At the Spring Campout 2023, my wife and I got to talking with nj_m715 about how to keep squirrels out of our backyard bird feeder. Since shooting them is not a viable option within the city limits, we have tried using grease on the pole, a cone suspended just below the bird feeders, and a few other ideas, but nothing has worked. nj_m715 suggested the idea of putting a Slinky around the pole. Well, when we got home from the campout my wife ordered one and we put it on the pole a couple of weeks ago. To my surprise, it has worked! It has been amusing to watch the squirrels try to find a way around the slinky. One even managed to climb to the top of the pole, but could not figure out how to get to the feeder because of the slinky. Time will tell how well this works, but so far it is the best solution we have found. Thank You nj_m715!!!!
I tried including a picture of the end result, but the system would not show it. I will try to modify this post to include it later if I can.