This year’s brood of red squirrels must be venturing from home now. I just popped another one tearing into one of my bird feeders. This one is number 4 in less than a day. How darned many of these young does a pair of these red devils have?
Of course as soon as I open a door these things zip up a tree and like to play hide and seek. This one stuck just enough nose out to receive a red fire pellet just off the corner of the eye seen.
Those little buggers are annoying. I saw a cooper’s hawk feasting on one this morning. 
Tom, I share your disdain for these rodents. 
I also do my part to control the population. Unfortunately, I have neighbors that feed the little rascals. 
-J.
I enjoy watching the squirrels in my yard.
Nice shot…
I live trap them here at the lake cabin and have populated an island formerly uninhabited by them. Fantasy Island I call it.
Do you smoke them?
I eliminated 7 Chipmunks last weekend. Still plenty left but for now I’m giving them a break. Could have dusted at least 2 more this morning. I put a hurt on the reds this spring and haven’t seen any around in a while. A problem beaver is no longer around either…….
Tom, I share your disdain for these rodents.
I also do my part to control the population. Unfortunately, I have neighbors that feed the little rascals.
-J.
Crows are high on my list of un-wanted critters too, but I have a neighbor who feeds them in the winter. She feeds them, I look at them as target practice, so I get plenty of practice.
Reds are the worst. I’m not a big fan of any of them but the Reds have got to go. They are mean and destructive.
I kept seeing a snake. So I put out a minnow trap like I saw on youtube. It was really 8 snakes.
I kept seeing a snake. So I put out a minnow trap like I saw on youtube. It was really 8 snakes.
That cracked me up! 
They usually have 3 , up to 8. Red squirrel,s wreak havoc on everything i own . Take out as many as possible . Get them under control one year and they come back like gangbusters the next!
Ive left the squirrels alone lately. Got 2 coons and 5 bunnies since Friday. Now if I could get the friggen mole that’s been making laps around the inside of my garden all year I would be happy.
Lets not get started on the moles. lol
Ma had some beautiful begonias planted and some critter was running tunnels all thru the bed. I mean everywhere. I figured whatever was after bugs. I applied a triple dose of bug granules and worked them in. No help. Then I got the Tom Cat grubs and snipped them in half and used a forceps to lay one at every air hole these suckers made. One hour. That’s how long it took to have every one of those poison grub pieces disappear. That seemed to end the issue in the flowers. then I noticed similar activity in two of my vegetable beds. I decided I needed to now what was in there so under advice from a friend I got Jawz mouse traps and baited them with peanut butter. The traps were set at 7 in the evening. The next morning at 5 I had four mice and a shrew. Yesterday I had three mice, a shrew and a mouse head…..nothing but the head. I decided shrews were living large in these areas so they’ve been high on my list by using raw hamburger in the traps. I’m getting three every or so. I’m picking up more traps today and am waging full scale war on these suckers, but I’m still setting traps for the mice.
Between the shooting pests and the trapping critters I seem to have a full time job on my hands.
By the way, those Jawz traps beat anything I have used before. The mouse that the shrews dined on held the head secure enough the when the trap had been dragged almost five feet through the dirt it held fast to that suckers head. And they does a job on the shrews too.
What do shrews do. I haven’t seen anything that looks like air holes. What I think is moles keeps tunneling through the roots of my plants. I set mole traps but the soil in garden is so soft the tunnel to deep for the trap. If I could find a spot in the lawn they seem easy to catch. In the garden where you can see the dirt pushed up the tunnel is still 8-10″ deep. The spikes on the trap are only about 3.5″ long. Its been sprung 3 or 4 times but cant get the stupid thing. If it was a shrew would I see it?
Just in your description Jeremy I’ll say you have a mole issue. Those Tom Cat grubs are a dandy mole control item but you have to wear gloves and use a clean needle-nosed pliers or hemostat to handle the things or a mole will smell odors from you. I punch a hole thru to the tunnel with a stick, then push the poison grub down with a hemostat or the stick. The trap you’re using is often too shallow to catch a mole. There is a scissors trap that I use on tunnel runs out in the open away from plants and this type of trap catches most of my problem moles. I’ll post a picture of the trap with its box in a bit here. I got the trap at a Tractor Supply store here in Rochester.
Shrews are super active and can eat three times their weight in a day. Everyday. And they’re strictly meat eaters so any for of insect is fair game along with mice. Mice in traps are easy prey for them. Mice are omnivorous and will dine on anything including protein from animals and bugs so in part they are competitors with the shrews. Voles are tunnelers too and resemble mice more than shrews but are strictly vegetarians and love plant roots as well as surface foods the plants provide.
The ground in the begonia bed is super soft and light so shrews can make tunnels right under the surface, similar to a mole, but shrews need constant fresh air so they create small air holes in the tunnels. Mice will frequent those same tunnels that shrews create, hence catching both from one tunnel.
Moles as you know tunnel and shove up the dirt as they push their way forward. Unlike the shrews, moles have blood with extraordinarily high hemoglobin levels and can extract adequate oxygen from the poorer air of their tunnels. Like pocket gophers, moles will actively try to plug holes in their tunnels that allow air movement. Both of these critters are very sensitive to vibration and anything that moves across their hair…think air movement.
Moles are seldom seen out of their tunnel network, which can reach depths of 15 to 18 or more feet deep. The tunnels we see are where they hunt for food. Their living quarters are way down deep. Shrews though, because of an extremely high metabolic rate, have to hunt aggressively and can often be seen scampering across open areas from air hole to air hole or chomping on ants at a hill just like we see mice scooting along going from one place to another.
Here’s the mole trap I use. They make a similar product only its mostly plastic. This one cost slightly more but it isn’t going fall apart any time soon and as to whether it holds tight I can assure that the one place on earth you’ll not want your fingers or part of your hand while handling a set trap out of the ground is in the jaws when it decides to disarm. I have yet to see a live mole caught in this puppy.
Easy to follow instructions.
That looks like it would leave a mark. Never seen one like that. The GF called a bit ago and said its path was in the yard now maybe I can get his not so smart butt tonite. If not I will have to find one of those or some dynamite. Thanks for all the info.
I fdeel for ya. Those moles are just bad company.
6 Reds are dead an counting. 5 Coon are no longer Raiding the Bird feeders. . We really enjoyed watching those spastic little Reds chase around. But When they got into the garage it was time for them to go. . . rrr
Here’s the mole trap I use. They make a similar product only its mostly plastic. This one cost slightly more but it isn’t going fall apart any time soon and as to whether it holds tight I can assure that the one place on earth you’ll not want your fingers or part of your hand while handling a set trap out of the ground is in the jaws when it decides to disarm. I have yet to see a live mole caught in this puppy.
Easy to follow instructions.
X2!
Best trap there is for moles bar none imo. Have caught 6 in the yard so far this yr with 2 of those traps and working on 7 and 8. Have other traps that are so worthless about ready to pitch them in the trash.
X3!
I love that trap!
There is a small trick to setting and getting them.
Hard to explain but if it’s done right, it’s deadly on moles.
x4…….been using them last 10 years. works 90% of the time all the time.
6 Reds are dead an counting. 5 Coon are no longer Raiding the Bird feeders. . We really enjoyed watching those spastic little Reds chase around. But When they got into the garage it was time for them to go. . . rrr
There is woods on 3 sides of us. So More Reds an coon keep showing up. There were 3 coon on my trail cam at the same time last night. I was only able to get one of them. Still a Lot of reds showing up most of them are the young of the year. To HOT to do all that much outside so sit inside with the AC on an pick off the reds. Red count is up to 11 an a few lucky ones i missed. . . rrr
Latest word on the street in our ‘hood is a porcupine hanging around, chewing the bark off, and likely killing, a couple of nice maple trees. The local militia-almost all dog owners, has been alerted. Trail cam will be deployed tonight.
Guess it might be time for an early season deer hunt. Was worried about the coons getting my sweetcorn. Damn deer decided not to eat the leaves but bite off where the tassels are starting to come out. No tassels, no pollen, no corn = no deer.
Latest word on the street in our ‘hood is a porcupine hanging around, chewing the bark off, and likely killing, a couple of nice maple trees. The local militia-almost all dog owners, has been alerted. Trail cam will be deployed tonight.
We had a porcupine dining on sunflower seed at the cabin last night. First time we’ve ever seen that. Porkies are common up there, just not with a hankering for sunflower seed.
Jeremy, those deer must be of the same mold as what visits our yard. lol Get a good slingshot and a lead pellet mold. A 3/8 ounce lead pellet works wonders on those tassel chomping critters but doesn’t get you in trouble.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>river rat randy wrote:</div>
6 Reds are dead an counting. 5 Coon are no longer Raiding the Bird feeders. . We really enjoyed watching those spastic little Reds chase around. But When they got into the garage it was time for them to go. . . rrrThere is woods on 3 sides of us. So More Reds an coon keep showing up. There were 3 coon on my trail cam at the same time last night. I was only able to get one of them. Still a Lot of reds showing up most of them are the young of the year. To HOT to do all that much outside so sit inside with the AC on an pick off the reds. Red count is up to 11 an a few lucky ones i missed. . . rrr
Reds 12 Coon 12.
So the air pockets in the lawn. Size of a quarter or less. They are what? I was told by a local, put a mouse trap out with peanut and cover with a dark pail. That’s all I know. Any help here? Thanks.
Shrews. Between mice and shrews I’ve trapped over 40 since last Tuesday.
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I also do my part to control the population. Unfortunately, I have neighbors that feed the little rascals. 
