Wetfeet - The Squirrel Toss video seems to have been removed. Bummer. Richardol - Oh, you meant the real Mark Trail. Cool. Interesting info - Squirrels that are black are grey squirrels w/ a different gene in play.* I first saw black squirrels in N. MN and thought they were pretty. They probably eat orchids, too. RP, red squirrels in the U.S. aren't endangered, but I just ran across info on Wikipedia about grey squirrels taking over in England, partially because they have no natural predators. That's too bad. "On some occasions, during the fall, large numbers of gray squirrels will search for new places to live. It is thought that this behavior, known as emigration, results when squirrel numbers are high and food is scarce. When mature forests covered most of eastern North America, this mass movement of squirrels was quite spectacular." http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/greysquirrel.html Can you imagine a "mass movement of squirrels"? It'd be like the Hitchcock movie "The Birds" or the attack of the killer tomatoes. "Hunters have to be quick and accurate to shoot the swift and elusive eastern grey squirrel. It is interesting to note that naturalist Ernest Thompson Seton credited these qualities of marksmanship, developed to a high degree by early American squirrel hunters, with helping to defeat the British during the American revolution." http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=89 Wow. My grandfather, who grew up in rural Arkansas, often shot squirrel, which we ate. Wild turkey, too. I didn't realize what a good shot he must have been. Any of you who can shoot a squirrel - amazing. The fact that squirrels travel through their territory in the same sequence each day suggests loads of possibilities. If you knew the little darling was going to hit your back yard around 5:30 every afternoon... http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Sciurus_carolinensis.html "Are There Squirrels in Heaven?" This and other topics are discussed on another anti-squirrel site: http://www.scarysquirrel.org/page1.html. WC8 *"Eastern grey squirrels Sciurus carolinensis commonly occur in two colour phases, grey and black, which leads people to thinkÂmistakenlyÂthat there are two different species. Black is often the dominant colour in Ontario and Quebec, toward the northern limits of the species range. Farther south the black phase is less common and is not found at all in the southern United States. This may indicate that the gene responsible for black coloration has some cold-weather adaptation associated with it." http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=89

I'll tell you what kept them from munching away at our deer corn. Hell it keeps everything away from the corn now except the deer, turkey and hogs. Everything is gone now - mockingbirds, gophers, crows especially, prairie dogs, etc... Owl or hawk decoys. But you have to move them every couple of days to make the scene look more real. They will catch on QUICK if the decoys stay in the same spot for more than a couple of days. If this doesn't work, use a small game trap from your local feed store. Bait it with whole pecans, nuts, corn, or apples. Release them at your local park or cemetary. Hate to disappoint you but 99.9999% of squirrels won't eat poison. That's why you can't go into Home Depot and ask for "Squirrel poison." It doesn't exist. I don't care what any website wants to sell you. They are too smart to eat it. Just trap and release but I'm betting the owl or hawk decoy will work. Keep us updated. By the way I shopped around for owl decoys online and found 4 at my local flea market the next day for $2 each and they're going on 5 years old now and still look brand new. I filled mine with cement and a metal spike that I drive it into the ground with.

OK, Rafed, so what did become of your fat little bushy-tailed tree rat? I couldn't kill something with that cute a face and those bright, black eyes, but that's just me. However, I'm used to people eating wildlife. One day, a neighbor called and told me she was baking a 'possum (or was it a raccoon...) and would I like to try it. I passed on it, but it sure smelled good. (I had to go see it) Another neighbor told me she was baking a bullfrog her husband had gigged. It was stuffed and oven-braised. That must have been a BIG olf frog! I love it here! Gene, I'm like you, a bayou Cajun(not), I think. I go for the flavor with some heat, but I don' like to cauterize my tastebuds, no! :) I say I'm a Cajun(not) like y'all do with the fig trees that aren't. My boss's Cajun Uncle Ossie gave me a test, many years ago, and I passed it, so he said, "You're one of us," and I took that to heart and was so proud I had passed his test. He was the sweetest old fella and I loved it when he would stop by the clinic to visit. We've been here most of our lives now and don't want to leave. Love dem crawfish, yeah! Vivian

Jen, don't use the GW email for sending mail if you can help it. When you click on the email link, it will show you the person's email ID if they've chosen to make it visible. Use your regular email interface to email, now that you have the address. Yes, on planting stuff that won't be dug up by the nasty tree rats. They do uproot my daffodils from time to time, but that's usually in fall, and daffodils are tough little buggers, so they can handle a little abuse. Oh, and to anyone that has or wants to email me - if you don't hear from me within 24 hours (generally a lot sooner), I didn't get it. The exception is the weekend, when I may or may not turn on the computer.