Quote:
Originally Posted by BigBrownDogHouse
So far, knock on wood, I've picked about a dozen red tomatoes with no teeth marks or chunks out of them. Surprisingly, it was just a few of the green ones.
I grow so many that I wouldn't even mind if they ate a few here and there. It's just when they start going from tomato to tomato sampling everyone. 
Pellet gun? I'd have to be like Carl from Caddyshack doing it at night with a flashlight on my gun. The folks behind us pulled out a bb gun about 10 years ago to rid there trees in the backyard from some birds and it caused a mini uproar with the surrounding neighbors.
They had a pool and didn't want the birds around it.
However, my neighbor next door has told me she has just about had it with the chipmunks and it sounds like she might be trapping some and taking them for a deep swim so perhaps the sentiment is changing.
It's hard eliminating them from the entire area because in a sub-division, I cannot go from tree to tree in the area and take them out. I can only deal with those passing through my yard.
Cats really sound like a great solution. Can't happen here though. |
You could consider a Gammo Whisper or the like - pretty quiet. I recommend a .22 pellet gun to be as humane as possible to the squirrels/chipmunks. If not using a Whisper, try to make sure the .22 pellets don't break the sound barrier. One way to do this is to use very heavy pellets, sometimes called magnums. The heavier the pellet, the lower the muzzle velocity, but they still have good stopping power.
One way around the neighbors is to set up some peanuts or something else irresistible to squirrels/chipmunks in view of a window in your house. Open the window/screen, stick just the tip of the barrel out of the window, and blast away. It will help your aim to have a rest for your forward hand to ensure better accuracy.
(This coming from the guy who placed the windows on his tool shed so that it could double as a squirrel blind, mind you.)
Do check your local laws. Even in very gun strict Massachusetts, as long as you are 18, on your property, and do not fire the pellets across a public way, you are perfectly within your rights to kill the rodent pests on your property.
BTW, your neighbor who wanted to shoot the birds was most likely violating federal law, unless they were going to shoot rock doves (pigeons), house sparrows or European starlings. Everything else is protected by the migratory bird laws.