North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Christopher Kennel <ckennel@gmail.com>]

I've used a variety of trapping techniques to reduce squirrels, including
Have-A-Heart traps (both relocateing and drowning) and the Kania 2000.  Of
these the Kania has been the most efficient as it requires the least amount
of bother (simply remove the dead squirrel and reset--takes about a
minute), and when mounted to trees frequented by squirrels it has caught
more squirrels in less time than the Have-A-Heart traps.

Due to foxes and coyotes in my area (suburban neighborhood), most people
don't allow cats to roam freely, but it is easy to keep cats out of the
Kania trap if you have a squirrel traffic situation similar to mine.  I
have several large ash and spruce trees with overlapping branches that
squirrels use to get from one place to another without touching the
ground.  They do have to touch the ground to get to my fruit trees though.
I mount a Kania trap to the trunks of these trees about 6 feet off the
ground (to avoid the risk of my dog or kids messing with it and I rotate
its location between two different trees).  To keep cats out of the trap,
just put a band of metal below the trap that would make the tree too slick
for a cat to climb up it.  Squirrels come down the trunks to get into the
orchard, and if they want to get back into the tree from the ground they
can easily do so by climbing a neighboring tree and jumping from one branch
to another.

Given that I've been trapping an average of 5 squirrels per week since
March when I set out the traps, I think I'd go crazy trying to constantly
relocate this level of burden.

Chris Kennel
Denver, CO