My wife and I feed the birds in our yard. The feeders we use are on a pole with a concave squirrel baffle below the feeder and a cage around the tube. Even with that level of protection the tree rats manage to get fat at my expense. They’ve learned to climb the pole, bite the bottom of the squirrel baffle and reach the bottom of the cage.

In order to put the limb bacon on a diet, I have started greasing the pole using Crisco. They will thank me for being concerned about their health as they slide down the pole.

The success of the Crisco coating got me to thinking…something I should not do and write it down for all to see. My convoluted logic is thus, if Crisco is slick enough to prevent expert climbers from eating on my nickel, would it work to slick up pistol rails. It is animal fat, non toxic and slicker than snot on a door knob. What is not to like about Crisco on a blaster? Just don’t let your wife catch you using her stash out of the pantry. They get a little picky about contaminating the stuff they cook with.

So, anybody out there want to admit to being the “Crisco Kid”.

I try to stay true to my roots.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

FYI:
Crisco is VEGETABLE SHORTENING made with various vegetable oils, it's not Lard. Lard is made from animal fat with pork being its main ingredient.

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SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS

Use bacon grease. Your nose and your buddies will thank you when your gun heats up after a few shots.

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protocalldesign.com

I like the bacon grease idea, we used Cream of Wheat in our black powder revolvers to take up empty space and that smelled pretty good.

My bad, thought Crisco was animal fat. But even better, a vegan pistol. Should make PETA happy. I must admit I like the bacon grease idea. The only thing better that eating bacon is smelling it. We may be on to something here.

Ok, somewhat seriously, would Crisco work as a lube?

Do you give them Dollar bills?

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No baby we aint

I greased my feeder pole with lithium grease.
The squack wiped the grease off with his body, wiped off body on grass, repeated several times, and reached his goal.
😳😳

Many moons ago my buddies and I used Crisco as a black powder lube. We thought it worked back then... maybe it did.

I hang Slinky coils on my bird feeder poles to keep the squirrels out. It really does work, have used them for many years. It is an old trick.

Long term I think Crisco has too much water in it for metal gun lube. My best friend turned me on to a different product for long term lube and rust prevention. It is CVA Bore Butter. It is also veggie based and non-toxic, and resists corrosion from sulfur in Black powder and mercury & salts in old foreign percussion caps. We also use it like the Cosmoline for long term storage. The yellow smells something like butter, the green smell like mint.

Ivan

I don't know if y'all are being serious or not about the bacon grease, and I've never tried it, but since bacon is salty, it seems like bacon grease would have salt in it. And this seems like a bad thing to put on a gun. Salt drawing moisture out of the air like it does.

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I always take precautions

It's a long watch at 45 minutes, but this BBC documentary shows how hard it is to really squirrel proof a feeder. It's also got alot of nicely strange British people in it.

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The best I can with what I got

Check out WILD BIRDS UNLIMITED'S Raccoon Baffles.
I've had one for years they work foe Raccoons and Squirrels.

we also feed the birds and it is next to impossible to keep the squirrels at bay. they get very bold after feasting on the free groceries. when i open the door and they don't flee in fear for their lives, i have a little pump remington sighted in with the sub sonic ammo and my granddaughter and i will harvest a few until once again they are afraid for their lives.

my granddaughter loves it and i like to eat the tree rats. win--win. it takes a couple months between harvests which works out pretty good.

i love it when my Grand says " Popa, get your squirrel rifle, it's time". bonding at it's best.

krs/ kenny

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Too good

On several occasions I have been known to pull out my car engine dipstick to lubricate guns that need it.

This Duncraft pole has stopped all squirrels. Unfortunately it is squirrel proof but not bear proof. After 10 plus years it finally broke. Have a new, less bulky one ordered. No grease required.

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How she found this out I don't know but my daughter in law told us that squirrels will not eat Safflower seeds. They are a little more expensive than the black oil sunflower seeds we used previously.

Despite my skepticism, I can attest that the squirrels will not eat Safflower seeds. The dove, cardinals, and various other winged creatures eat them like they are candy, Squirrels won't touch them; go figure.

Back in the 1960s my dad was an NSS-A skirmisher, and he used Crisco as a lubricant and fouling softener for his rifle cartridges. He would coat the rings of the Minie balls with Crisco and fill in the hollow base of the Minie balls with Crisco and from what I remember it worked just fine.

Mostly what I use for squirrel deterrent is a squirrel hating chocolate lab and an old Remington Model 24 22 short only. Dog trees them, I pop them with a short, dog picks up the tree rat and takes it to the woods and buries it. A good system for my very rural area.

I would think that Crisco & bacon grease would turn rancid in short order.
Maybe moldy also.

I recall a WWII Navy veteran telling me that submariners would lube torpedo tubes with Crisco or a like substance. My great grandfather used rendered bear fat to lube his muzzle loader hunting rifle. My grandfather used Crisco because rendered bear fat was no longer a common product.
As for bacon fat, I know some people who practice blacksmithing will coat iron/steel creations with it to create a nice patina in a relatively short period of time. I will be sticking with petroleum products, synthetic oil, and/or Ren Wax for preserving a gun that has any value.

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NRA Endowment Member

Used to live with a 50 acre conservation in our backyard, squirrels galore, racoons too numerous to mention.

These baffles WORK, PERIOD.

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SWCA #2306
DAV in honor of POP

Our squirrel population suddenly disappeared after we got Quigley.

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Death? Smile back...

We have a serious squirrel problem in regards to them getting the bird food and my wife came up with something finely that worked.

We have two trees about 20' apart. Nothing over them. She drilled out a centered hole in the back of soda bottles so that she could string them between trees with thin wire mouth to bottom.

The bird feeder hangs in the middle about 5' high. The squirrels try like hell run up or down the trees and jump to the bottles. The bottles simply turn upside down, the squirrel tries to keep going in a inverted mode but falls off after a couple bottles.

Admittedly it looks strange but works, so finely the score is something like squirrels 9, Barb 1.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

How can you NOT open a thread with this title

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Forum consigliere

I use a pellet pistol to discourage tree rats from the bird feeder. After a while they learn that the feeder will "bite" them is they go on to it. (Being retired helps and gives me something to do during the day.)

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Bill

When I bought this house 23 years ago the squirrel population was old, diseased and out of control. Most every tree had three nests. Fleas every where. Now, due to my urban pest control system, the population is young, healthy with reasonable numbers. And they know not to mess with my bird feeders. I think they can smell the blood of their fore fathers.

System shown below.

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If one wishes to use bacon fat or cooking oils, check the salt content first. Salt and guns are not a viable combination.

As for squirrels, I was plagued with them for a while. After one got into the attic, I declared war. I bought a Havahart trap and a bag of unsalted raw peanuts, and so far have carried off well over 100 of the rodents. If I see one, I set the trap out, and within a couple of days he's toast. Their is a grove of oak trees on the far side of the interstate that would be prime squirrel hunting property!

I live in town with houses all around so I had to think long and hard for a solution that took care of the squirrel problem and satisfied my inner need to shoot something. No tree rat carcasses to get rid of but they give my property a wide berth. This was my solution.

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Also cow birds and blackbirds leave it alone.

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Well done > well said

I have used Crisco (or similar) as a lubricant in everything BP I own, and have for many years. Including in Minie balls. I keep it in a plastic squeeze bottle.

I've had the same baffle that Ditrina has for a couple of years and it works great. The tree rats keep trying but haven't conquered it yet. I've even had a few of them grab it at the bottom in their mouths and try to shake it loose but couldn't do it. They're still getting pretty fat from the seed knocked off the feeders onto the ground below.

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Why duck?? It's a 9mm!

Years ago a member stated here that he bought peanut butter in the large plastic jars. When it was close to being empty he would toss the opened jar in his back yard and watch the squirrels take turns inside doing barrel rolls.

JR and I have done it a few times.

We are easily amused.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

I don't worry about squirrels. I do have some cats. If I put up a bird feeder I would put it in an open area a way from anything else and if the squirrels started raiding it, the cats would shortly turn it into their feeding station. I am sure they under stand the concept of what goes up must come down.

An old man once told me when I was a kid to use lard and I would grow into a man. I used Crisco and later realized it was shortening.

The idea of watching squirrels inside a peanut butter jar sounds entertaining. Wonder how the little rodents get all the peanut butter off thei fur? Maybe they are like monkeys picking fleas off each other.

BOOOOO!!!!!

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Who are those guys?

We have a bird feeder on one of those shepherds hook poles made from 1/2" steel rod. Various lubes didn't work. I came up with the following idea....I got electricians tape and pushed flat headed thumbtacks through from the sticky side about every inch then wrapped long lengths of this "tack tape" around the pole from top to bottom. I thought for sure the little grey buggers couldn't climb the pole with all the tacks sticking them in their feet. My wife looked at it, said "great idea, you'll get rich from your idea!" I sat, watched, and waited. The first squirrel came by, looked up at the pole........and proceeded to climb right up the pole, using the tacks as little steps!!!!

That falls into the "That's funny, I don't care who you are" category.
As far as Crisco, I plead the 5th.

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Waiting For The Sun.

I only seem to have one squirrel that comes around. There is a birdfeeder that hangs on a branch that is perpendicular to the trunk of the big tree. That squirrel has learned to climb down the tree trunk upside down and reach out to stick its snout in the bird seed.

One squirrel I don't mind. When my late mother was bedridden with Lou Gehrig's Disease she enjoyed watching the squirrels on the deck railing.

How do you use or hang slinky’s? My wife’s bird feeders are under constant attack by squirrels, raccoons and even deers. A .177 pellets gun don’t seem to impress them at all….

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"Your other right........."

I would like to know how you attach the slinky’s also DWalt. Do the birds ever get tangled up in them?

Surely you don’t put Crisco on the Slinky too…seems like that would gum up the works!����

I have the same pole and used axle grease slathered all over it. It was funny to watch the first squirrel try to climb up and slide back down. Then I realized the other squirrels just waited for the first one to wipe all the grease off. Then one after another they climbed the pole.

Just slip them over the rod or pole and tie them at the top with thin steel wire so the Slinky dangles down the rod or pole. I have feeders that hang from the Shepherds crook, also a large feeder that hangs from a long jointed rod that hangs from a tall tree branch. The rod also has a Slinky attached. Maybe I can take a picture later. Squirrels definitely do not like to navigate anything with a Slinky over it. When I first tried that trick, it was fun to watch the squirrels try to climb it. Later, they learned not to try. I have not seen a Squirrel try to climb one for a long time. I feed the Squirrels in my yard with corn on the cob on a wheel, also I have another Squirrel feeder I put raw peanuts in. I like my Squirrels.

My main problem with bird feeders is Grackles and Doves. They keep the other bird varieties away and eat too much. Doves are more of a problem than Grackles.

Grackles seem to like only the sunflower seeds and will toss everything else overboard to get them. Meanwhile, the black-bellied whistler ducks gather below for the feast.

Just do the math. Squirrel + Pistol + Crico = Fried Squirrel.
Taters, gravy and cornbread = Dinner.

I've seen it used in black powder. Probably still remains a thing.

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it just needs more voltage

My neighbor was big on feeding the birds. He also shared with me that he had a serious pack rat problem. I politely suggested to him that the bird feeders just might be a causal factor. After his auto under hood wiring problem surfaced, he stopped feeding the birds. Just another thought about bird feeders.

Is this squirrel karma?

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