Squirrels and flower pots…..

….just don’t go together. Ma likes her flowers and the numerous flower beds aren’t enough for her so she’s taken to planting pots and boxes. She’s got some great flowers this year but with the dry they need watering every evening. This morning I found a box full of geraniums that a squirrel had completely uprooted and had to replant the damned flowers. Late this afternoon I found the same thing, same box and another pot with petunias the same. I dig out a live trap after replanting and set it using some peanuts. After watering everything I grabbed a cold beer and sat down on the steps overlooking the park behind us. I hadn’t had but a couple swallows when I hear a commotion right behind me and here a damned squirrel is digging in my cucumber pot. I shooshed the sucker out of the pot and he headed for the old oak along the park property, so I went in and grabbed the pellet gun. It took five minutes for him to stick his head out where it shouldn’t have been, and he ended up in a bag headed to the freezer.

On my way to the garage with squirrel #1, I see a bunch of carrying on up on the porch and here it’s the porch digging culprit half in and half out of the live trap. So, I truck back down to the garage and get another pellet then head back up to the porch and the little sucker isn’t there. Peanuts all over, no squiggles. Then I catch movement in our birch and sure enough he’s up there playing the hide and seek game. He lost. So, #2 for the freezer.

It just seems to me that we’ve had a bumper crop of these nut chewing garden digging pests this year. Have any of you guys noticed an overabundance of squirrels this summer? According to my calendar and count sheet I had 17 of these pests in the freezer by May 20th headed for the incinerator, then they seemed to not be around so much. In the last couple days it seems like they’re everywhere again. Last year it was rabbits in my garden but I’ve only dispatched one of them this year and we haven’t seen hardly any this summer so far. Squirrels don’t really bother the veggie garden much unless they’re burying something. But Ma’s post and flower boxes are strictly off limits so hopefully I’ve gotten the culprit. I’m thinking of putting poisoned peanuts in the pots and boxes they bother the most. How do you all handle these darned pests?

Way too many tree rats and bunnies this year. I have some hope, an owl has taken up residence in the neighborhood. Otherwise, a BB behind the ear seems to persuade them to leave the gardens alone.

We definitely have a thick population of squirrels here. There are about 20 giant oaks about 100 yards away from the house by our hay field that are clearly a hold up for many squirrels. I need to thin the herd a bit.

Is it weird (or normal) that we legitimately have far more black squirrels than grey/Fox squirrels? I’m talking probably 7 or 8 black squirrels to every grey on our property

There are areas across the country where melanoid traits prevail over the grey and fox colors. Wabasha and Lake City have strong numbers of the black squirrels. I think that grey and fox on the overall are more dominant, but you just live where the reverse is noted.

man all i see is a tasty tree rat supper!!!!!!! we have a few black skurrels at the cabin…..none at home. i’ve aslwys wanted a black and white skurrel mount……but those white ones are hard to come by.

when we had the camper there were alot of oaks……and bird feeders. i put up with them till small game opened. would cook them up and bring them to a would game feed, man those older feelers enjoyed that!!

i have a black walnut tree in my yard, them tree rats do an excellent job planting them nutz, i usually have anywhere between 6 to 10 little black walnut trees coming up every spring!!!!

Here’s part of my answer to the damned things. Ruger American. Sub sonic. Garden to garbage can. The cluster at the top is six shots. 50 yards.

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what about those 3 below!!!!!!!!!

The lower 4 were used to get to the top six.

Jimmy Jones wrote:

There are areas across the country where melanoid traits prevail over the grey and fox colors. Wabasha and Lake City have strong numbers of the black squirrels. I think that grey and fox on the overall are more dominant, but you just live where the reverse is noted.

Interesting. Our property is in Wabasha County and that sure seems to be true.

Jimmy Jones wrote:

The lower 4 were used to get to the top six.

just giving ya a hard time bud!!!!!

buckybadger wrote:

Interesting. Our property is in Wabasha County and that sure seems to be true.

There’s a ton of small communities in SE Minnesota and upper NE Iowa that have predominately black squirrel populations but you’ll also see greys mixed in… not so much the fox variety. I’m pretty sure that greys and blacks can interbreed but not so certain about black and fox crossbreeding. I think that the black gene comes from the greys.

We have a black and white squirrel that hang out in the woods near the yard daily, see them daily for the last couple years

The problem with tree rats is that when you take one out, usually another one fills that niche. Keep at it with a pellet gun!

gimruis wrote:

The problem with tree rats is that when you take one out, usually another one fills that niche. Keep at it with a pellet gun!

I thought u were against anything illegal, isn’t I against the law to pluck squirrels at your free will ?

I could have written your post. Last year I shot the tree rats in the ass with a pump up BB gun at three pumps which was enough to have enough accuracy but hopefully not break their skin. After wacking them once or twice they stayed away the rest of the year. Now there is a whole new bunch to educate. Chipmunks on the other hand get the pellet gun the freezer then the landfill to the tune of 30+ a year.

I do the live trap too for bunnies. Thinking it is just easier to shoot them but will need a new pellet gun. Tired of dragging them out to the “country” for release. Mine is toast. I shoot them with my 1975 red rider but at 30 feet they just feel it and it probably doesn’t even tickle – makes em run away so somewhat satisfying – in the short term.
Using my sons air soft AR style – THAT is fun but still less than satisfying.
I don’t mind the squirrels as they leave the flowers alone but the rabbits are too tough on the flowers – and I spend a lot of time and money on our gardens.
Little rat monkeybuttS.

For tree rats I use a rat trap ziptied to a brick. The brick keeps them from dragging the trap off. It works great in town.

Pretty sure fox squirrels are their own species altogether, not a grey variant.

Between the red and grey squirrels and mice this winter/spring was horrible compared to years past. Damage to two different boats and my 4runner. Little suckers.