Life has come full circle.

[444 Magnum]

I can't tell you how many tree rats I shot and ate when I was a younger man. Doves as well.

I'll still go to a dove shoot occasionally, but I have no desire to squirrel hunt.

Now I'm feeding them!

I have a squirrel proof bird feeder but the dove are ground feeders so I throw a little on the ground for them as well. Yesterday, I counted three squirrels, two doves, a cardinal, and several sparrows all feeding together.

I have to say I enjoy watching them and their antics.

Let the squirrel hate begin!

 

[Breakaway500]

I haven't killed a squirrel in years (with a gun..) but I'm never ever gonna feed them.

 

[fiasconva]

I have a couple of bird feeders that the doves figured out how to get on them and feed from them instead of on the ground. It took a while but they figured out how to stand sideways since they were too big for the little shelves the feeders had if they faced the feeders. Now I have them both on the feeders and on the ground.

 

[Bald1]

I love dove hunting. I've only ever done it in West Virginia. NY does not recognize them as a game animal so no season. I grew up hunting squirrels with my dad. He would crawl on his belly for 50 yds to shoot one. But he also liked eating them a lot more than me. I still do it a little bit. But usually after deer season when I get winter time cabin fever.

 

[M1A4ME]

Fried squirrels, gravy and biscuits for breakfast. I'll never forget my boys sitting on my dad's lap when we go home to visit. He'd set there and feed them bits of squirrel and then dab a piece of biscuit in the gravy for the next bite. I don't know who enjoyed it more. The boys eating a great breakfast or dad feeding them and seeing how happy they were.

I never was much of a squirrel hunter. I enjoyed it. I went a lot. I never got the knack of see them before they saw me and then sneaking up to take the shot. Dad would get his limit of 6 and I'd get a couple, maybe.

Dad's gone now and my mom and brother do actually feed the squirrels. I'm going to try to get rid of some of them this year. I'm tired of them eating my blackberries and getting in the bird feeders. Never used to see squirrels in the yard but my next door neighbors started feeding them peanuts and now I've got them, too.

Doves? Can't stand the taste. Don't like liver either. In TX we killed some and thought the nasty taste was because the were eating seeds/leaves off the sage brush. Moved to VA and they taste the same way here. You guys can have my share.

 

[boykinlp]

Fried squirrels, gravy and biscuits for breakfast. I'll never forget my boys sitting on my dad's lap when we go home to visit. He'd set there and feed them bits of squirrel and then dab a piece of biscuit in the gravy for the next bite. I don't know who enjoyed it more. The boys eating a great breakfast or dad feeding them and seeing how happy they were.

I never was much of a squirrel hunter. I enjoyed it. I went a lot. I never got the knack of see them before they saw me and then sneaking up to take the shot. Dad would get his limit of 6 and I'd get a couple, maybe.

Dad's gone now and my mom and brother do actually feed the squirrels. I'm going to try to get rid of some of them this year. I'm tired of them eating my blackberries and getting in the bird feeders. Never used to see squirrels in the yard but my next door neighbors started feeding them peanuts and now I've got them, too.

Doves? Can't stand the taste. Don't like liver either. In TX we killed some and thought the nasty taste was because the were eating seeds/leaves off the sage brush. Moved to VA and they taste the same way here. You guys can have my share.

M1A4ME, I'm not sure how you cooked them, but we use the breast only, wrapping it in bacon and grilling it to medium. Tastes delicious…..as ANYTHING wrapped in bacon does!
Larry

 

[lihpster]

Never et a squirrel, so I never hunted them. Doves are another story. Some of the most enjoyable hunting I've done. As far as the taste goes, to me, bacon wrapped dove breasts with a little onion and garlic is food fit for the Gods. Especially if done in camp before going out the next day. Serve with pasta and a vegetable with bourbon and cigars around the fire for dessert. With good companions and conversation, it's a night that's hard to beat.

 

[67tempest]

I have always liked squirrels and feed them regularly along with the neighborhood birds and chipmunk's. Have had numerous squirrels over the years that would come onto the deck and eat out of my hand. My fondness for squirrels never stopped me from hunting them although I haven't been squirrel hunting in years.

 

[Oldengineer]

While very altruistic, bird feeders generate an undesirable secondary consequence —- pack rats that like to eat the insulation on automotive wiring. One of my neighbors greatly reduced his pack rat population/problem when he got rid of his bird feeders. He still feeds the hummingbirds.

 

[45Smashemflat]

Don't hunt them now, now that Kroger has this on the shelf…

 

[Ματθιας]

I usually leave critters alone. They do their thing, I do mine.

We have burrowing rock squirrels. They'd always been out in the fields next to the fast food places near by, but when a couple of neighbors started feeding them, they couldn't figure out why their gardens were being torn up, sprinkler systems being chewed on and why they were finding strange poop outside their patio door.

Other neighbors warned them, I just kept my mouth shut.

The funny thing is the neighbor kids found a burrow last summer and tried to put fireworks in the hole. I gave them a couple of smoke bombs that photographers use. - a good time was had by all!

 

[raljr1]

I can't tell you how many tree rats I shot and ate when I was a younger man. Doves as well.



I'll still go to a dove shoot occasionally, but I have no desire to squirrel hunt.



Now I'm feeding them!



I have a squirrel proof bird feeder but the dove are ground feeders so I throw a little on the ground for them as well. Yesterday, I counted three squirrels, two doves, a cardinal, and several sparrows all feeding together.



I have to say I enjoy watching them and their antics.

Let the squirrel hate begin!

I do the same... Toss a little on the ground for the doves and if the squirrels get it, oh well

Robert

 

[SMSgt]

After a squirrel got into my attic and gnawed holes in a wall and the eaves, it's all-out war. I have trapped way over 100 and sent them off to a wooded lot on the far side of the interstate away from any homes.

 

[Rustyt1953]

Me mum had a lovely rock garden in her backyard. She kept bird and squirrel feeders out and tended them year-round. She would sit with a cuppa and watch the acrobatics.

It brought her immense joy.

 

[DWalt]

I have had what is probably the same family of squirrels living in a large Oak tree in my back yard for many years. I feed them ears of corn, peanuts in the shell, and about anything else edible such as stale bread. I have three supposedly squirrel and dove-proof bird feeders. I would never shoot them, they are family.

 

[jimmyj]

Long ago I Squirrel hunted with my Father until a "Friend" told me to look closely at the next Squirrel I shot as Their little front paws would be held together as They was praying as They were dying. I did and never hunted Squirrels again. (chicken, wimp jimmy)

 

[robvious]

I don't feed squirrels, the huge oak tree does... along with the turkeys...

 

[Rustyt1953]

I live in a declared Red-tailed hawk breeding ground. The squirrel population is held in check.

 

[M29since14]

I don't feed squirrels around the house because it invites property damage, but I don't kill them if they hang around the bird feeders, as long as they don't tear them up and don't scare all the birds away.

About the only thing I enjoy about Indiana winters is feeding the birds. We don't get much snow any more, so unless you are fond of cold temps, ice, and wind…

I have a nice supply of cardinals (our state bird) and the smaller birds that are so varied I can't name them all, along with assorted woodpeckers, crows, doves, and so on. All are welcome.

 

[Ματθιας]

The area I live in is about a mile away or so west of the Rio Grande so there's all kinds of critters that show up. For a year or two there were all kinds of mourning doves in all the trees. They were loud!! Then, a falcon or hawk showed up and started taking them out. Feathers everywhere! Cats started taking them out, too. They disappeared.

This year, they are starting to come back.

I don't know what it is about my yard, but critters. weird ones show up in and around my yard. Lizards, lots of lizards, doves, sparrows, starlings, roadrunners, rabbits, squirrels, cats, strays, and skunks.

Two summers ago, I even found a dead parrot in the yard. It had a band on one of its legs and I called the pet shops in ABQ trying to find out who owned it. Turns out the parrot had escaped and flew away from the owner's house that was about 1/4 mile away and ended up in the trees that line the perimeter. Go figure.