Squirrels......its getting personal now!

[Steve WI]

Historically I have a squirrel problem on one fence line. Normally they only chew out the corner of a few bags. This year, and already this soon they chewed the corner of at least a dozen bags!

To solve the problem of loosing sap without the use of lead, I double bag the holders, holding the inside bag up about 2". I should have done this right off the bat on this fence line.

Next year....double bag the fence line...

Thanks
Steve

[psparr]

Or double barrel.

[Mini_Maple_Men]

I have found the young lad with a scoped 22 is a great squirrel deterrent. When we tapped earlier this year it was chaos. He was picking them off one after another!

[USMCLtcol]

I second the 22 with a scope

[peteinvermont]

I have found the young lad with a scoped 22 is a great squirrel deterrent. When we tapped earlier this year it was chaos. He was picking them off one after another!

My father keeps my 12yr old son fully stocked up on ammo. We've seen a significant reduction in damage. Although, I did notice a tap that looks like it took a direct hit....


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[seandicare]

personally, i would be trying to find a hunter or even a trapper to thin them out a bit......you would be surprised how fast either could solve the problem, and not wipe out the total population.

your solution is good if you rather not kill them, though........or find a way to cover them with something harder like hardware cloth might work too

[Mini_Maple_Men]

My gram used to take every grey I could kill. She love to eat them. Yuck

[bigschuss]

In the bobcat thread a bunch of members were just hating on squirrels and I couldn't understand why? I thought I must have been missing something. Now I see.

[lenp]

Have you tried putting a piece of duct tape hanging down on the bottom corners of your bags? I did that when we used bags.Someone told me they would chew on it and not like it and leave the bags alone. I never had many problems. I don't know if it was the tape or if I was just lucky.

[Snappyssweets]

.17 Pellet gun, 3x10 Scope 75 dollars

Use small Game pellets shoot for head or heart.
If you do not want to eat them your self and have dogs they will love you. If you don't want to do that then look up or contact your Department of Natural Resources office and ask them if they have someone whom does Owl or Hawk rehabilitation near you. These people always need Squirrel, Chipmunks and such to feed the birds that will be reintroduced to the wild. They would love to take them from you.

Just kind of a way to although taking a life it allows to balance by giving another at a chance of survival if you will.

[saphound]

.17 Pellet gun, 3x10 Scope 75 dollars

Use small Game pellets shoot for head or heart.
If you do not want to eat them your self and have dogs they will love you. If you don't want to do that then look up or contact your Department of Natural Resources office and ask them if they have someone whom does Owl or Hawk rehabilitation near you. These people always need Squirrel, Chipmunks and such to feed the birds that will be reintroduced to the wild. They would love to take them from you.

Just kind of a way to although taking a life it allows to balance by giving another at a chance of survival if you will.

That's a great idea, Snappy. Except unfortunately the squirrel season in WI closed Jan 31 and doesn't start again until Sept. Something to think about for next year tho, thin them out before tapping.

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

I consider the issue with Squirrels to be an on going battle. Though at this point I think I am winning. I rarely see them anymore and most of the time I have a 20 gauge with me to take care of them if I do. I must have shot 50-100 over the past few years. Now my lines are in better condition, and to top it off and I think equally as important, we do not have a tick issue where we live. No rodents = no place for the ticks to live and breed. Granted my deer numbers are not high here either, but the buck my friend shot this year did not have a tick on it. The coyote I shot had one.

My point is that by cutting the squirrel population way down in your sugarwoods. You will not only be saving your self time and money in your maple operation, but I believe it also reduces your chances of catching a tick in the summer time when you are working in the woods.

I do like the idea of salvaging the rodents for birds of prey, however if you handle them, watch out for ticks coming off the carcass.

Ben

[Mini_Maple_Men]

Most states will issue a nuisance/damage permit to allow you to hunt them off season. Just call the fisheries and wildlife folks and they will help you out.

[Snappyssweets]

Also we have lots of squirrels but I do not have any damage from them. I am wondering if the reason they do no damage is that we feed them?
I have a feeder out almost in the middle of my Maples that is a gravity feeder. i add 50lbs of corn to it put the lid on it. They hit the corn and never bother anything else.

Just another possible idea to consider.

[Steve WI]

Shooting them (in season) is an option and I very much like the idea of donating them to a rehabilitation center. I know of two places nearby that I could contact.

I briefly thought about the nuisance option but, at this time I really don't have time to make the calls, 1.5 hour trip to the DNR office and jump through the hoops that I'm sure I'll have to to get the proper permits. lol

I would definitely like to reduce the population of tics! We keep bees on the property and working the hives in the summer= tic picking all night!

I tried the tape trick two years ago. My squirrels must be persistent because they kept gnawing at it until the got to the corner of the bag. Maybe I should have tried a different manufacturer of tape?

Feeding the bag wrecking tree rats isn't an option here. The DNR shut down feeding deer. If I were to feed the squirrels I would need to make so that a deer cant get to it or what the squirrels spill.

When I archery hunt this fall......their numbers will decline

Thanks
Steve

[Sako]

Check this out
http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/documents/nuswlguide.pdf

When I was a youngster saw the same thing happening when the gentlemen I knew switched from buckets to the bags. He would put a new bag in a corner chewed bag.

[MaxJ]

Also we have lots of squirrels but I do not have any damage from them. I am wondering if the reason they do no damage is that we feed them?
I have a feeder out almost in the middle of my Maples that is a gravity feeder. i add 50lbs of corn to it put the lid on it. They hit the corn and never bother anything else.

Just another possible idea to consider.

I think your right about that also, I feed and it seems that they've left everything alone so far. Even with the original lines that have been up for many years not one has been touched. I'm not sure if the if the type(colour) of squirrel has anything to do with it, we have just black and greys running around with a hundred + Chipmunks.

[maple flats]

Shooting them (in season) is an option and I very much like the idea of donating them to a rehabilitation center. I know of two places nearby that I could contact.

I briefly thought about the nuisance option but, at this time I really don't have time to make the calls, 1.5 hour trip to the DNR office and jump through the hoops that I'm sure I'll have to to get the proper permits. lol

Thanks
Steve

In New York State, it is fairly easy to get nuisance permits. I get them for deer problems in my 4.5acres of blueberries. I just call the DEC (Dept Of Environmental Conservation) and they mail me 3 permits. If they are all filled, I can get 3 more. This time of year I don't have time to hunt, but I have no problem finding hunters to use the permits.

[Cedar Eater]

Feeding the bag wrecking tree rats isn't an option here. The DNR shut down feeding deer. If I were to feed the squirrels I would need to make so that a deer cant get to it or what the squirrels spill.

Seriously? I would like to see how they wrote a law that could make it illegal to unintentionally feed a deer. It's illegal to intentionally feed deer here, but if a deer eats directly from a bird feeder and you didn't intend it, that's not feeding deer.

[adk1]

It's true they would tell you to either remove the feeder or raise it above 8feet

[Cedar Eater]

It's true they would tell you to either remove the feeder or raise it above 8feet

And I would ask them to show me a law that said bird feeders had to be above 8 feet to be legal.

[saphound]

Shooting them (in season) is an option and I very much like the idea of donating them to a rehabilitation center. I know of two places nearby that I could contact.

I briefly thought about the nuisance option but, at this time I really don't have time to make the calls, 1.5 hour trip to the DNR office and jump through the hoops that I'm sure I'll have to to get the proper permits. lol

I would definitely like to reduce the population of tics! We keep bees on the property and working the hives in the summer= tic picking all night!

I tried the tape trick two years ago. My squirrels must be persistent because they kept gnawing at it until the got to the corner of the bag. Maybe I should have tried a different manufacturer of tape?

Feeding the bag wrecking tree rats isn't an option here. The DNR shut down feeding deer. If I were to feed the squirrels I would need to make so that a deer cant get to it or what the squirrels spill.

When I archery hunt this fall......their numbers will decline

Thanks
Steve
Well thanks to that link from Sako, apparently in your great state of WI, you or any family members can shoot all the squirrels you want, year round and don't even need a hunting license as long as it's on your own property. Friends can also with written permission, but they do need a hunting license.
Other states might allow this too..NY doesn't, you need a nuisance permit for squirrels..but check with your own state law.

As for the tick problem, I suppose it could help some, but by far the main vector for deer ticks is the white footed mouse.

[Steve WI]

Yes Thank you for the link! For some reason I was under the impression that only the land owner could hunt them out of season and without a licence.

And yes our DNR will fine you and make you adjust your squirrel feeder to be out of the reach of deer. This rule is NOT statewide only in county's that have or are adjacent to county's that have CWD. The other thing that you don't want to do is piss off our DNR. I have heard stories of them making it a point to check your licence each year....during prime time hunting.

So far I have won the battle. I had to double bag the whole line of trees but the bags were full tonight!

Thanks
Steve

[BreezyHill]

It is far easier in my area to be on the good side of the DEC or the FGW(Fish & Game Warden) than in their cross hairs. They are very good to us but we have had cattle shoot and even a horse with a bow the night before deer season opened. Beer, hunting license and low brain cell counts make for bad decisions.

The way they explained deer feeding is the act of supplying deer access to feed. Even discarding pumpkins into a pile after harvest is feeding, but leaving them in a field can be also. It is all in how the written word is interpreted. One could make a case against a food plot as feeding the deer.

Having had lime twice last year and still suffering from the affects...do not mess with it! I got bit in first week of March by one so small I thought it was a sliver of wood. Hand was black and blue...no bulls eye. Pain went up that arm, down the leg, into the other arm and down that leg. I thought it was all from so much walking and pulling lines and the regular maple work out we all get. Then came the fevers, head aches, etc. Got a bad sun burn with sun block on and the wife went me to the MD. She was pissed I waited so long. two weeks on drugs and I was feeling better, four weeks and was pretty good but the one leg. week five doing hay and got bit again. Went down hill in two days to sleeping thru alarm clocks again, fever, etc. Back to the MD onto the drugs again. This time they gave me an ulcer. Week 3 of the 4 on drugs had to stop them. Took til after Labor Day to get straightened out.
6 Lyme tests and not one positive but MD said they only work about 30% of the time; and not worth the cost of testing. Drugs are cheaper. Did get the bulls eye under my arm two weeks after the bite. I now need glasses for anything under 2'...reading the refractrometer is a pain when others are using it. lol

We bought a Gamo bone collector air rifle and a $100 3/12 zoom scope to reduce the little furry buggers in the bush. I am not prodigious but monks and sq of all color are fair game 365.

If you have odd aches and pains and especially if you get fevers with them run to the MD. I have a bottle of drugs to take for two days if I get bit again. If I wait more than a couple days it is 4 weeks of the same drug.

One of those tick removers is a great investment for the sugar house and night stand.

Good Health to All!

Ben

[saphound]

Yikes Ben..that's awful. Hang in there bud. One thing I've noticed in my woods, which is predominately oak, is years with a bumper acorn crop and other mast, means a bumper crop of ticks. The reason for that (and this is proven), is because all that food also produces a bumper crop of deer mice. The last 3 years now have been very heavy acorn years and the ticks have exploded too. Before that were 4 or 5 poor acorn years and hardly ever saw a tick. I've had a few on me, and had to take the antibiotic for one of them cuz I didn't know how long it had been on my back. If you get them off before 24 hrs they don't transmit the Lyme disease. I'm sure you know this by now, but the key is getting them off within 24 hrs.

[maplestudent]

squirrels, please, leave my tubing alone. I don't have time to battle with you right now.

Ben....I hope things are better for you.

[Snappyssweets]

This tick talk has me all nerved up. I HATE ticks. At least I can say I have outdoor cats that help keep the mice down. We have a den of fox on the property I am sure that helps too not to mention the owls always around. However I am willing to bet the cats do more then they do. Yes I know they can do harm to the wild birds. However in my book as much as I like to feed my birds and watch them. The aspect of less mice, Chipmunks and such is worth it.

[saphound]

I'm hoping the total lack of insulating snow cover this winter froze a lot of those b*stards to death, but I don't know if it did. These 60's and 70's will sure get them active..keep a look out. And your pets too, wife found one crawling on our bed last fall that came off our outdoor/indoor cat.

[maplestudent]

I'm hoping the total lack of insulating snow cover this winter froze a lot of those b*stards to death, but I don't know if it did. These 60's and 70's will sure get them active..keep a look out. And your pets too, wife found one crawling on our bed last fall that came off our outdoor/indoor cat.

there is nothing worse than lying in bed and feeling a tick crawling on or biting you.

[saphound]

Ticks are loving this warm weather. Haven't found any on me yet, but I've picked four off my collecting partner, Eli, my yellow lab this week. Keep an eye out.

[Sinzibuckwud]

Got my son a pellet gun for x-mas put on a tasco 3-9x40 on it for him.
tree rat population is almost non existent in 3 months and they fear the *clack*

[Baker]

Im going to do sum population contro also.I went trough 27 bags in 3 days.figured I list 70 gal of sap from bags being chewd through.I have never had this bad of a problem.it's usually only 3 bags a seson.It's definitely getting personal know.lol