Catch and Release

[truck driver]

After being shot numerous times with a weak pelt rifle the squirrels just wouldn't leave my bird feeders along and had chewed on one very badly to get at seeds that hadn't fell down. So when they became aggressive and chasing the birds off I said enough is enough.
The wife had said she wouldn't cook them for me since she thought of them as pets so I dug out the old have a heart trap and baited it with bird seed.
I've caught three so far and took them out to a woods several miles from the house and released them. Boy they would make some good slippery pot pie.

 

[Guy Miner]

Cute little rascals, but can be a problem.

Dad has a small creek that runs through his back yard. Along the creek he has placed a couple of bird feeders. Some days, sitting in his kitchen with him, looking out back it's amazing all the critters that come poking around, largely because of the bird feeders. A wide variety of birds of course, including ducks! Squirrels, and even blacktail deer. Better than television, watching a mallard and a young buck argue over the spill from the bird feeder.

Dad does keep his squirrel population under control, with an air rifle...

Guy

 

[truck driver]

The feeders do attract various types of birds and critters including raccoons which I'm not thrilled about and have shot one off the feeder on my deck with a .22 loaded with bird shot. I would have killed the squirrels also but I won't waste something I can eat and the wife refused to cook them or let me cook them. Funny how she used to eat them when we were first married but has made pets of these.

 

[Rol_P]

Rodger, did you paint their tails so you can ID the little rascals when they find their way home? Just kinda wondering..?? Maybe you just made room for their relatives from the out skirts to come fill the void under your bird feeder.. :grin: Just thinkin... Looking forward to follow - up posts..

 

[sask boy]

Tree Rats :evil: if I had my way they would all be made into stew :wink:. However my family thinks differently than me and they also consider them pets :shock:. My oldest Lab Colt caught one a few years back and had just laid down to enjoy her meal of fresh squirrel when my granddaughter then 8 caught her, the high pitched scream was so loud I thought someone had been murdered and poor Colt didn't know what to do.
However the squirrel did get a proper burial :mrgreen:.

Blessings,
Dan

 

[Elkman]

Here is Arizona, we get a wide variety of animals in and around our bird feeders. We have a couple of pictures of Cottontail Rabbits setting in the middle of one of our feeders.

 

[HTDUCK]

Having grown up in southern Louisiana squirrel hunting is in my blood.
The entire town of Ville Platte pretty much shuts down the day before the season opens.
Schools are closed as the locals are all headed to camp for the opener.
When we have time, while at deer camp in Missouri every November, my buddy and I try to get in the woods and take a limit each. Squirrel sauce piquant is a big hit with our crew and I just enjoy hunting them.
Brings back a lot of childhood memories. We hunted them one morning a couple of years back and it was 6 below zero and about 3 inches of snow on the ground. Quite different than fighting mosquitoes as a kid.

My wife won't eat them either.................

 

[truck driver]

Rodger, did you paint their tails so you can ID the little rascals when they find their way home? Just kinda wondering..?? Maybe you just made room for their relatives from the out skirts to come fill the void under your bird feeder.. :grin: Just thinkin... Looking forward to follow - up posts..

Rol I don't think they will be backsince I took them several miles away and left them loose in a big woods with plenty of Oak trees same as what they were feeding on so maybe they will get back to nature or find someone elses feeder. I do have to keep the blinds closed on the deck door since when they see me they run for the trees because they were shot so many times. :roll: I scared on away from the trap because it saw me I may have to relocate it so they can't see me. :mrgreen:

 

[69gto]

Coyotes seem to like bird seed also, I shot number 36 in back yard a while back as he was sniffing around the base of bird pole.