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June 15, 2012, 10:18 PM | #1 |
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Join Date: January 6, 2011
Location: Thornton, Texas
Posts: 3,998
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Maybe I've met my match
The wife feeds hummingbirds. I feed every other type bird. The sneaky squirrels are often in the feeders eating their weight in what's intended for the birds. So...I have my Marlin 39A by the back door. Lately I've encountered the most evasive squirrel ever. He'll see me watching him through the back window, but the moment I open the back door that squirrel is in Star Trek hyperdrive and heading for the woods (about 40 yards). He actually keeps trees between him and me. I NEVER get a shot at the little SOB. If it was only once that he did that, I wouldn't think it was intentional. This is one smart little rodent that has been trained in evasive maneuvers. I've considered putting up a ladder stand, but my wife would laugh at me and tell the neighbors, so I shelved that idea. I can't go out the front door and work my way around the house because I won't have a shooting lane. I'd be either by by the truck and shooting toward the LP tank or by the LP tank and shooting toward the truck. That's not good. Any ideas from you guys? Maybe one of those sticky mouse trap things would slow the little SOB down. This little guy is GOOD!
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June 15, 2012, 10:34 PM | #2 |
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Join Date: November 14, 2010
Location: Northern Virginia
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Don't follow him in the woods!!!
He's setting you up for an ambush. BTW, move the truck.
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June 15, 2012, 10:34 PM | #3 |
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Join Date: September 3, 2011
Location: Poteet, Texas
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Try setting there with the door standing open. As a last resort set out a rat trap baited with peanut butter. BTW, squirrels are excellent eating.
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June 16, 2012, 05:17 AM | #4 |
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Join Date: June 15, 2008
Location: Georgia
Posts: 10,808
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Build or buy some of these.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fINmQ...eature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A-7g...eature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EZEj...feature=fvwrel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUDOT...eature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgDa_...feature=fvwrel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWU0b...eature=related Much more entertaining than shooting them. You'll find yourself putting out food for the squirrels |
June 16, 2012, 05:27 AM | #5 |
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Join Date: April 23, 2012
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Even though I saw it coming, the first video had me LOL.
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June 16, 2012, 06:34 AM | #6 |
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Join Date: December 10, 2006
Location: NC
Posts: 365
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What brand/type camo are you using????? Maybe he's gotten wise to you and you might need a ghille suit????? Are you using any type of face mask??? Gun camo'd????
Seriously, move the target (feeder)..... |
June 16, 2012, 07:18 AM | #7 |
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Join Date: December 29, 2005
Location: Saratoga Springs, NY
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I used to have same problem as you when I was a kid at my parents house. I found rotating which window I was shooting out of (check local laws, etc) worked well. Gotta open them real smooth and be quiet. Thanks for the walk down memory lane!
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June 16, 2012, 10:21 AM | #8 | |
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Join Date: February 16, 2006
Location: IOWA
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Take care with Rat-Traps !!
Quote:
Squirrels are very smart and probably the smartest game out there but they have a very short memory. If you lay off for a time, they will forget about you and come in, again. ..... Be Safe !!!
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June 16, 2012, 11:09 AM | #9 |
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Join Date: January 6, 2011
Location: Thornton, Texas
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Those YouTube videos were great. I laughed till tears came. As for my particular squirrel situation, I think that moving the feeder is the best way to go. I'll do that. Putting up a blind or wearing a ghillie suit is only going to get me laughed at by normal humans.
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June 16, 2012, 02:03 PM | #10 | |
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Join Date: January 2, 2012
Location: Minnesota
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They sure are Determined Litt'l Buggers. I got to get me one of them Twirl- a-Squirrels. Thanks for the videos jmr40. They were fun.
Quote:
Last edited by Sure Shot Mc Gee; June 18, 2012 at 10:36 AM. Reason: tweaking some |
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June 16, 2012, 04:44 PM | #11 |
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Join Date: February 16, 2011
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12 gauge
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June 16, 2012, 05:29 PM | #12 |
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Join Date: January 6, 2011
Location: Thornton, Texas
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The 12 gauge would normally be my other weapon of choice, but that little rascal puts a big Hackberry between me and him and he hauls tail to a small thicket and then (out of shotgun range) takes a hard right into the deep woods. I only get a glimpse of him for just a microsecond. I've sent lead his way, but never touched fur.
I've got a plan now. Next squirrel sighting I'll go out the front with the shotgun and work my way to the back edge of the house. Then get the wife to open the back door. He'll take his usual jet assisted path and I'll then get an angled right to left shot that won't be in danger of blasting my truck, tractor, or ATV. |
June 16, 2012, 06:01 PM | #13 |
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You do have to admire their tenacity and agility
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June 16, 2012, 06:11 PM | #14 |
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Location: North Georgia
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IF you cant beatum joinum
Found the best bait to bring them in,Females
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June 16, 2012, 06:15 PM | #15 |
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June 17, 2012, 05:37 AM | #16 |
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bird feeders
i use a wooden feeder and a fence charger. arrange metal plates on top and bottom just far enough apart that it wont effect the birds. it is really funny to watch the squirrels get hit.about 2-3 times and he will stay away.
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June 18, 2012, 01:05 PM | #17 |
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Join Date: December 1, 2009
Location: Stillwater, OKlahoma
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Do it like my Pop did,,,
Sit in the kitchen with the .22 rifle,,,
Shoot a hole through the screen door. Aarond .
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June 18, 2012, 11:59 PM | #18 |
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Move the feeder or add a second one.
Then keep filling them both until he gets fat and slow.... lol Good luck with that. I swear if they had thumbs we'd be in one hard run for our evolutionary money. |
June 19, 2012, 09:27 AM | #19 |
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Tag to see how this goes! I like the stars of a species; sometimes I prefer to make a pet out of them instead...sorta like they are too special to go and have earned the right to continue on...
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June 19, 2012, 10:41 AM | #20 |
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Join Date: January 6, 2011
Location: Thornton, Texas
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Front sight, I think that maybe he knows by now that our relationship is strained so the pet idea seems a bit of a stretch. I admit that I do have a lot of respect for his tactical abilities.
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June 19, 2012, 12:08 PM | #21 |
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603, if you let him live on, you might have an army of offspring with his powers...it's sad, but taking him out might indeed be your only option. Lol
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To kill something as great as a duck just to smell the gunpowder is a crime against nature. - Alan Liere Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. - George Bernard Shaw |
June 19, 2012, 12:33 PM | #22 |
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lol, all my nonhunting friends always ask me how can i hunt squirrel....theyre so cute and the way they just sit there in the park and look at you, its plum unsporting. I try to explain to them that a woods squirrel and a park squirrel are 2 totally different beasts, and this is a perfect example. What youre dealing with is pretty much what I hunt...sneaky fast critters who either take off across the tree tops at the slightest noise or they flatten down on a branch and blend in until you go away. I think you should pick a morning or late afternoon and setup somewhere between the feeder and the woods and catch him coming in.
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June 19, 2012, 07:22 PM | #23 |
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If the feeder is on a post, a sheet-metal cone can prevent climbing, but it must be above "jump up" height. If it's hanging from wires, a cone above the feeder, large enough to fully shade it, prevents dropping down onto it.
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June 20, 2012, 06:10 AM | #24 |
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June 20, 2012, 01:12 PM | #25 |
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Shoot from within your house.. Open a window take the screen out, shoot through an open doorway.Which ever give you the "lane" of opportunity.
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