What cute little things they are. The scamper around in your yard and seem to be having the time of their lives. In reality, what they are doing is chewing your house apart, trying to get into the attic -- especially when winter begins to come around.
I spent years at peace with the squirrels, but one day I was in the back yard and looked up at the eaves under the attic. There were holes in at least three places. Those eaves are too damn high for me to climb up there; I have a thing about heights. (I'll tell that story in another node some day.) But, for now, suffice it to say that I had to hire people to come out here and fix all the damage that the squirrels had done. It cost me several hundred dollars, and the folks told me there was really nothing that could be done to make sure it wouldn't happen again.
"Really? I think you are wrong, my tool belt buddy!"
I went down to WalMart and bought a pellet gun for under $40. I live in the city, so I couldn't use a rifle. However, my back yard is woodsy enough so that the neighbors cannot see anything that goes on here. And what is going on is genocide.
You'd be surprised how accurate these pellet guns are now. I can kill one of the rodents at a distance of up to 50 feet, or at least knock it down so that my dog can go finish the job. When they are lying on the ground, dead, you'd be surprised how much they look like rats. That's all they are, you know: Rats with bushy tails.
I killed around 20 or so, and now they have gotten the message out to each other. "Don't go in that yard, man; that dude is a squirrelaphobe!" I haven't seen one in months. Pity. I was beginning to really enjoy it.