Grey squirrels are embarrassing me

I’m trying to help someone with a squirrel issue…the people are in the middle of a housing development with the only oak tree. Squirrels are trying to get into house, shed, garage... I know there are at least 7 squirrels. Over the past 4 days I only caught 3 (juvenile). I have 5 different kinds of box traps out, baited with peanut butter/apples, bird food, and full peanuts. The squirrels are running all around and on the traps. Maybe I was over confident, but I thought I would have caught them all by now. I have a nuisance license but not very experienced in targeting grey squirrels.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

Thank you very much!
Dino

May go to bait for all sqrs is black oil seed (sunflower seeds)

Try walnuts.

This^. Or acorns or corn.

Outside my window at work, a grey squirrel is hard at work harvesting the nuts out of an oak.

May want to try the acorns from the tree.

Where are you setting the traps? A double door trap positive set over their entrance is hard for them to get by.

Are you trying to get them when the natural food is abundant? My guess when the acorn crop is ate up it would get a little easier??

Use an acorn picker and remove most of their natural source.

Maybe try a good attractant, something like this:

https://www.animaltrapsandsupplies....-wJJnQeL9tX-_UWholc3y7h0wlwaAnz7EALw_wcB

I've thought about buying this. I mean you can't go wrong with Jameson baits.

i usually use corn or buy a bag of squirrel feed its a mixture of everthing both have never failed also just finished a squirrel job where the only thing that they would hit was chocolate chip cookies

IME, Squirrels will eat Black Walnuts only if there's nothing else available.

Black walnuts are prime habitat for reds.

Our reds are mostly all around evergreen and pine type trees. So as I interview a customer on a call and ask what type of trees are around their home I can predict with a high degree of accuracy if they may be red squirrels.Their habitat is pine groves but they do like walnuts here. They prefer to live in pines and travel to the nut trees to feed and carry home their food to dine and stash.

Flyers love acorns for the most part in my areas. Greys are all over the wild nut food source spectrum

Try baiting with a mixture of peanut butter, roasted unsalted peanuts, and black sunflower seeds. The smell from the peanuts and peanut butter gets their attention. The sunflower seeds are the final draw. I always place them on top of the peanut butter and peanuts. I also leave a bait trail of sunflower seeds outside the trap leading to the trap entrance. I've seen grey squirrels stare at the sunflower seeds on the pan like they know it's not a good idea and go in anyway.

In my area there are a lot of DIY nuisance trappers that trap and release the squirrels. Every time that happens it just makes them a little harder to catch, but it can be done.

That's exactly what I've found. Norway Spruce also is a big draw.

I had a red stash black walnuts in my shed this year. I removed 15 gallons of them, lol.

Greys tend to stick to the deciduous here.

Thank you very much for all the help!! I ended up catching the squirrels I was after and my client was very happy…even got a tip!

Take care all!

Good job Dino...patience at times can be difficult...lol my wife and daughter were razzing me about the gray squirrels that would avoid my cages. I finally caught 6 and quieted those two down.

B S !
Squirrels will chose walnuts over many other food sources...you got it backwards !

You say you have 7 squirrels. Is that because you have a female in estrus ?
Or a late litter of 5 young and the female. . .and now she's coming back in season ?

Ever consider forgoing baited traps and use a lethal method ?
Also if you using baited traps on the ground. . . stop it !
The same bait in a trap set well off the ground, will out perform one on the ground.
Learn how to make a shelf and get that trap off the ground.

Squirrels are arboreal and presentation matters !

Ever considered using an air rifle? I do a lot of rental properties in town and use a .177 caliber 3000 psi per-charged pneumatic air rifle with a moderator on it. Very quiet and very accurate. I'm very selective of the shots I take and always make sure the squirrel is sitting where there is a backstop behind it. Very rarely is there pass through on head shots with the .177, but I don't want to take any chances. I always inform the local law enforcement of who I am, the equipment I'll be using and the location. You definitely don't want the police called on you when you're waiting for a squirrel to show up, ask me how I know. I do rely a lot on cages and will set them wherever I find sign. I agree with LT in that they seem to connect faster when set up off of the ground. But again, I set where I find sign. In most of my jobs the squirrels are already in the house and exclusion is the first order of business. This is a college town so the houses set empty during the summer and this gives the rodents ample time to set up residence. I also try to remove as much natural food that's in the area, especially any food inside the house. Usually, acorns or walnuts.

The tube traps always work. Peanut butter with sunflower seeds embedded on the pan. = dead squirrel. I can catch 10 a day if I wanted too.

I’ve used walnuts as bait with great success in the summer but noticed that the squirrels seem to ignore the walnuts late in the Fall. Does season matter as to what bait is most effective?