It's Go Time

I like squirrels. Really. But it's time to get serious with the ones in my back yard. They keep eating from our bird feeders, which I don't mind so much except they bend the pole that the feeder is hanging from. So we tried baffles and we Crisco-ed the poles. The grease seemed to work for a while and even now there is a huge mass of squirrel hair stuck to the pole. But apparently they pushed through the pain of be de-haired. Yesterday I saw one sitting on the baffle, eating seed from the feeder at will.

I would just kill the things but I read that an area can support x number of squirrels so if you kill one, another just shows up eventually. Behavior modification. That's what we're after. So, what would really sting the squirrel, but not kill it?

You guessed it:

Yesterday we saw him out there happily eating our seed and resting on the squirrel baffle. Mocking us. So we ran over to Wal-Mart and I plunk down 30 federal reserve notes for a 1938 Daisy Red Ryder bb gun. When we got back home he wasn't at the feeder any more but I saw him in the yard. Since I had just bought the bb gun I had to shoot something. I buzzed a bb right by him and he disappeared in a bush. It was probably a mistake to shoot at him when he wasn't actively exhibiting the behavior I'm looking to modify. Patience isn't my strong suit.

But, his time will come.