The squirrel must die

wtimothyholman

wtimothyholman

IPCT+ Member
Nov 25, 2016
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Tonight I checked my cameras after dinner and found that two of them on the same side of the house had dropped out completely, about 5 minutes apart. I had an "uh oh" moment as I remembered the squirrel that has been traveling over our roof to get to my wife's tomato plants on the back deck. A quick inspection soon revealed two chewed through Ethernet cables near the column on the left side of the porch, near where the cameras are mounted. I checked another camera and watched the recording of the squirrel jumping into the column, doing his damage, then jumping off and traveling back over the roof again.

I can splice the cables and put in a couple of waterproof couplers, but squirrels that develop a taste for wiring will keep coming back. The squirrel must die.

I know what tree he lives in. I've watched him climb down the tree, across my yard, then up one of the posts on my back deck to get onto my roof. I plan to install a squirrel pole with a couple of 110 Conibear traps and deal with him.
 
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I had the same problem one spring when they chewed through all the christms lights on a tree. Damn tree rats!

We moved a bird feeder from a tree we cut down and a fat squirrel found it. I will say they are smart because he figured out the mechanism that is supposed to make it squirrel proof so now he eats all the bird food. My pellet gun needs the sights ajusted so I missed on the first shot (that's what I'm telling myself anyways!). He now knows the sound of our door opening so getting a second shot has been difficult!


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vandyman said:
A pellet gun will do the trick, it also works on ground hogs as well.
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I've got a pellet gun, and a friend of mine has a pellet rifle with a scope that he regularly uses to take down squirrels at 20 to 30 yards. What I don't have is the time or patience to wait for him, plus it's difficult to find a good shooting angle with all the homes clustered around mine. Not to mention that some of my neighbors would freak out if they saw me aiming what looked like a real weapon from my property, and would call the cops (one problem of living in the midtown area).

A squirrel pole looks like the solution. I've already ordered the traps, and I'm thinking of getting a Wyze sensor kit (we have a Wyze cam to monitor the doggie door) so that I'll get a notification when the trap is triggered. That way we can avoid any awkward questions from our neighbors' kids about the dead squirrel hanging from the 2x4 next to our deck. :eek:
 
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I use a .22 cal, break action pellet rifle with a 16X scope and can take a squirrel out to about 200 feet or so. Mil dots make it easy, once you sight it in. I'd love to get a Benjamin PCP in .22, but they get expensive.
 
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sebastiantombs said:
I use a .22 cal, break action pellet rifle with a 16X scope and can take a squirrel out to about 200 feet or so. Mil dots make it easy, once you sight it in. I'd love to get a Benjamin PCP in .22, but they get expensive.
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My wife (an army veteran) is now saying she want to get a pellet rifle regardless of how successful the trap is. She is quite unhappy with the damage to her plants. She wants it to be close and personal. :wow: I think I now have a gift idea for our anniversary next month.
 
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My kind of anniversary present, for sure!

I like the .22 over a .177. Yeah, the velocity is lower and it does drop more as a result, but it does have more stopping power, FP on impact. I still get around 800FPS at the muzzle so I'm not complaining.
 
I was thinking about the .22, but did like the higher velocity of .177, thus less bullet drop. I want to be careful if I miss and have a hunk of lead flying around. One time I was scoped in on a squirrel and deciding if I took the shot and missed, I would hit the neighbors house. I took the shot, the squirrel dropped. I looked at the squirrel and the .177 went right through him, midsection. Still must have hit neighbors house.
 
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That's why I like the .22 pellet. Lower velocity, less noise and, if it does drop too much, it goes into the ground rather than continue on. I do have an advantage with stockade fence along the back and woods on both sides though. We do have neighbors that don't share our view of squirrels as bushy tailed rats so keeping the sound down helps a lot. I also use Polymag pellets, built as penetrators. I will say checking various ammo for accuracy with a pellet gun is a key to good grouping.
 
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Pellet gun will take care of the task real quick. Just go out the other door, and sneak around to the bird feeder.
Works with all kind of rats! I have a pole barn with cameras in it for yard equipment, etc. I kept having all of my cameras
die at night. They would eat the cables right through. Once the cameras would die, they wound quit. I wonder if the Ir
was messing with them? I found if you spray the wires with WD40 it slows then down.
I got out the tape from wrapping the wiring on the old truck. Look for Honda rodent tape 4019-2317.
I got mine from Amazon. It looks like silver tape, but contains hot pepper spray in the adhesive. They leave it alone.
 
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wtimothyholman said:
some of my neighbors would freak out if they saw me aiming what looked like a real weapon from my property
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Yes that is a problem. Do you have an upstairs window with a view of the area? Open the window and shoot from inside. Do not stick the barrel out the window. Stay back about 2-3 feet.
 
That's one of the many perks of living in the country. If I see a varmint, it quickly becomes landfill. A neighbor would never complain as they'd do the exact same thing...
 
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samplenhold said:
Yes that is a problem. Do you have an upstairs window with a view of the area? Open the window and shoot from inside. Do not stick the barrel out the window. Stay back about 2-3 feet.
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No, I'd have to go out on the deck to get a bead on the squirrel. I'd be visible to everyone to the side and behind my home. I think the squirrel pole is my best bet. As long as I clear away the carcass before a neighbor's kid spots it, I should be fine.
 
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