No Squirrels This Year

[CalG]

They all must have moved west, 'cause there are lots at my place. I've seen 5 at once in a 30 yard by 30 yard space. All up and down our maples.

Some of them have cute white tufts on their ears.
I'm thinking about playing god and just shooting (PCP Pell rifle) the ones without the white ears. You know, develop a new variety of squirrel. Something special. The black ones are everywhere ;-)

 

[k0ua]

We have the white ones over in Marionville, a town about 40 miles west of here.
Although I don't think they are a numerous as they were when I was young. Marionville was known as "The home of the white squirrel".

 

[Diggin It]

Squirrels (Nature's acrobats) are hilarious.


People that damage them ... not so funny.

 

[Jstpssng]

We have grays, reds, and flying squirrels. I once accidently cut the tail off a flying squirrel while spotting property lines; he came out of a hollow tree that I was chopping and I didn't have time to deflect my axe.
I've also pulled them out of my sap buckets in the springtime, and my dog somehow caught one on another day when I was out tapping. He was throwing it up in the air and catching it having a grand old time...
the squirrel didn't seem to enjoy his enthusiasm.

 

[JamesHW]

We have red and gray up at the farm, not a ton (Not as many as the chipmunks) but we see them.

I cannot understand anyone poisoning them unless you have it it for the predators who feed on them, for example raptors, owls and martens to name a few.

 

[BRMyers]

We have at least 2 squirrels and I don't know how many rabbits. I think they are working together, the squirrels hang from the feeder and the rabbits sit underneath pigging out.

 

[Thomas]

Plenty of red and gray also chipmunks here.
Have notice any hawks owls foxes hanging around?

 

[Gem99ultra]

A little off topic, but I'll share this anyway...

First trip up to Austin, TX, coming up from Houston, when I got within a mile or so of the State Capital I spotted a WHITE squirrel. I told my partner "There's an albino squirrel!" Had to stop and take a half dozen pictures of that rare creature. I had been hunting down in my area a thousand times, and never saw a white squirrel. Well - upon driving 5 more blocks toward the Capital Building, they were all over the place. There by the thousands!

I suppose the moral of this story is that although I haven't seen something with my own eyes, doesn't make it not true.

 

[MossRoad]

We have the white ones over in Marionville, a town about 40 miles west of here.
Although I don't think they are a numerous as they were when I was young. Marionville was known as "The home of the white squirrel".

The black one's used to be a rarity. There were a lot of them in a few towns about 30-40 miles from here. Now, 50 years later, they are moving closer.

Back on my 50th birthday in 2001 I went ice fishing. I saw a fox squirrel, a red squirrel, a grey squirrel and a black squirrel all within 25' of each other in a local cemetery by the lake I was on. Also saw a bunch of robins and some deer, all hanging out by a spring in the side of the hill. Great day to be fishing. I caught 50 fish that day! (only 4 were over 6" :laughing: )

 

[Jstpssng]

I was spotting a town line through a black spruce bog when I found an acorn stuck in a tree. That little bugger carried that acorn 1/4 mile or more to get it there. That's one way that nature spreads it's seeds.

 

[PILOON]

We never had the greys or blacks until the Suburban tree huggers demanded the city trap and relocate them.

Relocating just passed the problem onto the rural neighbors-- like us!

Consequently we are slowly getting invaded and the greys and blacks that also kill off the reds.

RE: no squirrels, you possibly have foxes or ferrets in the area.

 

[oosik]

Squirrels are VERY rare here. 38+ years and I've only seen 2 or 3. Pine squirrels. Tried feeding them many, many years ago. Unsalted peanuts in a Shed Spread butter dish. Out on the far edge of the property. The peanuts vanished pretty quickly. Might have been the chipmunks though.

 

[MossRoad]

 

[rekees4300]

We normally have a lot of squirrels over the winter making a mess around our bird feeders. This year there are none, zero, haven’t seen a one. This house is surrounded by apple orchard, and we have one barn but is pretty cleaned up. Just wondering what everybody else is seeing this year.

Strange you haven't seen any squirrels this year. :confused3: We are surrounded by woods and have a pack of 12 Gray squirrels that eat at least 90% of the bird food. I don't shoot them because watching them play is entertaining. :squirrel:

 

[Jstpssng]

The elderly couple who lived near us while growing up used to feed the Gray squirrels; I believe that they were buying a large jar of Jif every day. They had one which would knock on their window if the food wasn't out when he thought that he should be fed.

 

[MossRoad]

When I was a kid, my grandparents had a small fishing cottage on an island at Diamond Lake, near Cassopolis, MI. The island had only black squirrels. There's probably 10 towns near us where the black squirrels are the majority and "normal" gray and fox squirrels are kinda rare.

 

[rekees4300]

When I was a kid, my grandparents had a small fishing cottage on an island at Diamond Lake, near Cassopolis, MI. The island had only black squirrels. There's probably 10 towns near us where the black squirrels are the majority and "normal" gray and fox squirrels are kinda rare.

I'm surprised to hear about the Black squirrels being the majority in northern Indiana. Have lived my whole life in SE Indiana and have NEVER seen a Black squirrel. It's all Gray and Fox here.

 

[rekees4300]

The elderly couple who lived near us while growing up used to feed the Gray squirrels; I believe that they were buying a large jar of Jif every day. They had one which would knock on their window if the food wasn't out when he thought that he should be fed.

Hmmmm I know mice love peanut butter but didn't know that squirrels also do. Perhaps Jif could be used to keep them out of the bird food? Do you recall what technique the elderly couple used to dispense the Jif? Did they just remove the lid from the jar or did they create a peanut butter feeder?

 

[Diggin It]

Tried feeding them many, many years ago. Unsalted peanuts in a Shed Spread butter dish.

They had one which would knock on their window if the food wasn't out when he thought that he should be fed.

At another house in another life, I had one that would come up on the porch and wait. You could almost feed it by hand it was so close.

 

[MossRoad]

I'm surprised to hear about the Black squirrels being the majority in northern Indiana. Have lived my whole life in SE Indiana and have NEVER seen a Black squirrel. It's all Gray and Fox here.

The fox squirrels are the majority in most places up here. But just a few towns have huge populations of the black squirrels. It's kinda neat. Mostly east of us, but they move further west as I get older. :laughing: