Poncirus branches as squirrel deterrent

[Citradia]

Has anyone else used a thick mat/pile of poncirus branches as a barricade around other fruit trees to fend off squirrels? I know it will keep larger vermin away, but squirrels are wiley critters. I lost all my Bartlett pears to squirrels this past week and now they are hitting my keiffer pear tree. I put a thick pile of poncirus and native hawthorn branches around the pear tree from trunk out about five feet from the drip line. I thought about investing in those cat away mats on Amazon but that would be some pricey square footage. And no, trapping or shooting the squirrels isn’t an option in my No-hunting-allowed deep woods gated neighborhood.

[Millet]

No I don't know, but that shows some exponential thinking on how to solve the problem.

[Yorgos]

If you can lure them to the ground in your backyard, a break-barrel pellet gun is a fairly covert way to deal with them. It takes a lot of time, and while it vents your frustration, doesn't really do much to the overall population.

I  feel your pain.

[Walt]

I had a friend in Topeka Kansas who used bow ans arrow to keep rabbits out of his garden.  Gunshots were not legal but nice quiet arrows weren't mentioned in the laws.  And neighbors wouldn't hear them anyway.  Does take practice though.  And good bows and arrows aren't cheap.
Have you tried traps or poison bait?  If you do, keep them out of reach of non-squirrels.

[Citradia]

I live in the woods. Killing a few animals won’t solve the problem. I harvested the pears today. I found that a bear cub had slipped through the electric fence, somehow made it through the poncirus branches that I guess were scanty on one side of pear tree, climbed it and tore off several branches trying to get to the fruit. Most of the fruit were shaken off the tree onto the ground and most were not chewed on as they were covered by the pile of poncirus branches around the tree. I think the bear fell into the poncirus branches as the long frail limbs of the young pear broke, he couldn’t get under the pile of thorns to get the fallen fruit, and he left. At least I got enough fruit to make some pear preserves. Lot of work though.

[Yorgos]

Bears! I doubt a few poncirus branches will do much to deter bears. I would think squirrels would also find a way around them, those nefarious vermin.   

[Citradia]

I laid down a thick carpet snarl of poncirus branches from the trunk of the tree to 4-6 feet away from drip line. I think a cub did venture in and climbed it, but when a few long weak branches broke he must have landed in the snarl and gave up because the fruit was on the ground under the snarl and mostly untouched. Some fruit still on unbroken side of tree. I think the thorny branches helped save my crop and deterred more serious damage to the pear tree. Poncirus thorns are supposed to puncture tires, so although bears are tough, they can get stabbed by the long tough thorns and be deterred. Imagine a pile of poncirus three feet high and twenty feet wide; what is going to want to just plow through that?