"Steve B" wrote in message
...


I have a couple of big silver maples, 40 years old and about three feet
in diameter.

stuff snipped

What is the best way to stop the damage and make the trees live longer?

I'm getting ready to fabricate traps out of 55 gal barrels, and some 4"
PVC.

I knew there was going to be trouble dumping all that nuclear waste in
Nevada! Them's some might big squirrels you're looking to catch, pahdner.
(-: My wife absolutely hates even have the little 3' Hav-a-harts scattered
around the house. She would go into full-scale rebellion if I put 55 gal
drums around. But I do admire the one-step nature of your solution.

I used to put the whole trap in a heavyweight clear plastic bag and then
spray enough ether (starting fluid spray) to know them out for transport.
My wife hated that method since it tended to fill the house with ether
fumes. "The neighbors will think we're running a meth lab!" The auto store
clerk looked at me like I was a huffer when I'd pick up six cans of the
stuff when it went on sale.

Another reason to dispatch them quickly is that the older ones are usually
crawling with parasites of all sorts. A fair number of them are crippled,
too, missing eyes and ears or having some other malady (one had what looked
very much like a small caliber "through and through" wound. I sextuple bag
them to make sure the parasite don't jump ship and end up on my dog.

Now, I have converted a cattle prod to just stun them with stun being a
euphemism for electrocute. Very quick and mostly painless from what I can
tell. I used to spend considerable time and effort to relocate them to the
park, but after the one got loose in the van and climbed up onto my head
(Gott what sharp, nastly claws) and another bit my thumb during the transfer
process, it was no more Mr. Nice Guy. As I am sure you've noticed, they
look just like kissing cousins of rats when they're soaking wet and that
cute fluffy tail slicks down to a narrow diameter.

I'm sure those brought on Bambi are horrified, but that one damn squirrel
that spent a week in my house did thousands of dollars of damage to all the
Andersen windows in the house trying to chew his way out. The molding and
woodwork on the basement casement-style windows got particularly savaged.
My feeling is once you come onto my turf, you've earned whatever happens.
Squirrel or burglar. I still find ossified squirrel turds on upper shelves,
on top of the free-standing bookcases, etc. In the spring and fall, I can
catch up to 7 a day and sometimes they're just waiting around for me to
reset the trap. Aside from the damage, the little suckers are always
activating the front door motion sensor. When it chimes three time in an
hour, out go the traps.

The three foot or so PVC has a tipping point slightly off center so it
resets itself. It is open on both ends, but placed so the squirrel goes
in
one end. There's a trigger on the bait. When he reaches the bait and
trigger, he's well past the balance point. When he hits the bait
trigger,
the tube is released, and it pivots. His weight causes him instantly to
plummet into 18" of water.

Clever! Put it over a fire and you've got yourself Chunky Squirrel Soup. I
surprised they don't figure out a way to get out. I guess it's hard to jump
up from the water. I've seen them to some pretty impressive vertical leaps.
I also watch them just hanging off the "squirrel guard" on my neighbor's
bird feeder like little Flying Wallendas.

The tube resets itself under its own weight and
balance point. The bait stays put, either being peanut butter slathered
inside the tube, or pecans wired on the trigger. It's a reusable trap and
resets itself. I built one last year, and it worked good. I intend to
make
four this year so we can try to keep the squirrels under control and out
of
our fruit trees.

I have a wonderful elderly neighbor who has four or five bird feeders around
her house. Ever since they went up, the squirrel population skyrocketed as
well. I'm practicing ZSPG - zero squirrel population growth.

--
Bobby G.