We are forever infested with squirrels here. They cavort on our roof and patio cover (making such a racket), they chew on our wood siding making holes or at least gaps for rats, they chew the lead boots on our plumbing vents causing leaks. They cannibalize our lawn furniture cushions for their nests. Squirrels are bad!
Last year I employed a tube trap affixed to a fence leading up to my garage and cleared out about 20 tree rats in about 2 weeks. Life was good for a while but they are back and today I redeployed the trap and within 3 hours I had my first customer. I wonder how many I can get this time around. I have self-imposed 2-week limit on my efforts because I will never be done if I don’t set a limit.
I know I will never win the squirrel war but I will win the short term battle.
Your experience with squirrels is very different from mine. I’ve been surrounded by squirrels my whole life and have never had problems like these, they just try to eat my tomatoes. Have you thought about taking a look at where they’re causing damage and figuring out how to make it more resistant or less appealing to them? There are all sorts of repellants out there, or you could replace wood panels with hardiplank, or you can cover vulnerable spots with hardware cloth. Also trim up tree branches away from your roof so they can’t access it as easily
Yes, I’m good with exclusion of entry. The stupid buggers still constantly gnaw on everything (it is actually a biological mandate for them as their teeth keep growing forever). I’m tired of the hassle so I embark on the occasional purge.