Sic semper squirrelenius!
I was told about squirrels leaving a pheromone scent by both an exterminator and a DNR warden. This was a few years ago. If I remember right the scent is left to attract their “kin” and not other squirrels.
It must work. When we got squirrels in our attic I almost went bananas trying to get the fudgers out. Fixing the way they got in had to eventually be done with aluminum rather than the original wood as they kept gnawing threw the wood to get in! For months I was running around the house like Bill Murray in Caddyshack with those stupid “have-a-heart” traps. Living in the city I couldn’t pop them off with a .22, but I was sure tempted!!!
That’s why rat should never be served without ketchup.
Umm, no. Feeding the squirrel also is a fine solution. They are fun to watch also.
Thanks Colibri. Now I’m dying to know what rat tastes like.
I don’t think that flinging squirrels through the air hurts them. I’ve seen squirrels fall to the ground from a height of 50’ or so and immediately scamper away at high speed.
For anyone thinking of making ‘too difficult’ for the squirrels to reach the feeder, squirrels are pretty good at this kind of problem solving http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=aY9GBl7UmVs (originally a nature programme which got used for a commercial).
If you dump the squirrel down in some other squirrel’s territory, the local guy is going to tell him to take a hike. If there isn’t a local squirrel, there’s probably a good reason why.
Here, at any rate, it’s illegal to release squirrels once you’ve trapped them.
Never had a problem with any live trap, especially the Havahart brand. Just drape an opaque plastic trash bag over the trap to block the inhabitant’s view, transport to new site, then open the door (leaving the bag in place) and back away. Animal wanders out and you come back from coffee or lunch and retrieve trap and bag.
I’m not sure why trapping and relocating, or killing, is easier than squirrel-proofing.
Generally, the squirrels are trapped in a land that we deforested and paved over, trying to scratch out a living just like the rest of us. Those of you thinking of them as “trash” animals might have had poor or immigrant ancestors yourselves, once considered “trash” just for trying to get by.
Same here, gov, in the Colony of Connecticut.
Thank you all for your input. In any case… it is done. Ran home at lunch, found a trap full of squirrel, and dropped him off in a substantial patch of woods back near work (about 7 miles away).
Like I said, the feeder was in place for almost a year before this one found it. I’d find that acceptable as a mean time between squirrels.
Fare thee well, bushy tailed one.
This is also true in NYS. I’d recommend that the OP contact animal control in his area, to find out whether catch and release is legal in his jurisdiction.
And a fine Thunderbird '09.
MD20/20 goes better with squirrel, however.
Just out of curiosity, would you mind letting us know if another squirrel moves into the now vacant territory? I told my dad not to bother relocating his problem squirrels do to the territoriality issue. I am curious to find out how full of shitr I may be…
Meet someone that twice had no problems. I caught over a dozen groundhogs a few years ago and along the way I caught 2 squirrels, and opossum, a baby raccoon and an adult. I had no problems with any of the animals except for the adult raccoon.
In all cases I wore heavy work gloves and stayed careful.
The squirrels were cute and fearful. I used the metal stake that anchors the cage into the ground to hold the animals to the far end of the cage as I release the front clip. The squirrels and groundhogs and the baby raccoon were simple. The opossum was a noisy little bugger and required some extra precautions. I stood the cage upright and used some extra sticks to isolate him to the bottom. Then I used a rake to push the open cage back down so he could escape.
The adult raccoon scared the heck out of me and I nearly called animal control and I probably should have. He tore the sheet metal up on the top of the trap near the handle. He ripped the small chain off the hook. He was snarling like something demonic. It used extreme caution, unclipped the trapped and ran letting him figure out the rest. He did very quickly. 
Anyway the squirrels were easy and they were released where they were trapped. The groundhogs were not much harder and that was after driving them before release.
My dad made a homemade squirrel trap, and had no problems with transporting and releasing the squirrels (he must have done it at least thirty or forty times). I always thought it was a bit of a fool’s errand, given there are about 74 million squirrels in the neighborhood, but the neighbors seemed to encourage his hobby, and he seemed to enjoy it it well enough so, what could I say?
My father used one of those traps to relocate about 50-60 squirrels, he estimates. He said that although they were indeed freaking out in the trap, they never gave him a problem and that he was not nervous about being scratched while releasing them. He said they were terrified; he opened the trap and they ran like hell.
Since the OP may continue to use this method, it may be worth noting that of the many squirrels my father trapped, two died while in the trap.
This was my experience today.
Noted. Thanks.
I’ve used the Havahart traps to relocate dozens of squirrels to the wooded area in a local campus. All relocations went through without incident- at least as far as getting the squirrel into the new location. I do notice, however, that the newly arrived squirrels always rush up a tree, but there’s usually another squirrel already in the tree who proceeds to chase the new squirrel away. So I can’t vouch for the long-term prospects of the relocated squirrel, but there’s only so much sympathy I can manage for a rodent. I figure I’m already cutting him a break by relocating him instead of shooting him.
I personally found that it takes a few months for new squirrels to move into my yard, but my yard may not be the best example since there is a busy street separating my yard from the densest wooded areas. So a squirrel really has to want to get to my yard.