The cold snap here seems to have brought out the friskiness of those pesky tree rats.

My little girl started in a barking up a storm, just a few minutes ago. Something outside was there she wanted to get at...

So I go to the patio door and look to see what she was causing such a racket about.

There was Mr. and Mrs. tree rat, making new tree rats for later this spring.

It would have been the perfect opportunity to get out the trusty-dusty 20 gauge, and get a two-fer. But why???? To end their moment of passion....Nah....There'll just be more of those pesky little tree rats for my lit'l girl to chase after later this spring and summer. It's good exercize for her to chase after them and tree them. So I'll let them go for now.

Now if I see them up on top of the gazebo, gnawing on the wood, then all bets will be off.


I was going to name this post...Shoot...Don't Shoot...but I decide against it.


WuzzFuzz

U should've .......

We have many of them in my neighborhood and have even counted 9 of them at one time. They use to get into my two bird feeders until I finally went to the hardware store and got a piece of aluminum (2x2') and put it "on top" of the feeders. Now they jump on top but every time when they go to any side, the feeder tilts further away and their nails won't allow them traction. Those suckers could go through a whole feeder in on day with their buddies underneath getting what spills out. I've even seen those guys jump (almost fly) from a tree trying to reach my feeders 20' or so away. I give those guys credit figuring out how to get the seeds.

A couple of them shredded my car cover in the late fall .and here I am in the burbs about a half mile from the police station with a nice selection of 22s

Well... they usually have all dang day to do that while I'm at work.

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Birds like shiny new toys too.

When you caught them in the act, did they put their hands up in the air, or just keep on doin' what they were doin'?

My suggestion - get a suppressor for the .22 and go after them!

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Bill

A ggood pellet gun can be just as effective and ammo is easier to find.

Those little bash-turds are destructive! They will ruin vehicles, houses, anything they get around. I live in a residential area and have used a pump-up BB gun to kill over 20 of the darn things in my yard in just one day. I was tempted to get out the .22 but someone will complain. It's always better to thin them out from time to time and put a little fear into the rest of them to stay away. I also have a large dog that likes to catch and use them as "live" toys...though they don't stay alive for long.

Get rid of them if you can.

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M&P Shield 9MM

They're in my bird feeders right now. I foolishly declared amnesty for the holidays in deference to our guests tender feelings. The tree rats won't live out next week. I have a trusty pellet rifle and a big owl that loves squirrel!

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

I forgot about my old pigeon eradicator

A slingshot and acorns work for me, doesn't take long for them to get the hint. Fun, too!

They miss my old border terrier. He would give them a run but he could never catch one. They can be entertaining and give me something to shoot with my camera. But if I lived in the country, well...

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You need something bigger than a pellet gun in Texas...........

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Dallas--You need to put a Kodiac Bear in your back yard--they like to eat squirrels.

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Possum—The other white meat!

Or you could just get a good lurcher--they will make sure the squirrels get in their cardio.

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Possum—The other white meat!

I always see them crossing power lines lately, brave little critters.

I've seen more than a couple of them running around with 3/4 of the hair scorched off of them. I've also seen a few blown in two, while the Electric company is repairing the damage to a transformer. So, eventually, their luck runs out.

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M&P Shield 9MM

With few exceptions, I try to respect all God's critters. However, when there's a couple dozen grays and a handful of reds creating mayhem in my yard, it's time to expand my small list and thin the herd.

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paws for friendship

One of ours likes the swing set...to lay on.

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I got soft few years ago and starting feeding them..until one came inside and up to the couch "feed me"

I still eat them. Got both reds and greys around here.

We have a ton of them. My motto is if they don't bother me I don't bother them. I'm only concerned with self defense, otherwise it's live and let live

One of my Okie grandma's best recipes was Squirrel Gravy on Buiscuits.

The meat was cooked in bacon grease, then turned into a pepper gravy.

Yum !

I don't mind them if they stay out back in the woods.. Or lately come into the yard to find acorns, and I can let my little dog try and chase after them...But when they get up on top of the gazebo and start gnawing on the wood, or on the deck railings, that's when I've had enough of them.

A few years back, before I got my dog, There was one that got up under the hood of my truck and ate thru some of the wiring. I found out that the wiring of the truck....Ford truck, anyway,... the wires, the plastic is made out of soy bean oil. So mice or in this case squirrels tend to get up under the hood so they can to chew on the wiring.

But this morning...to shoot them while they while they were mating?????? Nah, I ain't that heartless....Besides, they were too far away, and high up in the tree to throw cold water on them.

Short story about shooting the tree rats, and my little dog.

One time, when my dog (a standard size Daschund) was maybe a year old, I had her collar on her, and we were out in the front yard. I had shot a squirrel. The squirrel had dropped to the ground, but wasn't quite dead. So the dog went to it, and was going to grab hold of it. Well since the squirrel wasn't quite dead, it had got it's paws, with those sharp front claws up under her collar. It was funny...There she was..yelping with those squirrel nails, digging into her neck under her collar, and couldn't shake off the squirrel. The squirrel really had a hold of her....Well I got the squirrel off her of course...But it was funny.....Maybe that's why she now tries to get to any squirrel she see in HER yard.


WuzzFuzz

One hilarious solution to bird feeder theft:


Slippery Squirrel - Safeshare.TV


Andy

A few years ago one of my wife's cousins had a Daschund that loved to chase the critters in her back yard. She is a nurse and worked long hours so she had one of those doggie doors put in her rear door so the dog could go out on it's own.
She came home one night and got in bed with a wounded but still much alive squirrel. The dog had caught it and brought it in the house. To get away from the dog it had crawled under the covers on her bed.
Man I would like to have been a fly on the wall to have seen her reaction.

We have a couple of bird feeders that have metal butterflies on them. My wife was looking at one and asked me how on earth one of the butterflies got bent outward. Later the same day we got the answer when the other got bent. Dang tree rats were bending it out so they had something to hold on to while they cleaned out the feeder. Looks like I need to get me a pellet rifle.

CW

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μολὼν λαβέ

A friend of mine lives in the city and they have urban squirrels. There was one that must have had a unlimited supply of cookies because it kept leaving chocolate chip cookies under the hood of my friend's car. Was kinda funny.....you open the hood and there is a cookie waiting for you!

A number of years ago a friend in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area had a problem with them ruining his eves.

He set about a program of live trapping. He caught many with no apparent effect on the population.

He started painting the tails green and transporting the vermin across the river for release.

If he caught one with a green tail, he painted the tail red.

If he caught one with a red tail, he drowned it.

By the end of the summer, he'd drowned 28.

One of my neighbors installs a dog door so the black lab pup can go in an out. A few weeks later she hears the piano playing in the middle of the night! Her husband in gone, so she calls 911 and tells them her piano is playing. 911 operator asks her how many martinis she has drank? My neighbor says "five, but my piano is still playing."

They send out a poor young officer. She lets him in a side door. They go to the parlor where the piano is--nothing. Officer is leaving, they see curtains move. Officer jerks them back, huge raccoon has come in the dog door! They get a broom an shoo him out, after much effort, broken china, etc. They have the officer back yearly for their Christmas party and the story and reenactment gets better each year.

I would never have a dog door if I had critters in the area. By the way, the black lab pup, who now weighs about 100 pounds, slept through the whole event. He hides his head in shame when the story is told.

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Possum—The other white meat!

My dogs have gotten old and lazy so my local herd has multiplied the last couple of years. I guess if I want any pecans I need to get a scope for my pellet rifle!

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Hue 68 noli me tangere