Posted: 9/20/2015 5:58:23 PM EDT
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This Spring I noticed that something had chewed on the RG-6 that went to my receive array. I coiled it up and stored it, and haven't gotten back to it yet this year.
Today I was out at the tower doing some other antenna work and noticed this damage to the LMR-400 type cable that goes to my GPS antenna. I haven't put the antenna back up on the tower since I took it down this May, and the antenna and coax have been just laying on the ground next to the house. This year is the first time I've seen this. I have coax all over the place and the only damage I've seen is to coax laying directly on the grass. I have lots of squirrels and I suspect them, and may have to work on a rodent control program. 
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I have a 60'+ tall Walnut tree and I have a lot of squirrels. I also have just about every other small Iowa mammal wandering through my yard at one time or another. Mainly just squirrels and rabbits though. I think it's larger than a mouse due to the second pic, where each "bite" looks like two incisors dug in and stripped the cable jacket each time. I may have multiple attackers for all I know though.  I should have taken some better pics and it's getting too dark now, maybe tomorrow.
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I was telling a guy at work about it today. He said that a relative's pet rabbit chewed a live electrical extension cord, stripping a large section down to the bare wire without getting shocked. Now I don't trust any of them. The dog and I have declared war on all critters in the yard! 
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Quoted:
The dog and I have declared war on all critters in the yard! Quoted:
The dog and I have declared war on all critters in the yard! Quoted:
My avatar encourages your dog to try harder next time.  What happened to you and your avatar encouraging my dog to try harder next time?
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The dog tries really hard! She can't catch the damn squirrels but she does get the occasional bunny, a mole, and even a juvenile Robin mid-flight this year. We did have rabbits really thick earlier this year and the 30+year old Benjamin .177 took out several. Haven't seen any for a month or so.
I've always left the squirrels alone because they clean up my walnuts for me. Things are different now! 
Species - Squirrel (Fox and Gray) Season - Sept. 5 - Jan. 31, 2016 Hours - No Restrictions Daily - 6 Limit - 12 |
| Up in western Oregon the red squirrels (tree rats) are horrible. They are non native and have pretty much run off their competitors. And they are chewers, they particularly go after things made of plastic and eat big chunks out of them. I had a tom cat that lived to kill tree rats and he did a good job til he got too old and slow. He was 19 years old when I had to put him down, and his replacement was content to just let them have the run of the place and they did. But a cat is the thing if you're in a city and can't shoot 'em, they can go everywhere the squirrels go and you just need to keep trying til you get a killer. |
| KwaiChangCaine, I use a squirrel feeder in a strategic location with good backstop to put the critters right where I want them. I couple this with a $15 driveway alarm to let me know when a squirrel is at the feeder. Then it is just an easy shot to the head. Works like a charm. |
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Quoted:
KwaiChangCaine, I use a squirrel feeder in a strategic location with good backstop to put the critters right where I want them. I couple this with a $15 driveway alarm to let me know when a squirrel is at the feeder. Then it is just an easy shot to the head. Works like a charm. 
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Quoted:
Quoted:
KwaiChangCaine, I use a squirrel feeder in a strategic location with good backstop to put the critters right where I want them. I couple this with a $15 driveway alarm to let me know when a squirrel is at the feeder. Then it is just an easy shot to the head. Works like a charm. http://files.gamebanana.com/img/ico/sprays/jay.gif You know, I've been considering putting up a couple bird and squirrel feeders, and the driveway alarm setup is a great idea! 
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This is the type of squirrel feeder I use. The squirrels see the nuts through the plexiglass, and it takes them about 5 to 10 seconds to figure out how to open the hinged roof. It keeps all other birds and critters out. The squirrel will sit on the little deck to eat. Just be sure to place it so that the little deck is to the side as viewed from your shooting spot. If the deck is in front of the feeder from your shooting spot, you will hit the feeder itself if the round fully penetrates the squirrel.
<not my picture> 
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I have a new RWS .22 Pellet Model 34 Rifle that I need to site the scope in, then the legal heavy artillery will be ready. Until then I have a .177 Benjamin that takes rabbits easily but never tried on a squirrel. My Walnut tree gets a bunch of nuts every other year and this isn't the year. Last year they would sit back there all of the time eating them. Thanks for the ideas, I'll get the RWS ready and get some squirrels soon enough.
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Quoted:
I have a new RWS .22 Pellet Model 34 Rifle that I need to site the scope in, then the legal heavy artillery will be ready. Until then I have a .177 Benjamin that takes rabbits easily but never tried on a squirrel. My Walnut tree gets a bunch of nuts every other year and this isn't the year. Last year they would sit back there all of the time eating them. Thanks for the ideas, I'll get the RWS ready and get some squirrels soon enough. Be sure to keep us posted with updates! I love a good critter war!
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| Got my first shot at a tree rat tonight around 25' up in the Walnut tree. Still don't have the 22 sighted in and don't really feel safe shooting it 45 degrees into the air around here anyways, so I used the old 177. It was sitting at a fork in some big branches so the accurate 177 was plenty safe to shoot with them as a backstop. Pretty sure I hit him and he jumped off the branch into mid-air and landed on the garage roof below with a loud thud! Then he jumped to the privacy fence and took off to safer places. |
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I was outside working on antennas with the dog in the fenced back yard and we see a squirrel in a tree outside the fence, in the same area that my coax was chewed. I almost put the dog inside as I went to get the air rifle but decided not to, and I went out in the front yard and hit the tree rat in the head from maybe 25 feet away.
As I get to the back yard the squirrel is coming down the tree with one eye gone and massive amounts of blood coming out. Then it went into overdrive flight mode and ran through the chain link fence directly into the dog a foot away from me! Now the dog is trying to get the squirrel and all the squirrel wants to do is run and hide. It finally made it to the other side of the yard where it took off into some brush, still bleeding like crazy the whole time. Those things are tough as hell. Thought I was going to have to take the dog to get repaired where my daughter works in a vet clinic but there are no injuries at all. The dog cleaned up fine with a wet washcloth but I won't shoot another critter with the dog out there! 
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I just realized that this latest incident was caught on the edge of one of my cameras. It's close to 100' away from the camera, not in the main area of focus, and looks rather grainy zoomed in like this, but it does capture the events rather well. Right when the video starts the squirrel is hanging upside down rapidly dripping huge drops of blood, and it pissed itself then too.
I thought that the squirrel-dog encounter lasted at least 5 seconds but I must have experienced a bit of tachypsychia. I remember yelling at the dog trying to get them apart, but as you can see in the video they were together for no more than one second. In the interest of ham radio you can also see two guys for my tower, a wooden stake where the feedpoint for my new low band transmitting antenna(s) will be, and some other important antenna parts laying behind the house. 
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