I'd rather not pursue squirrels....not my forte. However, I had a very nice lady that I've trapped groundhogs for reach out to me and no one would help her. She sent me a list of six names and agencies that she has contacted and no one would mess with squirrels. I agreed to give it a go, though I told her it's not my specialty. I see others catching them in squirrel sized cage traps so I set two of them...one in the attic and another in a closet that they had accessed. I baited with peanut butter and chicken scratch...I put a camera on each one and sure enough I got pics of squirrels but they would not go in the darn cage. I put a mink box with a 110 in it right beside the cage in the attic just to see, and bam I got one! I have a clear pic of a squirrel in the 110 right there beside the box. I went right over to the house and when I got to the attic that little jerk had somehow wiggled out of the conibear. That's a first...never seen anything escape one of those. It's a very strong spring, newer trap...unreal. It's dead of winter here in NW PA...lots of snow...I do not wish to mess with ladders in this mess...was really hoping to take care of it inside. Plan B...I set up a bait station in the attic with apples and peanut butter and scratch grains and around that I spread pine shavings...I hid 6 #1 stoploss traps in the pine shavings hoping Mr. squirrel would bounce on over to the bait and hit one of my landmines. I have pics of him right outside the pine shavings, but no dice. It's been 10 days. I circled the house and the only squirrel tracks in the snow were running across the front yard, definitely not going in or out of the house. Obviously it is getting in/out, but there were no witness marks to be seen yesterday. I may have to place cameras outside to see where the little creep is getting in. My question is how the heck do others find success with those cages??? Looks so easy, but they don't seem to want anything to do with my cages. I think these are red squirrels. I caught one at home that had been getting into my camper. Wonder why I'm striking out now? I can catch most coyotes and foxes...seems like I could catch a stupid squirrel. Or maybe they're not so stupid. Any help?

i cant ever get them in a cage trap if they arnt that hungry, i trap reds in my woods with victor square jaws or bridger 110s cause they close far enouugh the reds dont wiggle out like you said. take a peice of wood and tap in 3 nails and make it so when you set the conibear its tight on those 3 nails and put a corncob or pipe on the trigger and smear peanut butter on those. stick with board wherever they are running and there you go, you can prop it up if you want but theres no need

Did that game cam catch pic's of the Squirrel escaping. or maybe some tenderhearted turd letting it loose? And NO, they ain't so stupid!

I did not get a pic of the actual escape but I'm pretty confident there was not any foul play. This older lady cannot access the attic on her own so she would have to have found someone to go up there and release it, which I would very likely have gotten on my camera. I hear what you're saying though. In a different context I would be very suspicious...I'm sure it does happen.

Especially when charging per catch!

What kind of squirrel?

I believe they're red squirrels. My pics make it hard to tell but I believe red squirrels. I have placed some additional foot traps in the fiberglass insulation and blended them well with the insulation. I've got to believe they will bounce through there again eventually and find a trap pan. I also put some additional 110's with apple on the triggers...now just wait and see.

I'm getting far less activity on my cameras than I had been. Not sure if they are getting less comfortable up in that attic since they now know something is up and they feel pressured? Or maybe they just found another cool place to hang out. I see maybe one squirrel pic a week where I had been getting a pic almost daily.

Patience.....

Reds are horrible little critters. The best way we’ve found to take them is a swing panel trap on the opening.

They excel at making trappers look stupid.

^^^ I may take out the whole arsenal for reds, colonies, snaps, cages, koro, run them down with my truck...and use my air rifle to shoot them out of the trees.
99% of the time, I tell clients to get rid of their bird feeders, with reds I've told them to start one. If all else fails, annihilate them at the feeder.. especially when they are living in the 200 year old houses that are common in the northeast. Their preference is coming in down low at the foundation.

Hmm...I will have to investigate that foundation some more...I cannot see any tracks in the snow on the roof anywhere. I will check that out.

In the photo above you can see my cage trap and the mink box where I caught one with the 110 and also the bait station with the pine shavings around. I thought the pine shaving would work....they did not. Now I have 6 #1 stoploss traps hidden in that insulation where you see the little pest. Sooner or later....

Now it looks like this...

Yeah, they like to enter low. They also cache food like there’s no tomorrow. I had one where I had to go through and collect all the black walnuts it had stored around a basement and then get rid of the customer’s emergency water storage before it would look at a trap or go through a hole. It was chewing holes in water bottles for its water!