The things we do in the outdoors....

[John-W-WI]

So we went out to touch up the last couple of stands in the fringes of the property today.

At the 1st stand we arrived at I started climbing. On my way up, I notice foam from the seat was laying around. No big deal "red squirrels" I thought to myself.

After being in the stand for a couple of minutes (friend was trimming branches for shooting lanes) I notice the foam seat that was tilted up against the tree had a big hole in it. Upon closer inspection a flying squirrel exited the seat! He (it?) slowly snuck around to the back side of the tree and observed me from less than 2 feet away for ~10 minutes. Then his friend joined the party and came out of the nest (seat) to join us.

Shortly thereafter they both went back to bed in the nest to rest.

(not my picture, just for reference):


I was really ticked off as I forgot my phone at home (I can't remember the last time I spent a day without my phone) so I couldn't get any good pictures and I had lots of chances.


So when we were wrapping up I had my friend join me in the tree so we could move the nest without bothering them too much.

We removed the seat and strapped it back on to the tree on the back side:
(Pictures were taken with friends phone)



This left the stand with no seat on it, but we can replace that later. Here is where they came from:


If I had to guess we will see them again when we hunt this stand. But they were pretty chill, so I'm not too concerned.

 

[mikmaze]

they are neat, I have a video on p bucket of one we released from a bucket, I found a nest while felling trees at a major naval base took him up and let him glide, wild.

 

[j-bird]

Always neat to find little surprises like that......vs a bees nest or the like! I had a stand in a tree one year where there was a pair of screech owls living.....they would come out every evening and just bounce from limb to limb and look at me like...."Excuse me, sir,....sir, but your in our tree......sir?" Never a threat or issue, but very interesting way to close out an evening.

I also applaud your simply adjusting their nest and accommodating them. We converted old woodduck type houses into squirrel boxes...... Do some research and find out what they need and the like as too large a hole may allow other unwanted critters to nest for a more long term solution.

I have had my fair share of exposure to squirrels before.......

 

[Tree Spud]

I have had to convert some stand seats to wood. Even then they like to chew on the wood at times.

 

[j-bird]

Squirrels will chew on anything.....they chew on the wood arm rests and legs of chairs at my folks place. They would chew on a wood table when we would let them run in the house and the wife would get upset - it was sort of a game because they knew she couldn't catch them! When we had them they would chew on the branches in their cage and the like as well. As members of the rodent family their teeth constantly grow so chewing is how they keep them "trimmed" so to speak. I got a notice on FB the other day that it has been 2 years since we had them....that was a rather interesting time.

I tend to not leave my cushions out on the stand. I have one in my pack - this means they don't get chewed up, taken over, drug or blow away, covered in coon poop or you end up with a cold wet butt either!

 

[John-W-WI]

I have had my fair share of exposure to squirrels before.......

Me too. several years ago I cut down a tree that (unknowingly) had a squirrel nest in it. I found baby squirrels on the ground a couple hours later. I don't remember exactly but it was 3 or 4 total. About half of them were black, half grey.

We bottle fed them until they were big enough then released them on my farm. They never made it into the house

 

[j-bird]

Coward! We had 2 fox squirrels and let them out to exercise in the house....

 

[John-W-WI]

Coward! We had 2 fox squirrels and let them out to exercise in the house....

The ones we raised got pretty nasty as they got bigger. We hand fed them for a few weeks, but when they got bigger they were pretty spunky. I would have loved one in the house, but not if he was trying to kill me

I released them at the cabin, and did my best to see them again. I constantly clicked my tongue while feeding them hoping to make an "imprint". It didn't work. I MIGHT have seen them a time or two after releasing, but nothing after that.

 

[j-bird]

Ours did pretty well until they got bigger as well, then they only liked the wife and I and didn't want anyone else to handle them. And even then they prefer not to be handled any more than needed. Instead of picking them up I would simply stick my hand out and they prefer run up my arm and sit on my shoulder vs being actually picked up. The female really liked to try to sleep in the pouch or hood of a sweatshirt or even a shirt pocket. We released ours as well and I know we saw them thru the winter as the wife feed them to make sure they had something to eat. We moved their resting box out side and added another in case they could/would not co-habitate. They have since dispersed which is natures way. When we started their eyes where not even open yet. We tried to get them to a rehab place but everyone was full so either we did what we could or they would die. We consulted a vet and fed them some sort of animal formula. They then got switched to more solid food and they sure took to the acorns and walnuts I collected for them once they got a little older. I wasn't sure how they would react to those, but they knew EXACTLY what to do with them. They even would try to hide them in the furniture for later! We always had the intent of releasing them so we tried to minimize the handling of them. It was cold out so we had them in the house simply as a means to keep them warm. We would get them out every time for an hour or two and let them get some exercise.....which was pretty entertaining. For the most part they would return to the nest box in the cage when they had enough.....and they fought just like any brother and sister do.

When they where real little my middle daughter made little pouches for them to help keep them warm. This was just a few days after they opened their eyes.


They quickly adapted to things in the house......but we always had several of us keeping an eye on them because they are quick and get into trouble quick as well. it was funny as I would have to crack open the walnuts at first for them to access the meat. They would eat them faster than I could safely crack them and they would sit and wait like - I was some sort of hold up! I would hand them the entire nut and they would try, but they quickly figured out that it was much easier to be patient and get the busted ones! They where pretty civil until one had something the other one wanted.....then it was on. The female was a little more timid while the male was a little bolder.....imagine that!


Here they are eating acorns while sitting on the back of the couch.


Like I mentioned they really liked sitting on my shoulder.....bad thing was they didn't care if you had a shirt on or not!


And yes.....people thought we where crazy......

 

[JFK52]

I have flying squirrels that come to my bird feeders and cobs of corn that are stuck on duplex nails on the tree. They always show up after dark. The only reason I can see them is the spotlights on my house light up that area after dark. They move extremely fast, zippy zap grab a seed or kernel of corn and back up the tree. There must be families of them judging from how much corn they clean during an evening feeding session. I just glad to be able to see these nocturnal creatures.
Now if it was pine squirrels you were talking about, that is a different matter. They have chewed up several chair cushions in stands over winter for their nests. I don't like them and consider them targets of opportunity.