How can I get squirrels to my yard?

Yeah, first check and make sure you’ve got trees. Especially if they’re situated to provide a highway from tree to tree.

My feeder is set close enough to a trunk for ez access, forcing them to go to ground don’t work with terriers prowling.

I’ve hunted/ate squirrels my whole life and found them to be very clean animals. Seen way more parasites on cottontails. Call them limb-chickens myself.

"try putting out bird feeders"

Yup, I have the opposite issue when I had this supposedly "squirrel proof" bird feeder.............



The weight of the squirrel would cause the spring loaded metal "leaves" to drop over the feeding holes (at first), then a smart squirrel figured that if it hung upside down from the "hanging wires" by it's hind legs it could then scoop the seeds from of the uncovered feeding holes. LOL....squirrels are definitely clever rodents!

My solution was to hung my bird feeder on a wire going from an upstairs window to a tree at the edge of my wooded area..........





LOL.....I don't have "lack of squirrel issues" at my little North Carolina acre but I do know that a bird feeder on a shepherds hook will attract them if any are around!

We had a good group of ground squirrels in part of our yard about 50-60 yards from my shooting spot in the house. Then over the course of two weeks, I eliminated three with my .30 RAW. They were left where they fell for the coyotes, hawks or fellow ground squirrels (the little cannibals that they are!) Anyway, it's been a couple months and though we see them elsewhere in our neighborhood, they don't come into my yard anymore. (Either that or they've figured out how to hide a whole lot better.) I'm sad. We were having such fun too.

Haw! You were having fun, the ground squirrels have a different story...

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Kinda agree here. Not a huge issue but baiting them is a little iffy in a lot of states.

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In which states is it illegal to bait squirrels?

like yote said sparrows are fun also 

I can't be the only one who LIKES squirrels. I find them to be fun to watch. They stay away from my house and stick to the trees. I enjoy watching them peal and eat pine cones. I can't really imagine wanting to bait them into my yard to shoot them. I'd rather feed the squirrels than local birds to be honest. If I was after meat, I'd rather shoot and eat a collared-dove any day.

I’m with you mmahoney, and I can’t stand seeing them referred to as tree rats. 

"I'd rather shoot and eat a collared-dove any day."

LOL....don't be dissing my fried squirrels cause those little "tree rats" helped this nation survive in the early days! =)

Here is a pic of the last "mess of fried squirrels" I fried. Fried squirrel is one of my favourites, even better than rabbit which is too dry for my taste. LOL....squirrels are all "dark meat"..........



I do have a story about my new bride visiting my inlaws (on my mother's side) near Harrisonburg, VA where "wild game" was very common and popular.

We were invited to my grand mother's place so the new bride and the relatives could get to know Darlene. Now while my wife wasn't actually a "city girl", she was raised near Harrisburg, PA and "wild game" was definitely foreign to her! We were called into the dining room and my wife was a bit taken back to see a big platter of fried squirrel in the middle of the table surrounded with the normal "country veggies and gravy". The thing that really got Darlene's attention however was the ring of fried squirrel heads around the edge of the platter with the "legs and stuff" in the middle.

After the blessing was said all the kids at the table first grabbed the fried heads and there was the sound of popping squirrel jaws off the skull and the sucking out of brains and such. My wife mentioned that the kids eating squirrel brains was pretty gross to her, however the fried squirrel leg she had was pretty good.

something that may be od interest was that after selling a .177 R9 to my uncle........my brother, myself and my uncle would go squirrel hunting in the woods at the "old home place" and as usual my uncle would end up with a limit of squirrels hanging by a leg on a stick. I noticed that there was never a squirrel with a head shot since all were drilled through the shoulders because my uncle would never waste a perfectly good squirrel head. Myself, I didn't find squirrel heads very palatable and there was way too much work that needed to be done to prep a squirrel head, however I do believe that fried squirrel heads was a "favourite delicacy" for my uncle and the family on my mother's side!

@nced

I don't have any problem with shooting squirrels (or any game for that matter) for food. Although, I suspect you are in a great minority of squirrel shooters who actually eat them. I don't have any problem shooting a squirrel if it is a pest. I fully support shooting them if they are overpopulated and disease riddled. I just don't really understand shooting squirrels for the sake of just killing. I'm more of a live and let live kind of guy, I guess.

This was awesome...thanks for sharing it.

Honestly I would not want to attract them to my yard. Hell I know this is not the same thing but when we bought our house there were pigeons all over the place. I think they were being fed. Anyway I picked them off one by one. Over the coarse of two years or so I took out a lot of them, and I do mean a lot. Eventually they moved on (down the road several houses) Still though It took about 2 years to do it. Was fun though. As far as the little tree rats you want to bait. I would just pick them off beyond my yard and be mindful to whats behind them just in case of a miss. I know people would frown on it but still. 

I agree completely with all your reasons! If not destructive I found tree squirrels to be very entertaining to watch! Also, it's amazing to me how they could actually "figure out" how to defeat my supposedly squirrel proof bird feeder!

Anywhoo......these battery powered "squirrel spinners" are a riot..................

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfHu-UJaK0Q

There are manually operated "Squirrel-A-Pult 2002"............

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-sLi9W4QXU

Lets not forget this squirrel featured on "squirrel impossible" that can't be defeated..................

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsuVLsDyln4

My dad’s family from Mifflin PA loved squirrel, and I too have no problem with hunting them for food or if they are pests. But, if people are shooting them just for the helluva it in suburbia, well they maybe killing animals that their neighbors are enjoying. 

nced - I have the Yankee Flipper which looks the bird feeder from the first video, which works incredibly well! The grey squirrels don't even try anymore, they just hang out underneath the feeder and grab what the birds drop. The red squirrels eventually figure it out and hurdle the perch and grab around the feeder. Fortunately, the red squirrels seem to fall prey to either hawks, the neighbors cat, or something that travels at over 880fps.

The grey squirrels are fine as long as they focus on the acorns.

The red squirrels and chipmunks are destructive and I would prefer to not see another one and just target paper. But when they do appear, paper targets get a break.

Black sunflower seed works 

If you are going to eat them, why not, otherwise if they are not causing a problem why bother unless the are causing issues elsewhere. 

In Scotland the American greys have pushed out our native and much smaller red squirrel, hence we generally shoot the greys on sight as an invasive species. I have 13 acres around the house full of trees and the greys have stripped every plum, apple, blackberry and cherry from the entire garden so on a mission to eradicate the buggers with the full blessing of my wife. Haven't got round to eating one yet as my dogs tend to get there first but NCED's fried squirrel sounds appealing. Never realised there was so much meat on the greys.

In terms of enticing the wee beasties I generally use peanuts and bird food, although the braver ones took to raiding the bins for all sorts until a few 18grain jsbs persuaded them otherwise. 

I can't be the only one who LIKES squirrels. I find them to be fun to watch. They stay away from my house and stick to the trees. I enjoy watching them peal and eat pine cones. I can't really imagine wanting to bait them into my yard to shoot them. I'd rather feed the squirrels than local birds to be honest. If I was after meat, I'd rather shoot and eat a collared-dove any day.

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Same here. I've grown up in the country with grey squirrels constantly around and never experienced a problem with them getting on the house or causing mischief. As a boy, Dad and I would hunt them and Mom would cook up some squirrel stew but only the wood dwellers. My dad said the ones around the house were off limits.

These days, no mischief except for my bird feeder. I had a cheap plastic bird feeder and the greys learned to shimmy down the cord. After getting on the feeder pegs, they'd grab the food then hang upside down like a circus trapeze artist while they ate. Fine, but they were chewing the feeder to pieces and wasting half the seed. I had them a platform feeder full of corn and peanuts 10 yds away, so why be greedy. So I got the Regal out and started dishing out head shots on the downswing. 

That didn't cure the problem for long, plus I felt sorry for the little buggers so I broke down and bought one of these:



Enter the 'Squirrel Buster'. They try to shimmy down from the top and fall off. I did see one who managed to make it onto the peg ring but boy was he baffled. If any critter heavier than a cardinal stands on the ring it closes the feed chute. They finally got the message.

My target space down the backyard is exactly 50 yards to the mulch pile. The squirrel feeder is a few feet left of the targets and a bit closer at 45yd, the bird feeder maybe 10 yds to the left. Took the greys a week or two to acclimate to the sound of the pellets smacking the target a few feet away but now while shooting, the squirrels sit and eat, the birds likewise and all is well in my kingdom.

I show no mercy to the starlings, sparrows and grackles though.

cheers

plant corn.. they will dig up and eat the seedlings..

Interesting perspectives on Squirrel. I apologize to the member that did not like me calling them "Tree Rats". If you had the destruction our neighborhood has had from them you might have a different opinion. I have literally armor plated our brick home with metal sofit and a 22 gauge standing seam roof just to keep them from destruction. For the same reason I have no trees or bushes anywhere near our home.

Poor older couple next door had them break into their attic. The infestation completely ate all their Christmas decorations. It was so bad that 3 years ago they had a company completely vacuum all the insulation out and replace. Cost them $10k +. A couple weeks ago I notice one on their roof and it just disappeared. Inspection found a lifted roof tile with a huge hole chewed in the plywood. Further inspection found a squirrel condo with 20+ of the destructive rodents. They are sick.

I personally don't shoot any animals unless for food or pesting destructive critters that destroy my property. Squirrels are fine as long as they are far far away...

You done even want to get my started on crows. :-(

M