I killed Bob

[rcmodel]

Under my truck engine in a Conibear trap this evening.

I have seen him around for a while.
Even seen him fall out of trees, and off power lines because he had no tail for balance.

Looked like a rabbit or Guiana pig hopping around on the ground.

Doubt he would have made it through winter without a tail to keep from freezing in a nest this winter.
(If we ever have any winter this year.)

R.I.P. Bob!






Story background:
Squirrels have ate the wire harness off my Hemi Dodge RAM engine twice this year.
To the tune of three days in the shop, and $1,000 plus in repairs.
I declared a scorched earth policy on them in February.

They are now officially losing the war!!
189-0

rc

 

[CarJunkieLS1]

You have that many squirrels?? your score is 189-0 is that lifetime against squirrels lol.

I see you had one that didn't have a tail. That's funny as I have a bob tailed squirrel that I've seen every time that I've been in a tree stand this year. I call him Bobby and none of the other squirrels let him play any squirrel games.

 

[climbnjump]

Yeah, had one tail-less grey squirrel around here last year. We thought it had just had a close encounter of the predator kind and only lost a tail. But this year brought a whole family of sans-tail squirrels, so apparently it can be genetic.

 

[gspn]

Wow RC, you have me beat. My score is around 102 or so. Im surprised you're so covered up. Once I got to 80 it really slowed down.

 

[rcmodel]

I started in on Feb 3, last year when they ate my truck engine wiring, twice in a little over a month.

Got 55 in 2 months, then it slowed down to a trickle in M, J, J, & August.
About 8 per month.
I thought I had it under control.

Then 18 in Sept, 23 in October, 26 in November, 21 in December, and 9 so far this month.

Every time I think they are done, it starts all over again!! :banghead:

I really hate to kill them, as I really like to see them around.

But I really hate to have the truck in the shop twice in one year at $1,000+ Repair bills because they ate the wires off the fuel injectors again!!

rc

 

[Laphroaig]

rc,

Did you file a claim with your auto insurance? One of my kids had some wires chewed on his Sabaru which in turn fried his electronics. His repair was covered (including a rental car) on his comprehensive under "rodent damage". $500 deductible but the total was over $2000 not including the rental car. His sube was in the shop almost 2 weeks!

Laphroaig

 

[rcmodel]

No, I didn't.

I have a $500 deductable.

The first time was just under $500, and the second was about $60 over.

Wasn't worth the insurance hassle.

They would probably raise my rates again if I filed a claim.
Already raised it $150 a year when I turned 70 last year.

Even though I haven't had an accident that was my fault since 1963!!

IMO: Getting old doesn't always mean you can't still drive pretty damn good!!
My last two wrecks were setting at a stoplight and a cell-phone texting airhead hit me in the rear end going 30 MPH.

(And I saw them both coming in the mirrors, and there was nowhere to go to get out of the way!)

rc

 

[dh1633pm]

I think the score is 189-2. With one Dodge Hemi suffering from the counter attack or initial onslaught and or both to the tune of multiple repairs.

 

[X-Rap]

We've been over run by the packrats, trapping and poison seem to have them in check for now.
Wires chewed on everything, nests under hoods, in boats, headliners of tractors and all the bodily waste that comes with it.
In the summer it's the rock squirrels chewing everything. At least they are out in the daylight and can be shot.

 

[ADKWOODSMAN]

RC-I have only seen one tailless grey squirrel. He used to come under the bird feeder. Never thought of him having a problem in the winter. He did disappear that winter.

My kids used to laugh at me when MY WIFE had me trap and transfer. Every time I would leave with a squirrel in a have-a-hart trap, more would move in in higher numbers.

I have always worried about being rear ended. Did you try hitting the horn?

 

[joem1945]

Our little local paper runs stories on the history of this area. Story a couple of months ago was about a squirrel invasion 1880's. Reports of them swimming across the MO river en mass. Live ones climbing over drowned ones. Locals had contest on who could bring in the most dead and farmers were clubbing them in the woods.. Prizes's were a gallon ot two of wiskey. Story said it went on for several months. Paper published recipies for fixing them different ways. Paper said suddenly as they appeared , they dissappeaed. Story appeared in the Missourian news paper.

 

[MtnCreek]

189 would make a great-big pot of brunswick stew!

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

189 would make a great-big pot of brunswick stew!

Except that it might taste a bit like rubber insulation.

 

[jmorris]

If they ever cost me money, I'd take them out but I just mess with them.

 

[jmr40]

I had mice build a nest in my wife's car while we were out of town for a few days. When we came back it was driveable, but the transmission didn't shift right. They had chewed through some wires. Just needed a new wiring harness and I had the transmission serviced while they had it. I did OK, under $200 with the service.

I gave our cat a stern warning and she brought about 6-8 mice in for me within a few days. No more problems.

 

[CraigC]

Ha! We saw a coon last year running down the road without a tail. It looked like a friggin' Koala bear!

Dad declared jihad against the squirrels when they got into the attic and chewed up a bunch of heirloom books. He probably killed 200 of them before they moved and never made a dent.

I'm currently on jihad against the local skunk population. One sprayed in our crawlspace and we had to spend two nights in a hotel and replace a $2000 bed, which naturally cost $3000. So far we've shot or trapped five in the last week and know of at least three more.

 

[jmorris]

Craig, how are you getting rid of them?

I have had battles with armadillos a few times and have to kill a few every year until I kill all the ones that tear up he yard.

Had traps out for them until I caught a skunk and was happy just to let him go with out a spray.

 

[figment]

you can make something like this out of a fence charger, isolation bushings, metal cloth and ground rod. Place your contraption on the main path you observe squirrels to use. You can also use a non-baited small live trap open at both ends, but the squirrels will cause a lot of racket and warn off others for a time.

for mice and rats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLmm16Tj6BA

 

[Patocazador]

189 would make a great-big pot of brunswick stew!

I wish I hadn't read this post. Now I am dying for some Brunswick stew NOT made with chicken.

 

[Patocazador]

Craig, how are you getting rid of them?

I have had battles with armadillos a few times and have to kill a few every year until I kill all the ones that tear up he yard.

Had traps out for them until I caught a skunk and was happy just to let him go with out a spray.

Armadillos are hard to trap because they eat bugs. Just set the alarm for midnight, get up and shoot them with a .22 short and a spotlight.

 

[Coop45]

That girl from Big Bang will be on front of TC's house saying, "This has got to stop!"

 

[wlkjr]

I shot 2 armadillos with a 20ga. shotgun and one of those also with a .380 in the back and he still ran off. They're tuff.
Squirrels have chewed all the wire off that holds the top rail to my chain link fence. I was making a dent in the population until I loaded my .410 to the neighbor. I left an old motorcycle battery sitting out and they chewed through the case and ate some of the plates. They are destructive little devils as are the ground squirrels.

 

[Blue68f100]

I've got a armadillo trap that I built that works very good. The largest one I have ever caught was 3' long weighed close to 30# and had got out of my dad's traps 3 times. Was too long to get all the way in the traps. That sucker woke me up 3 times that night getting out of the trap twice. The third time I got up and shot it then went back to bed, 2:30am. For skunks the wire traps work. I just cover the cage with a blanket and let it set for 1 min. You approach from the rear if you can. Then I just pickup the cage, tie a rope to it and pull into the pond. Let them do the Houdin impersonation .

One year my dad was having problem with the tree rats raiding his pecan trees and asked me to help. I killed 55 in 6 weeks with 55 coming off 1 tree branch. That year he ended up with 94 for the year. He only shoots them when he sees them, it did not hunt them. What had happened was that the property south of him had the hardwoods harvested. So there was no food for all that got outed. I was killing 6 female to 1 male. They needed thinning out.

 

[WestKentucky]

tell me about it. We have a regional dish similar to Brunswick stew called Burgoo. I have been imagining the taste of squirrel burgoo, and its infuriating to know that I have no time to get squirrels due to this being my busy time at work.

 

[rcmodel]

I just Googled Burgoo Stew.

And it looks GOOD!!!!!!!!!!

Need to make me some of that!!!

rc