Goldfish

A pile of wood chip with a slab or few bricks to build the boundary and an angled sheet of metal as a roof just in case. Shovel it up when it gets moved about and absolutely silent, clean and free.

@oowee If you want a smooth springer buy a professionally tuned HW in the flavour you like, end of discussion really! I own an HW80 that is tuned to perfection and great for 40m vermin control but heavy, I also use an out of the box light as a feather HW30 that is so smooth and quiet it is a joy to use but at 7.5fpe it is a 20m maximum head shot vermin gun at best. So really it is down to the ranges you are shooting, the HW30 works well if all you need is to shoot squirrels from the base of a tree👍

3 or 4 city breaks in Europe over the summer (thanks for all the pointers) then Scotland for deer, geese trout and salmon Dorset for deer, Somerset for Grayling, Hampshire course fishing and Turkey for Boar, same as most years, don't know how I find the time to work 😆

OH has just started Peaky Blinders and tells me I should watch it when 9 years ago I did!! 🤣

78 during December 3136

167 in November 2796

Hultafors WETTERHALL Double-bit Throwing Axe This is a new axe with leather scabbard. I won this in an axe throwing competition but have another so don't need 2. Build a target board in the woods or allotment and get some mates round for some fun or just hang up in the man cave. Or just shave with it, it’s that sharp!!!! Too big and dangerous and heavy to post so £250 ONO collected from Wellingborough Northamptonshire, the home of the vikings !

Well done @Mice! those are the outings that stick in the memory, a blank to a win in just a few steps 👍 Being on the move is definitely more productive at the moment with all the food about 👍

Cheers, I was thinking the same👍 Shame your so far away😟

Back in the 80s I used to shoot vermin with a BSA Mercury and an HW35E that I loved but my mate had an HW80 I coveted, I went on to shoot HW77s and others but always reminisced over the HW80, fast forward to today and I have just ordered a new HW80 in .22. I know they are heavy and cumbersome and there are more refined air rifles out there but thats my head speaking, Im having one! So to all those with much more experience of the HW80 than me, what next? Scope? mounts? Pellets to try? Drop in bits to make it nice? Discuss……………… PS. Its going to get a lot of use on tree top squirrels, i’m not looking for long range rabbits but vermin out to 30m. Don’t mention open sights as my eyes cant do it unless we are talking deer size quarry at 50 meters!! (And not with an air rifle🤣)

Pulsar Helion 2 XQ38F is the unit i use, battery lasts days and it has low magnification on the normal setting and great definition. If it broke today I would buy another tomorrow, I can spot a mouse at 100m with it 👍

A number of quality shops will do thermal evenings where you can go and try, question and listen but my advice would be to see what your eyes like as @Mice!says and also check out the image quality and magnification you want. A bog standard unit will show up a deer on a cold morning at 100 meters but will it differentiate a squirrel from an owl on a sunny autumnal morning with the branches heating up and have the low magnification needed for this work for the field of view? Keeping on the move and finding them is definitely the winning method at the moment, walnut trees, beach and chestnuts a firm favourite, good luck tomorrow 👍 Cant beat a slow walk with the air rifle and sticks 🐿️

Too much food about at the moment so not bothered with sitting on the feeders just hitting the walnut and oak trees. Out with the thermal and air rifle to pick a few off as they fed before they know I'm about then another circuit with the 410 to catch the athletic ones.

A bit of an update really, as the O/U 20b is a bit of a lump when walking a lot I thought I would try a 410 as at this time of the year I’m just shooting short range up into the tree tops at most. Pump 410 Hushpower was ok but still a bit of a lump and not as quiet as the full moderator 20 bore so thought I would try a Yildiz 410, lovely gun 👍 Its light and points well and with a thermal and a pocket full of cartridges is a pleasure to carry about and a great tool for knocking squirrels out of the trees at the moment with all the leaves. 14 taken in a 2 hour walk this morning A few more from last week 👍👍 As an effective tool and method for killing large numbers of squirrels do not overlook a thermal in conjunction with a moderated 410 shotgun, perfect combination when there are leaves on the trees. The Yildiz is so quiet, the single barrel makes you focus and take the shots that kill but I can often reload and take 2 out of a tree before they know whats happening 😍

Heaters are Hylite Slimline Ecoheater Tube Heater with Thermostat White 300mm 28W, £23 each delivered and can be set to either keep the cabinet moisture at bay or like a Mediterranean beach 😆