Ground Squirrel Killing Day

Winning 2nd place in the California's Children's Squirrel Killing Contest, with 104,509 Ground Squirrel Tails, was the Davis Creek Grammar School! The school was awarded a $30 prize. There is no mention of the name of the 1st place winner or how many squirrel tails that school's children collected.

Ground Squirrel Hunting Day - Modoc County, Belding Ground Squirrels

Besides school ground squirrel killing contests, there was actually such a thing as Ground Squirrel Killing Day. The Board of Supervisors in Modoc County, California, designated June 9, 1918 as county Ground Squirrel Killing Day. Every man, woman, and child was expected to spend the entire day getting rid of those destructive pests.

All of this surprising information was found in the June 3, 1918, Modoc County Record. That was 99 years ago and times have changed. Although, not as quickly as one would imagine. Animal killing contests were banned in California in 2014.

Comments

What Lives in that Hole?

Admit it. Holes can be mysterious. When we see a hole, we wonder what lurks below. Even Alice found the rabbit hole intriguing. Maybe it's because we know that there is more than meets the eye. It may not be Wonderland, but ground squirrel burrows can be 6 feet deep and 35 feet long. They have multiple entrances and have nursery, food and sleep chambers. A kit fox's home often has a key hole shaped entrance. A badger's entrance is often shaped like the letter D and gophers can make a crescent, C-shaped mound. If only all holes could be identified with a letter from the alphabet at their entrance! HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT'S IN THAT HOLE? Unless you are some nature TV host getting paid the big bucks, it's not such a good idea to just stick your hand in the hole to reach for whatever is inside. 1. OBSERVATION - Start by getting a comfy lawn chair, a cool drink and sitting back and relaxing awhile. Observe who g...

Ground Squirrel Control Remedies Can Make You Nutty

Are ground squirrels making you a little nutty? What crazy methods have you tried to control them? Before we created the Burrow Blocker, our ranch was over run by ground squirrels. We were so desperate for solutions that we tried almost everything to get their population under control. Since we didn't want to risk poisoning our dogs, cats or other wildlife with pesticides, we tended to get pretty creative. Here are a few crazy things that we've tried: Wrigley's Gum - I'm not sure why it had to be Wrigley's gum but we heard it worked, so we tried it. First we put the sticks of gum in the holes and a few weeks later, when the ground squirrels were as plentiful as ever, we thought maybe we should have chewed it first. We had lots of holes and lots of gum and our jaws got tired pretty quickly. All we ended up with was fresh breath and gum stuck to our shoes...and still too many ground squirrels. Water - The next idea was to just fl...

Ground Squirrel Dogs

Dogs love to hunt for ground squirrels. Below, is one of our squirrel hunters from the ranch. Actually, Pepper is more of squirrel chaser and not much of a catcher. We rarely have squirrels at the ranch, so Pepper doesn't get much practice. Here she is sitting on her buddy, Brutus, in the duck blind. (Don't tell Mike, but his great duck hunting dog is really a cuddly lap dog - even in the duck blind.) Dogs really can help with ground squirrel control. Jack Russell Terriers, Rat Terriers or pretty much any dog that is feisty enough will make an excellent squirrel hunter. It takes a tremendous amount of energy and patience to get those digging rodents. Unfortunately, when a large property is ridden with hundreds of holes, the task becomes pretty much impossible for a dog. Of course, it doesn't mean that the dog won't love trying! When our dogs go up on the hill, they are on high alert for ground squirrels. Sometimes they get lucky and a neighboring squirr...

Ground Squirrel and Prairie Dog Solutions

Search This Blog