I live in what I like to refer to as Ruralburbia. In general the area is rural, barns, farms, fields, woods, very much a rural setting, however, true suburbia is only a little ways away, and all their pesky signal lights have crept over here. So it looks and feels rural, but there are stop lights everywhere; thus Ruralburbia.

My back yard although small, backs right up to a huge wooded section that is kinda of marshy and hilly and not really prone to development, so, I have all the woodland creatures in my yard, in massive volume. Squirrels, Chipmunks, Skunks, Possums, Rabbits, Woodchucks, Fox, and of course Forest Rodents (Deer). If I let the Squirrels and Chipmunks take over then I'm just plain screwed when it comes to feeding the birds.

However, for Chipmunks, I just use a Have-a-heart trap for them, then drive them about a mile away, to the other side of the river, where I know they are not coming back. A couple years ago when I was on a mission to get them out of my front stoop, I relocated over 25 of these damn things in one summer, by fall I was so tired of taking that 1-mile drive to the other side of the river where I let them all go free.

Shooting an animal and allowing it to suffer is just not acceptable in my book.

 

Chipmunks are real pests, the challenge is, as you said, they are just so darn cute...
One of the problems I have with them, and I have watched them do this, and it drives me crazy.
Sunflowers are on of my favorite flowers, I just love them and I try to plant as many as I can each spring.
Once the flower has matured and is finally looking awesome, by the time I finally get them to a point where I can see and enjoy the flower, the Chipmunks destroy them.
These clever little guys crawl up the stem and eat the seeds, thus destroying the flower.
It drives me f'ing crazy....

 

chipmunks are no longer inhabitants of the marshland woods where I live. The free roaming cats took care of that problem long ago. Sometimes we get moles, but the cats stalk and kill them as well. We too have an abundance of wildlife and I'm surprised that the squirrels survive. I see cats leaping into trees in an attempt to get them and occasionally they mutilate and kill those who for whatever reasons are a little slow. Most of the neighborhood squirrels usually end up taking up residence in my yard because I have cat deterrent devices to keep the birds from all being killed off. The devices deter deer as well, so I see very few deer in my yard although the neighbors constantly complain about the deer eating their flowers. I'm surrounded by wooded forest and love it. Ruralburbia is a good place to be -- all the joys of rural living, yet close enough to shop, etc. Kudos to you for using have-a-heart trapping methods. Its a lot of trouble to trap and remove, but to me well worth the effort.

 

Good point, my mole and Chipmunk issue became much more when my neighbor's in-door/out-door kitty passed away.
I see two cats around here outside, and I try my best to keep them coming to my house so they can help out.
During the winter I put out a little dish of dry food on the back porch, I got one kitty that has my house on his rounds.

See
It comes down my driveway, walks around the house, gets the food, then walks back to the barn the same way it came
It's so cute to see the little prints in the snow, and by his non-wondering path, it's clear, he knows what he is doing

 

That is just too cute!

 

I know, I giggle every time I see that pic

Thanks!

 

Ok, done...
As promised pics of new corn feeder in location

The beauty shot


The better pic to show off the feeder


The second pic is kinda funny, if you look close you can see the little Wren house I built, it's in the tree over on the right of the pic near the top, in addition you can see the tray feeder I built for Mom years ago, along with the very fancy wood canopy that helps to keep the big birds from making pigs of themselves on sunflower seeds, and then more to the left there are a few houses Dad built years ago

I'm actually a bit in shock with just how much cracked Corn I was able to get into the new feeder
It had a few curious Bluejays look it over yesterday but none of them were brave enough to use it
But I have no fear, that will change...

 

^ Oh my, I just noticed, in the 2nd pic, there is a Chickadee sitting on it staring at me, how funny
He's probably thinking "what the hell, a new feeder and it's not for me, what's up with that, this Corn crap is too big for me..."

 

Nicely done, Doug. That baffle works to keep the squirrels away from the feeder?

 

Thanks!

Yes, as long as there is nothing for them to get on that they can use to jump up past it
Part of the reason I have made the poles so high is so I can avoid this challenge
I have used these cones on all my feeding stations and they work great

I have several Country Max stores near me and that's where I have gotten mine, although other places do sell this same item
Install is super easy, just need a screw driver
http://www.countrymax.com/Wrap-Around-Squirrel-Baffle