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I am such a wimp
Some squirrels in the garden and strawberry patch
Destroying them...

Get them in the scope, but I can't pull the trigger - they are tooo cute!
They are someones kid... They just want a meal... I can go to the store and get strawberries.... I don't NEED these.... they can have them..

But they are destroying the garden! Why bother spending time and money on a garden if these varmints eat them?

If only they looked like this


Oh, and a bunny showed up as well... same story...


Anyone else have this issue?
 
The easiest way to soothe your conscience is to make yourself gut and skin and eat whatever you shoot.

Squirrels are actually quite tasty when cooked properly....
 
Incentive, that's what the squirrels need.
A nice trail of sunflower seeds that happens to lead to the next garden might do it, especially if your neighbor's kid has a pellet gun.

Yeah, I'd have the same trouble if shooting was even an option around here.
Of course, with this lack of sun, my garden hasn't quite grown up enough to attract the critters yet, so congratulations on having the problem in the first place - you're further along than I!
 
Incentive, that's what the squirrels need.
A nice trail of sunflower seeds that happens to lead to the next garden might do it, especially if your neighbor's kid has a pellet gun.

He does have a pellet gun... took out my driveway lights a few years back... I heard popping - ran downstairs and saw he was running away... luckily I can run faster and nabbed him.

Sadly, with 2 acres that is ONE LONG TRAIL of the sunflower seeds.

Yeah, I'd have the same trouble if shooting was even an option around here.
Of course, with this lack of sun, my garden hasn't quite grown up enough to attract the critters yet, so congratulations on having the problem in the first place - you're further along than I!

I have a small little pipe/plastic greenhouse - that helped get things started. The strawberries have been in for 20 years and their only big threat are the squirrels... they have survived many hard winters and summers...

I give up on the birds vs. blueberries.
 
I won't shoot anything on our property except a mean dog or a coyote. I will trap gophers to save the lawn but I haul them far off and release them.

I love looking out the window and seeing deer even if they are eating my apples. I love the wild turkeys, the geese and ducks... I see them out my windows every day.

Every year up through the whole first week of deer season we have nice bucks on our property. I could easily kill one just by opening a window but I won't. No sport in that, and I like having them around.
 
It gets worse when you get older.

Maybe you should shoot one and put it on display for the others to see? Or, you could get a plastic owl like the boaters use. Alternatively, you could plant a fake garden on the edge of your property to attract them there - sort of like building a fake mobile home park to attract tornadoes on the edge of town.

You could think of them as "elitist, left wing rats"?
 
If someone has an opportunity for me to shoot a squirrel or other pest (sage rats? regular rats? whatever) pm me and we'll find out for sure where I fall on this question. I tend to think that I'll shoot first and ask questions later.
 
Maybe you should shoot one and put it on display for the others to see?

+1 That's exactly what I did when I caught a guy shooting one of my silver grays, all right.


Hangman.jpg
 
If someone has an opportunity for me to shoot a squirrel or other pest (sage rats? regular rats? whatever) pm me and we'll find out for sure where I fall on this question. I tend to think that I'll shoot first and ask questions later.

Sage rats are different for me. They not only cause crop and irrigation ditch damage, but they aren't cute little things that I see out my window. They aren't silver gray squirrels.
 
If they're actually destructive, I don't understand the qualms. If not, I'm with 3456: I tolerate, cultivate, and enjoy deer, rabbits, quail, squirrels and all else on the property, and don't kill them unless they become destructive. For example, I will not tolerate rodents of any kind that want to come in my house. It's total war with no quarter given in that case.

If you've got wildlife that is destructive, and you're still queasy about blasting them, try naming them. Here's some suggestions: Chuck Schumer, Hilary, Wayne Pacelle.
 
We have a couple of bird feeders and the squirrels kept getting into them. I tried everything to keep them out. I even knocked one of of the fence a couple of times with the pellet gun (just pumped it up enough to sting them, but not to penetrate as I didn't want to kill them) and that didn't phase them. Finally spiked the bird feed with some cayenne pepper and that worked. The squirrels won't touch the bird seed now and it doesn't seen to bother the birds.

You might try sprinkling some cayenne pepper around your garden and see if that helps although you would have to do it over after every rain.
 

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