Problem Solving

Is It Legal to Kill Squirrels in Your Yard?

Usually, on land you own or occupy, once a squirrel is damaging your property, and in five of the seven places we read without any permit. A squirrel at your bird feeder is not damage: Michigan's rule defines the word and feeders are not in it. Texas treats squirrels as game, and in every state the gun, not the squirrel, is what gets homeowners charged.

Usually yes, on land you own or occupy, once the squirrel is damaging your property. New York lets owners and occupants take gray, black and fox squirrels that are injuring property "at any time in any manner," with no permit, and Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio need no permit either. But eating from a bird feeder is not damage: Michigan's rule defines the word, and feeders are not in the definition. Texas is where the usual answer breaks, because a squirrel there is a game animal and its only nuisance rule is for live traps.

We read eight rules: the federal endangered species list, six states and Ontario. Moving a trapped squirrel is covered on squirrel relocation laws by state, and the same question for the smaller animal on is it legal to kill chipmunks. Raccoons are furbearers, with rules about the carcass; see is it legal to kill a raccoon.

The rules we read#

The species column matters more than people expect.

Five of the seven states and provinces let a homeowner kill a damaging squirrel without asking anyone first. Georgia makes you call. Texas sends you to the hunting rules.

Why the answers online disagree#

Two answers circulate: "squirrels are pests, so you can deal with them on your own property" and "squirrels are game animals, so you need a season and a license." Both are true somewhere, and sometimes in the same yard.

The species changes the rule. Cornell, on New York: "Identification matters. Grey squirrels are protected, while red squirrels are unprotected." A red squirrel that is merely a nuisance may be taken; a gray squirrel has to be injuring property. Michigan's no-permit list leaves out flying squirrels.

The state changes the starting point. New York says "at any time" and Michigan exempts damage control from "season date restrictions." In Texas, where squirrels are game, we found no rule that lifts the season for a nuisance squirrel. A forum answer is usually right for the poster's own state and squirrel, which is why the table is by state.

Does a squirrel at a bird feeder count as damage?#

No, in the one state that has answered directly, and it answered twice. When Michigan proposed the change in 2023, DNR specialist Cody Norton told Michigan Public: "Just them eating out of a bird feeder or breaking your bird feeder is not going to be damage that would justify taking them." What would qualify, he said, is an animal "chewing into your house or ... cutting through electrical lines."

The adopted rule settled it in text. Section 5.56(1) of the Wildlife Conservation Order: "'damage' means physical harm to forest products; roads; dams; buildings; orchards; apiaries; livestock; and horticultural or agricultural crops." A feeder is none of those, and neither is the seed in it.

Elsewhere the tests are about property being injured or damaged, and Ontario's farm federation sums them up: "One cannot simply shoot wildlife because it is there." A squirrel chewing into a soffit, an attic or a roof vent fits every rule here. A squirrel on the feeder pole fits only New York's red squirrel test, "has become a nuisance." The answer to feeder raids is hardware, covered below.

New York: two rules for two kinds of squirrel#

ECL 11-0523(7): "Whenever black, grey and fox squirrels, opossums or weasels are injuring property on occupied farms or lands or dwellings, they may be taken at any time in any manner, by the owners or occupants thereof or by a person authorized in writing by such owner or occupant." Subdivision 8 adds that no license or permit from the department is required. One taken out of season "shall be immediately buried or cremated."

Red and flying squirrels fall under subdivision 1 instead, as unprotected wildlife. Owners, lessees and their immediate families "actually occupying or cultivating lands" may take them "when such wildlife is injuring their property or has become a nuisance thereon," and the taking may be done "notwithstanding any provision of the Fish and Wildlife Law ... or the Penal Law or any other law." Subdivision 7, the gray squirrel clause, carries no such sentence.

Cornell adds the limit: a protected animal, "dead or alive, cannot be transported off the landowner's property without a nuisance wildlife control permit." Regional feeding: the Northeast.

Michigan: all year, but only for damage#

Amendment 6 of 2023, effective May 11, 2023, added section 5.56 to the Wildlife Conservation Order. Subsection (2): "A property owner or their designee may take the following species all year on property owned by the individual if the wild animal is doing damage or physically present where it could imminently cause damage." The list includes fox squirrel, gray squirrel, red squirrel and ground squirrel. Subsection (3): "A written permit ... is not required."

News summaries leave out two conditions. The right runs to the owner "or their designee" on "property owned by the individual," so a tenant acts as the owner's designee or not at all. And you "must abide by all legal hunting and trapping methods"; for fox and gray squirrels that means single-catch cage traps, or small body-gripping traps set inside a building. Regional feeding: the Midwest.

Pennsylvania: protected until there is damage#

58 Pa. Code 141.3(a) removes protection from wildlife, "except migratory birds, big game and threatened or endangered species, when personal property, other than an agricultural crop, is being destroyed or damaged." Squirrels are none of the exceptions. Then the conditions: only "the owner or person in charge of the personal property affected" may act, "in a humane and lawful manner," and the animal must be turned over to a Commission representative under section 2125 of the Game and Wildlife Code. It "may not be retained alive, sold or given away," though "wildlife taken alive may be relocated to a natural setting unless otherwise restricted or prohibited."

The words that matter are "is being": a squirrel that chewed something last month is not one you may take today. Penn State's landowner guide (updated August 31, 2016) marks shooting, kill trapping and live capture as lawful methods for squirrels.

Ohio: no permission needed#

Ohio's nuisance wild animal rule, Admin. Code 1501:31-15-03 (effective January 1, 2024), requires written permission from the Division of Wildlife before most nuisance animals that cannot be live-trapped are killed. Paragraph (E)(4) then lists those that need none, and "Red, gray, fox and flying squirrels" are on it, with the thirteen-lined ground squirrel. Paragraph (E)(3)(c): squirrels "may be released or may be euthanized."

If you are not a licensed operator: no fee, no trapping on another's land without permission, and no holding a trapped animal "longer than twenty-four hours from the time of capture."

Georgia: a permit, by phone#

Georgia issues nuisance wildlife control permits under O.C.G.A. 27-2-31. You call a region office, say what damage, which animal, what prevention you have tried and whether you own or live there, and if warranted get "verbal authorization." Permits "may last for up to 90 days," go to the "property owner or legal resident only," and are "issued for a specific property and species." Animals "may be killed or trapped and relocated." Staff are told to weigh whether "shooting with a firearm" is "accepted in the local area." Regional feeding: the Southeast.

Texas: a game animal with a trap exemption#

Texas puts squirrels in its hunting regulations. For 2026-27, East Texas counties are open October 1, 2026 to February 28, 2027 and May 1 to 31, 2027, with a bag limit of 10. All other counties are open September 1, 2026 to August 31, 2027, with no bag limit. We found no Texas rule that lets a homeowner kill a nuisance squirrel outside those seasons.

The nuisance rule, 31 TAC 65.116, is about live trapping. No permit is needed for a landowner to trap, move and release nuisance squirrels if local ordinances prohibit the ordinary hunting methods of section 65.11, the release site's owner has given written permission (carried while transporting), the trap is non-injuring and labeled with your name, address and phone, and the squirrel is released "no later than 24 hours after capture." The first condition is the telling one: the exemption exists for places where you cannot shoot. Regional feeding: Texas.

Ontario: no hunting licence, still a firearms licence#

Section 31 of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act lets you harass, capture or kill wildlife damaging or about to damage your property, on your property. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture's fact sheet (revised May 2019): "Although a hunting licence is not required to protect one's property, you must have a firearm's licence." The province's page (updated December 15, 2025) calls killing "a last resort" and forbids "unnecessary suffering"; a live one goes back "within 1 kilometre" and "within 24 hours." Feeder by-laws: are bird feeders illegal in Canada.

The three squirrels federal law protects#

The federal list of endangered and threatened wildlife, 50 CFR 17.11, has three squirrels: the Carolina northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus coloratus) and the Mount Graham red squirrel (Tamiasciurus fremonti grahamensis), both endangered, and the northern Idaho ground squirrel (Urocitellus brunneus), threatened. Feeder squirrels are not listed. Birds are the reverse; see is it legal to kill grackles.

The gun is a separate question#

Every rule above says whether you may take the squirrel. None says you may fire a gun in your neighborhood, and that is where homeowners actually get charged.

• Flint, Texas, August 30, 2025. According to the probable cause affidavit, a man said he was shooting at squirrels in his trees with a 12-gauge shotgun and "did not think it would shoot that far." Pellets hit two neighbors' homes. He was arrested on two counts of deadly conduct/discharge of a firearm, a third-degree felony, KLTV reported.
• Linden, New Jersey, June 2012. Police said a man put peanut butter by a tree to lure squirrels, shot them with a BB gun and hung them on a fence. He was charged with animal cruelty, carrying a fine of $250 to $1,000 and up to six months in prison if convicted, CBS News reported.

Neither was a wildlife charge. Georgia's extension service warns that "it is often illegal to discharge any firearms inside city limits," and Ontario's ministry says to "follow all municipal by-laws." The Ontario Federation of Agriculture's 2019 sheet gives its "understanding" that a no-discharge by-law does not apply when protecting property; follow the ministry, which administers the Act. Check whether your town's discharge rule names air guns, pellet guns or BB guns; how to find it is under municipal and county ordinances.

What works without killing anything#

Killing a squirrel does not remove the seed that drew it. The fixes that hold, from stopping squirrels, are placement and hardware: the 5-7-9 rule for distance from launch points, and a baffle sized and mounted correctly. Seed gone overnight points past squirrels: see my feeder empties overnight. A cage trap on the ground also catches ground-feeding birds, the problem described for house sparrow traps. And if a neighbor is feeding them on purpose, the rules on that are on is it illegal to feed squirrels.

Where this page stops applying#

• Other states we did not read. Search your wildlife agency's site for "nuisance wildlife."
• Texas. We read the season table and the live-trap rule, not the whole Parks and Wildlife Code.
• Ohio names squirrels in its nuisance rule, but we did not read its definition of "nuisance wild animal."
• Georgia we read through the agency's permit guidance, not the statute's text.
• Cruelty and discharge laws apply on top of every row in the table.

This is a reading of statutes, regulations and agency guidance, not legal advice.