Gone squirrelly
Posted on February 28, 2015 by bob in OffTheBeatenPath
In the ground were nearly 150 feet of seed potatoes, freshly planted before most of my neighbors had their first cup of morning coffee. I’d finally found time to prep the soil, get the chitted chunks of spud in the ground, and mulch them sufficiently to both protect them from frost and keep moisture levels as consistent as possible.
The next morning, while gazing out at the garden and thinking of the certain joy my daughter would discover in digging those 
potatoes come early summer, I saw much of my mulch strewn about and small hole after small hole dug along the planted rows. It looked as if a mini carpet-bombing campaign had taken place in my garden. The brief flitter of a gray and bushy tail escaping through a hole in the fence – potato in-mouth – revealed the parties responsible.
“Squirrels,” I bristled.
Recalling the recent bill for trim and facia repair courtesy of the same creatures, this latest affront was the last straw. They’d chewed too many holes in my siding, stolen too many almost-ripe strawberries, plums and pears from the garden, and eaten (yes, eaten) too many chain link fence wire ties, causing the fence to sag in places and allowing the dogs to get out. On my property, coexistence between man and squirrel was no longer feasible. I reviewed my options.
The dogs wrought havoc on the squirrels, but if I let them into the garden to patrol I’d have bigger problems since they would eat almost anything. Shooting was the most immediate solution but came with another set of concerns. Poisoning wasn’t an option for various reasons. Trapping was the only realistic solution.
Like spraying for bugs, I knew I could never be completely rid of squirrels, but also knew from past experience I could put enough of a dent in the population to give my home and crops relief. I would become a student of the squirrel; learn his habits, his travels, his preferences.
For several mornings and evenings, I surveyed my property to learn when and from where the squirrels came. Certain limbs hanging over the roof, large limbs touching other trees that made travel between trees easy, even the 2×4 bracing on the privacy fence were all high traffic areas. Pole saw in hand, I went to work to make it as hard as possible for a squirrel to travel off the ground between locations in hopes my efforts would result in fewer holes in my siding and less stolen produce.
Knowing my pruning would force the squirrels to spend more time on the ground, I set trap after trap and was rewarded with oftentimes several catches in a day. The dogs got into it as well, helping further whittle down the population with a few catches of their own.
While lately I’ve seen fewer holes dug in the garden, and no new chew marks on the siding, I’m still a long way from being squirrel-free. There are definitely fewer now than when I started, but whether it’s because I’ve trapped most of them (doubtful) or because word has spread in the squirrel community of my general inhospitableness toward rodents, it really doesn’t matter.
Despite the inconvenience of time spent trying to mitigate the negative effects of the tree rat population on my property, part of me has enjoyed the challenge. What started out as purely an exercise in damage control has become part of my daily routine.
That’s a good thing probably, because I’ll have my summer crops in the ground in a month or so, the pears, plums and strawberries are plumping up, and we’ll start this whole thing over again.
Niko Corley, a licensed charter boat captain, spends as much of his free time as possible on the water or in the woods. He can be contacted at niko.corley@gmail.com.
