When do you declare war?

[Dan in MI]

On chipmunks and other critters. :mrgreen:

I'm not in the sticks, but there is 140 acres of woods across the street. I get a good assortment of critters and currently our stock of chipmunks is at a near record high. Of course all the freeloaders (democrats? :lol: ) hangout at the birdfeeder. It's not squirrel proof, but it's close. Only a couple a year learn the trick for free food. Then they pay the price for knowledge. A cane switch to the butt as they feed. (my wife says I giggle like a little girl when I can sneak out and whack one) Then they have to learn the sound of door opening to escape.

But I digress. Do you declare war on sight? I let them go and enjoy watching their antics right up until they start digging near the house then the games begin.

So do you enjoy them and declare war when required, or are you a full time hawk?

 

[skeeter]

All out war and I play to win. I trap em, shoot em, whack em,drown them, and my dogs kill them. I hate chipmunks!

 

[Tallbald]

As a kid on our farm I tried to shoot them and pelt them out just like teeny weenie raccoons. Was more trouble than it was worth. The carcasses did make good catfish bait though. Don

 

[turd]

Ah, chipmunks. They used to entertain our cats by running past the windows in the lower level and the cats would chase them along the window ledges and across the fireplace mantel, never figuring out the difference from inside to out. :mrgreen: The little critters never did any damage around our place, but used to burrow under my brothers' brick walkway and cause neede repairs every year. Now I live where there aren't any, and I miss them.

On the other hand, we have a wren that lives to chase the squirrels away from the bird feeder next to his house. Funny.

 

[Pat-inCO]

One word e. . . catapult . . . or in this case a squirrel-apult or
chipmonk-apult. :shock:

Do a search on Youtube for squirrel catapult. You will find many ideas
for constructing devices to transport them to the 140 across the street.

Also fun to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAd3ALa--gg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5-d3rZZ-_M

 

[tinman]

Set up a rifle to use the quiet type ammo and then shoot em.......good practice. 8)

 

[Colonialgirl]

Set up a rifle to use the quiet type ammo and then shoot em.......good practice. 8)

A Ruger pellet rifle with a cheap scope works well on squirrels.

 

[737tdi]

Gamo pellet rifle will answer your question.

Sorry but I don't feel the way most here do.. Get rid of the pests.

Karl

 

[Dan in MI]

Trust me, I know how to get rid of them. I just wondered if any one else put up with them until they became a problem.

Chipmunks FREAK when they get caught in a live trap. Far more than any other critter I've caught.

Can't get your live trap to catch those little speed demons you say? Add 4" of ~3/8" diameter lead to the bottom of each door so they drop fast enough. I filled some aluminum arrow shafting for mine.

 

[ohio bowhunter]

Dan , I use one of these traps . Was pretty skeptical because of the price but it really does work very well .
I knew there were a bunch of them little critters around here , burrowing everywhere , but really had no idea how many . I caught 36 of them in this little marvel last summer . The most I ever caught at once was 6 . It is so much better than regular live traps that are done after catching one , until you reset it .
I make a trail of black oil sunflower seeds up to the 2 doors and then put a small pile in the center .
When I get home from work , relocate them ,ahem, if you know what I mean
I did get mine from Amazon , but it seems to be cheaper here .
Happy hunting , er trapping

http://www.ruralking.com/chip-munk-inator.html

 

[cas6969]

Maybe you need to change your view of who the real freeloaders are. Someone's giving out free food in the neighborhood and the people who are stuck in the neighborhood aren't allowed to have it? It's only for the people with the ability to travel the world? What kind of crap is that, we give birds too much as it is. They have the gift of flight and can go anywhere in the world. But we feed them and build them houses. Then we go try to kill all the furry pedestrians who are just try a get by. That ain't right. When was the last time a chipmunk crapped on your windshield? :wink:

 

[Don Lovel]

Last spring we were sitting in the dining room having coffee and looking out the window when a herd of ground squirrels came across our place. I am guessing maybe 1500+ of them. My Jeep and Molly's Subaru were parked in the driveway and those fuzzbutts went through every inch of the chassis and then out on our front porch I had chainsaws and garden tools and some plastic tote boxes under a tarp. I am going to guess that when I jerked the tarp off, a goo 500 of them scattered. Then about 45 minutes later, they vanished, not a ground squirrel was seen for another month and a half, then it was like maybe 10 of them hanging around the porch. I found one baby, looking weak and sick, he was covered in fleas. Out here, Bubonic, Hanta, Tularemia and other nasty diseases are rodent connected. I scooped it up in a shovel and dropped it in a hole and buried it

 

[Pat-inCO]

Like Don says, we get Bubonic plague around here regularly. Several
years back we had prairie dogs thicker than fleas. The tree huggers
were very upset that anyone would want to cull them down. THEN the
plague got them and the count went to almost zero. Killed off most of
the raptors with them.

I have the problems with squirrels. They have made such a mess of my
patio enclosure that it is about ready to be replaced (over $2K). I started
using a live trap and relocating them ( :roll: ). Fifty the first year, twenty
five the next and I'm "down" to ten or so each year since.

Neighborhood dogs are MUCH quieter.

 

[Dan in MI]

Maybe you need to change your view of who the real freeloaders are. Someone's giving out free food in the neighborhood and the people who are stuck in the neighborhood aren't allowed to have it? It's only for the people with the ability to travel the world? What kind of crap is that, we give birds too much as it is. They have the gift of flight and can go anywhere in the world. But we feed them and build them houses. Then we go try to kill all the furry pedestrians who are just try a get by. That ain't right. When was the last time a chipmunk crapped on your windshield? :wink:

CAS, I do feel for their plight, but I do not have control over how, where, and what circumstances they were born in. Should I evict the robins, jays, cardinals and doves from their nests to allow the rodents free housing? Is open air housing better than a well dug bunker? I supply the rodents with hickory nuts. Do they need that much more food than the birds with HWC cards? (Hens With Chicks) I've tried a version of the WorkFeed program, but none of them will sign up. Last time I got the traps out the 13 Line Squirrel lives matter group protested and invaded the garage. I may just have to take down the feeder and put no trespassing signs down in the grass. I'm sure that will bring out Hollyhockwood activists that we see on TV documentaries. What kind of mess will I get if the Rev Sharptail Hawk shows up? I never knew how stressful a bird feeder could be. Don't get me started on the gangs of opossums and raccoons that show up at night.

 

[Pat-inCO]

Don't get me started on the gangs of opossums and raccoons that show up at night.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

War might be illegal depending on what arms you decide to pick up. Contender might have some answers for you. He gave me good advise on how to get an Opossum out of the garage. Of course it involved bribing the freeloader with some rotten apples.

 

[eveled]

As a kid on our farm I tried to shoot them and pelt them out just like teeny weenie raccoons.

They have a really pretty pelt, too bad are so small. I love the different colors and patterns.

 

[JackpineWillie]

As a kid on our farm I tried to shoot them and pelt them out just like teeny weenie raccoons.

They have a really pretty pelt, too bad are so small. I love the different colors and patterns.

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