Posted on 09/16/2018 10:36:21 AM PDT by Olog-hai
There’s a bumper crop of squirrels in New England, and the frenetic critters are frustrating farmers by chomping their way through apple orchards, pumpkin patches and corn fields.
The varmints are fattening themselves for winter while destroying the crops with bite marks.
Robert Randall, who has a 60-acre orchard in Standish, Maine, said he’s never seen anything like it.
“They’re eating the pumpkins. They’re eating the apples. They’re raising some hell this year. It’s the worst I’ve ever seen,” he said.
Evidence of the squirrel population explosion is plain to see along New England’s highways, where the critters are becoming roadkill.
Last year, there was a bumper crop of acorns and other food that contributed to a larger-than-normal squirrel population this summer across the region, said Rob Calvert, wildlife biologist from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.
This summer, there’s not as much food, so the squirrels are looking for nutrition wherever they can find it, including farms, Calvert said. …
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Drove down Route 93 from New Hampshire to Boston last weekend & seen hundreds of dead squirrels on the side of the road. Like 300 or 400 hundred, not 20 or 30!
My parents have seen squirrels rolling baby pumpkins across the yard. Cute but annoying as mom wanted some pumpkins from her garden.
Unfortunately for us in NE and especially in NH 2018 is looking real bad.
The Farmer's Almanac has predicted a biterly cold winter. Prepare.
Only prob I have with BAITS is I like the giant owls and hawks, they eat a baited chippy or Squril then there dead.
I let everyone do there own thing with out the intervention of poison, and I play defense best I can
Sounds like a 50’s Walt Disney film
The only thing I could do was to use a pellet rifle. I tried have a heart traps and driving miles away and releasing them but they would be back in 3 days. I spray painted a spot on their backs before releasing them. Sure enough they all return.
The hawks and owls barely make a dent.
Don’t like when they chew on electric wires.
Yep-they had never seen anything like it. Mom had been puzzled regarding her pumpkin blossoms not bearing much fruit. They were eating breakfast on the deck and saw why-the squirrels were taking them.
Mac probably gave away their position will all that yelling.
All that will do is reduce the population of preteen boys and girls.
Tree rats.
Leave it to the wire manufacturers to use ingredients in the plastic that when the line warms from current flow, it gives off a tasty aroma for animals.
Talked with a guy installing fiber to my house, the lines he replaced both had nibbling damage to them. I told him why, and he thought the fiber line would be safe, then told me that the company that makes the fiber cable uses peanut oil in the plastic housing. Why TF would they do that? Current wont heat the line but mr sun will.
Prepper squirrels are smart and know when to stock up for the winter.
Fluffy tailed tree rats.
I live in Connecticut and have never seen so many squirrels. I ran over a couple of them over the summer. Not on purpose but they run out into the road right in front of me. My wife is constantly looking for ways to keep them out of the bird feeders. They seem to find a way around every obstacle.
Reminds me of this story!
“One year, a young Ojibwe boy was given the task of ensuring the entire village had enough wood for winter. This was the first time he had been given such an honor and he wanted to do it right. Before he went to work he decided to call the weatherman to ask what kind of a winter was to be expected. The weather man told him it was going to be a warm and uneventful winter. The boy thought to himself, ‘this is great. I won’t have to work too hard and I’ll be able to look good in front of the whole tribe.’
Just to be safe, he gathered a few of his friends and they went to work for a week. At the end of the week, after chopping and piling the wood, the boy decided to give the weatherman a second call. The weatherman told him it was going to be a very cold winter. Shocked at this sudden change and not wanting to disappoint the elders of his village, he gathered more of his friends and they went to work. For two weeks they cut and piled wood, hoping that it would be enough to last the whole winter.
Once again the boy called the weatherman and this time the weatherman told him, “Son, its going to be a very bitter, cold and long winter. Maybe the worst winter on record.”
Exasperated, the boy had to ask, “What makes you say that sir?”
The weatherman replies, “The Indians are gathering wood like crazy!”
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