarrel pellet gun. Very accurate although not as quiet as you might think.

With the Diana the noise isn’t from the projectile leaving the barrel it’s the spring and plunger. In a closed area it sounds really loud but if I’m shooting outside it’s really not that loud and probably not much louder than a .22 with a CB cap or subsonic ammo.

 

[Bigblockyeti]

I've had my share of problems with squirrels getting into and tearing up a number of different things, I think I just scored a new ally today. This big *** hawk was either raiding a squirrel nest or building it's own in a target rich environment. At any rate, it's welcome to stay for quite a while provided it doesn't buzz me nailing shingles on a shed roof I'm already a little uncomfortable on given the pitch. The third picture is of the squirrel or hawks nest in progress, I have no idea which.

 

[DeeDubz]

I have huge ground squirrel problem. They eat my chicken food. Theres about 5 holes in my yard. Today im gonna get some poison and a few traps. I'll up date with pictures. These things ****. I gotta get rid of them before i get my pool build. They're pretty destructive.

 

[frank001]

I have huge ground squirrel problem. They eat my chicken food. Theres about 5 holes in my yard. Today im gonna get some poison and a few traps. I'll up date with pictures. These things ****. I gotta get rid of them before i get my pool build. They're pretty destructive.

We have dozens of them here, and hundreds of holes on our five acres. Can't really get rid of them, but I try to keep them in check with poison bait stations. They have a population explosion every so often.

 

[LOW1]

Some things just gotta die.