North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Scott Smith <scott@cs.jhu.edu>]

I have had some luck with the snares Lucky mentions.  Put about four  
of them on a 6' pole which is leaned 45 degrees against a tree they  
like to climb up.  Squirrels will prefer using the 45 degree ramp to  
walking vertically on the tree.  I would say the hardest part is to  
learn how to set the snares properly, they are quite fickle.  I have  
caught several squirrels in them in spite of bad setting technique.     
Many more times I see a snare moved due to a squirrel that got away.   
They are cheap, around $1 each.

There is a tube kind of lethal squirrel trap which was in the CRFG  
magazine last year.  I got one and did not get a single squirrel in it.

The Havahart traps I have very intermittent luck with.  This year I  
have not caught a single squirrel in one, but last year I got half a  
dozen.  My best recipe is the .22 pellet, but it sounds like that will  
not work for you Alan.

This year I have largely been OK due to all the squirrels I killed via  
bait-and-shoot before the fruits came out, but there is one spot I  
cannot shoot due to a neighbor house in the back and they have  
recently stripped a couple peach trees in that area.  I have now set  
several snares in that area and also threw down some sunflowers and  
corn in the hope of distracting them from the peaches.

Scott