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I had two cats in my backyard a boy and a girl.  The boy loved to  
hunt small mammals.  He killed about 5 times as many chipmunks as I  
would have guessed lived in the yard - one or two each day for  
months.  He also killed a couple of squirrels, and taught the rest to  
respect cats.  He even chased a young woodchuck off the property.   
The boy was killed by a car - a white cat on black pavement in broad  
daylight, by a hit-and-run driver.  We decided to keep his  
replacements (a pair of kittens) indoors.

The girl, alas, is more interested in flying things.  She chases  
insects and birds, and I had to remove a bird feeder after finding  
one too many goldfinches offered to us on the front stoop.  She is  
also fond of baby bunnies in the spring, but doesn't take a great  
deal of interest in the chippies or squirrels.  The girl still goes  
outside every day.  She comes in at sunset, she mostly stays on our  
property, and I haven't seen her on a street in more than a year, so  
I think her odds are okay.

Until I got the cats I couldn't harvest any currants and the  
squirrels broke the new raspberry canes while eating the summer  
fruit.  Now I only net the blueberries, and get good crops on all the  
small fruits.  I'm a big fan of keeping small predators around.  If  
the girl dies, or stops going outdoors, I will talk to the local  
shelters about possibly taking a nuisance feral cat off someone  
else's hands.

Ginda

On Feb 11, 2007, at 8:50 AM, Jim Fruth wrote:

> Michele,
>     I hate little dogs that go "Yap, yap, yap," but I've got one.   
> She has
> the run of my one acre garden/orchard.  I keep her confined to the  
> yard when
> garden plants are small and turn her loose after the plants have  
> achieved
> some height.  Between the dog, my 'junkyard cat and the 30" high  
> fencing, I
> haven't had a raccoon problem since I stopped raising sweet corn.   
> I once
> had a rabbit that climbed, in and out, over the woven wire fence -  
> He made
> nightly raids, dining on my peach seedlings until one of the cats  
> finally
> got him.  Baby rabbits can crawl through the fence.   The fence  
> effectively
> thwarts skunks and wood chucks, so far anyway.
>     Chipmunks are a problem.  There is a new immigration every year  
> and one
> chipmunk will empty a full birdfeeder in just a few hours.  I  
> wouldn't mind
> so much if the chipmunk ate the seeds but, no, he buries them all  
> over the
> garden, they sprout and I've got to yank them out.  The yap-yap dog  
> pesters
> the heck out of the chippies.  I don't know if one of the cats finally
> catches them or if they get tired of being hassled by the dog and  
> just leave
> because chipmunk problems rarely last more than a week or two.   
> Squirrels?
> My cat will chase them onto all but the tiniest tree limbs.  Those  
> that
> don't become an alternative to dry cat food just don't come back.
>     Now if I could just figure out a way to get my wife to stop  
> bringing the
> dogs into the house overnight, the last of my other critter  
> problems might
> vanish.
>
> Jim Fruth
> Brambleberry Farm
> Pequot Lakes, MN  56472
> www.bberryfarm.com
> (218)568-8483 [Store]
> (218)831-7018 [My Cell]
>
> I'd love to hear other creative solutions for deterring wildlife.
> What works to keep raccoons, rabbits, groundhogs, squirrels,  
> chipmunks at
> bay?
> (Deer are another chapter altogether).
>
> Do you have any "tried and true" methods for those of us living in  
> suburbia
> where critters are increasing and legal options are not?
> Michele Stanton