OK, Squirrels in the barn under the hay, in the rafters, 3 at the least, we have 2 barn cats that are scared shitless and have set up home in the tack room away from those nasty squirrels. I've tried victor rat trap with peanut butter, tried small sized live catch trap with peanut butter and squirrel bait (what ever that is), thinking about gopher poison, the strychnine, on the milo seeds under the pallets of hay where the dogs can't reach it. Any suggestions, maybe a dish of antifreeze? Rancher
I am guessing you are talking ground squirrels? We shoot ours around the out buildings with high powered pellet guns any chance we get and have so many in the peak of summer that we make a sport out of shooting them. I keep d-Con out in the shop and they eat the shit out of it, so go that method. Never thought about antifreeze and would be real interested if they drink it. Ours are starting to go into hibernation now so let me know how the antifreeze works for next year.
I believe these are called rock squirrels, not much bigger than a large sized rat. They chirp.... I saw one on a pile of RR ties this morning, he darted away when I got within 100' of him, a 12 awg would have got him, but not a pellet gun. Rancher
No anti-freeze...don't want to chance your own dogs drinking it. A scoped .223 at > 100 yards should do the trick.
The anti-freeze would have to be placed under the hay pallets, don't you think a .223 ->.556 is over kill, and I'm well within 1/4 mile of a home, perhaps a suppressor (just to get practice)? Rancher
I'm sure a .22lr with a decent scope would do the job at 100 yards without endangering your neighbors, especially if you know where your kill zone is and can shoot at a slight downward angle and maybe create a backstop a bit beyond with some old wood, sandbags, etc.
Same kind of squirrels we have here that tear up everything. A 100 foot shot on a still squirrel with a good quality scoped pellet gun is a dead squirrel, you just need to sneak up on them. That's why I said we make a sport out of it, sneaking around the buildings or setting up in one and shooting from the windows. I only mentioned pellet guns because it sounded like you might be shooting inside the barn.
are you familiar with these traps? Amazon.com : 1/2 Dozen (6 PAK) Duke 110 Single Spring Body Trap for Mink, Muskrat, and Weasel : Hunting Cage Traps : Sports & Outdoors I use these in conjunction with a plywood scrap tube box, that allows me to put one recessed in either end approximately 4 inches. your bait goes in the center before putting the last trap in it. they are very effective for regular rats and squirrels. these traps are crusher traps that KILL. I will try to get pictures of my plywood tubes.
pretty sure a gallon of denatured alcohol and a road flare will solve the rodent problem. on a more assistive note, I have had luck in the past with the d-con rat bait.
These bucket mouse traps work well for smaller rodents if your squirrels are larger maybe a larger version, half a 55 gallon drum?
Be careful using poisons. We never thought our dog would get to the stuff we used but he dug until he could reach it. We spent $$$ on vet bills. We have an old fashion rat trap but then I think plinking them would work fine. If you use decon they are going to die somewhere and they stink when they do.
