How Destructive are Red Squirrels

My father-in-law hated the little pine squirrels as he called them. He said they would get in a building and make a mess of everything. We never had them in my southern Wisconsin town, but I have the third in my cage beneath the bird feeder right now, it is light enough to not trip the squirrel proof bar, so I have been taking them out of here. You up north guys, are they any worse than grey squirrels?

they love to chew off vacuum lines and wiring under your hood. also will stash food caches under the hood. last winter they filled the exhaust pipes of my harley with dog food from my labs self feeder. it was interesting when i fired it up for the first time that spring.

They seem to be far more destructive than grey squirrels. I hate those little buggers.

When it comes to squirrels, I'm color blind. I treat them all the same, but I do grab the gun faster when I see a pine squirrel.

also, if youre trapping them, eat the greys and fox squirrels, and toss the reds.

My FIL lived and ran a resort in northern Wisconsin. He was not a hunter but he sprung into full battle mode with his .22 whenever he saw a red squirrel anywhere on his property. At times they had gotten into the cabins and when they did it was pure destruction.

Moosetrot

Those little buggers are nasty.
They will get in everything.
Like to chew holes and get in wherever they can.
They will also beat the crap out of grey squirrels.

They chew on everything, getting into buildings and messing with all kinds of stuff. I shoot them on sight and put rat poison in buildings where the chew in.

Red squirrels are bad news if they get inside a building where things are stored. I don't have any trouble with grey squirrels; it seems like they are content to winter in trees.

I hate them more than mice.

So far I think giving them swimming lessons has been the right thing to do.

My neighbor at the lake bought a brand new John Deere lawn tractor as a retirement gift to himself... last week a red squirrel ate the steering wheel coating right down to the insert molded steel core the first night he had it. They're destructive little buggers, Leo Hoeft once told me that they castrate gray squirrels as they're chasing them up a tree.

Added to the comments already written, they also invade nest boxes in spring, chewing the holes bigger to access baby birds and eggs. They will blow your cover big time by harping at you as you hunt loud and long.

Chewing on everything inside autos , causing lots of damage.

On the plus side, shooting them with a 22 long rifle makes a person good at aiming fast.

The Northern Flying squirrel is just as bad as the red.

I had a tree next to our cabin at the lake. A red squirrel would go out on an overhanging limb, jump onto the roof, and get into the attic. It burrowed through the insulation. Made a real mess. A Victor wooden rat trap like some trappers use for weasel works real nice.

Chipmunks are just as bad. I had a pair of waders hanging in the garage. When I went to slip them on the legs were full of acorns. Rat traps work good on them too.

Had a lot of problems with them chewing sap lines, syrup jugs nests in tractors,cars on and on. Traded them for pack rats, mice building nests in vehicles, eating flowers and destroying wiring in vehicles.

I dont set traps around the camp so I dont catch any weasels there.
A weasel around your camp will do wonders to keep the squirrels and mice away.

When is the best time of year to kill them to put the biggest dent in the population? Early spring?

Absolutely right! They love to find their way into a home along the roof line. Active at night so they can drive a man insane crawling around above your head when you are trying to sleep. Not many red squirrels around here as they usually suffer acute lead poisoning!

Chris

Unlike all the other squirrels,red squirrels are a furbearer here,so can only be taken legally between Oct 25 and end Feb.
They generally prime up by mid november.
The individuals that are causing problems on your property can be taken out as nuisance anytime.

I have 9 black walnut trees. It's a constant battle against them. They almost burned my garage down last year. They packed part of the stove pipe full of walnuts and pine cones

I you see one get rid of it know!

I stopped counting at 40 around my place this summer. They are evil and I can't stand them. Sharon nailed it.

Try using a .22 instead of a 12 gauge slug.

What's the difference between a red and a fox squirrel? They will chew holes through a heavy plastic dumpster lid to get inside.
Down at the park they get into the trash cans and strew crap everywhere. They really like the little packs of condiments from McDonalds. This morning I saw one eating mustard.

Red squirrels are much smaller than fox squirrels. Around here fox squirrels are larger than even grey squirrels. I don't have any problem with fox squirrels or greys except in the winter when they try to steal sunflower seeds from the bird feeders. I solved that by surrounding the pole with slick plastic they can't climb.

I guess we have fox squirrels, but they're red. They get big and fat when I feed them corn and sunflower seeds. Imagine that!

Makes them better eating....corn-fed and all.

My grand sons and and Grand pa killed 82 one summer In Alaska. And we didn't even make a dent In them.

I've seen them create very large middens inside structures. What a mess to clean up.

You have grandsons and a grandpa beav?Great that your grandpa is still killing squirrels-how old is he 120 or so?

A couple pound difference. A fox squirrel is about the size of a cat and likes transition habitat.

Beav is so old he's his own grandpa!

I jest...I have nothing but respect for Beav.

You don't want them! They can get through places that are almost mouse size. If they can get their head in they are in.

Bryce

After reading this I finally have reason to give thanks for no trees. Good grief!!!!

The most effective way I know to catch red squirrels en mass is wire snares on running poles. Dale Torma (remember him??) used to post about it on here, and I'm sure it's in the archives somewhere. I tried it as an experiment and caught plenty until I decided I didn't want to catch any more.

Tree rats, is what my dad called them.

My Brother hates them and says they damage his garden so he shoots them. I don't have problems here as there aren't the right trees in the neighborhood for squirrels. The park along the crick is full of them and I feed them in the winter. These are fox squirrels.

There are black squirrels in Lincoln and Council Bluffs..........also Marysville KS. I'd like to have some to stock the park here.

finally some thing we all can agree on ,red squirrels are bad !!!!!!!!!!!,

Never had a problem with the blacks, greys, Foxs. They mind there own business.

They're bad stuff around house and garage.

Rat traps with PB ...wood ones and big black plastic push open rat traps work great.

Small cage traps with one way doors also. I've caught 5 in one cage at once.

If you see them. Take them out.

Rat traps are OK, the odd one does get catapulted but the good part is they'll come back for more until they get wacked.

red devil

That's interesting, on the west coast the invasive grey squirrels are displacing the pine (Douglass squirrels).
Also, Douglass squirrels don't seem to be nearly destructive as you guys are describing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_squirrel

Why?
Red squirrel is a light meat that tastes fine.
Young Fox squirrel are the best eating of the three, but Reds are good too.

Anyhow, Reds have been much more likely to be destructive than Grey & Fox in my experience. Bigger messes too.

For the record I've been talking about the bulging eyed, ear piercing satanic red squirrels.

The ones that sit on the edge of your deer blind and scream your location to the entire world? Kill 'em all.

Douglass squirrels aren't anything like a red Pine squirrel

Black squirrels are a color phase of the grey squirrel. We have quite a few blacks around here, I had a female gray that had a black one in her litter a couple times. And yes the little red pine squirrels are aggressive and harass the heck out of the larger gray squirrels.

never found a good tasting red squirrel here. always thought it must be their diet of pine cones.

We have a mostly eastern Fox Tail squirrels where I live. They are big compared to grey squirrels. Where I grew up we had grey squirrels. Where we go in the national forest we have red or pine squirrels which are small but you don't see hardly any greys when the red squirrel numbers are there. Hard to believe that a 10 lbs. fisher can catch them in the trees but they do.

Bryce

Links to a couple similar discussions

Type of squirrel- https://trapperman.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/5219532/re-squirrel#Post5219532


Snaring the Western Red Squirrel- (Ron Lancour)- https://trapperman.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1126006/snaring-the-western-red-squirrel

I have one in the garage that ate my rider. Yes I used the F-word.

The neighbor has one in the house.

No matter how many we kill, we can't seem to get the right one.

Also, take a rat trap with the metal pan and lift it up out of the way. Take a spade bit and drill a 1 inch hole under the pan about 3/8 inch deep so the pan will cover the hole when set. Fill the hole with peanut butter. They can't get to the bait without setting off the trap and getting an instant trip to heaven.

They’ll destroy a $1000 sleeping bag and not lose sleep over it. They love chewing up foam mattresses too. I’ve been Shooting on sight with the closest gun since I was a kid

Nice tip Mark K. Thanks.

Another is to put a shim under the "legs" (the two straight parts that rest on the wood base) of the springs on Victor rat traps. (Just a bit though. Shim them too high and the trap won't stay set.) This increases their power.

Yet another is to put a chin bar at the end of the trap just past the pan.

I like 12 gauge myself. 270 does a great job too. Anyway possible. Don’t like squirrels around my cabins one bit.

They keep the telephone maintience guys full employed, or until the landline go the way of the dino.
name calling them; telephone lice

for some reason they love to nip the lines where they have the chance.

buddy found to keep a nest box around and a male will claim territory of the yard, there will usually be a 3 year life cycle of the squirrel, till the next one moves in.
Otherwise he was removing 50-70 a years,

A good change in the rat traps is to put a chin bar/ bent nail across the front 1/4 " behind the strike bar. and to have only a front entry, 3 sided cage front.

The one thing about the Red squirrels is at least they sold in the auction at long term averages.

Yep,a couple hundred red squirrels at auction paid a lot of trapline expenses back in the day.
They still sell pretty good tanned if you can do a decent tan job yourself and dont rip off too much of the fragile tails.

Do greys damage much ? I have at least 15 them in my yard Alone, lot trees, no reds here. Lots neighbors. They go roof an climb gutters, worried damage roof an get attic but not problem, thought they chew wiring, lot squirrel nests tress, apparently it must be reds that damage in bldgs, wiring. I have heard bldg fires from squirrels chew on wires