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ratchers

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  1. After a hard frost went out to the syndicates wood where I put a flip top feeder up after the pheasant feeders were taken in, the feeders been up about a month and its taken the greys this long to find it but after checking it yesterday and finding it was empty, I topped it up and was back this morning. Got there about nine and followed a grey on the way to the feeder, snuck up and there was one on the box, a head shot and the first one down. 15 minutes later another was on the feeder which went the same way as the first, next one came from my right and was five yards away but it saw me and I must have looked scary cos he legged it, then one came from behind me and he followed his mate and legged it as well, I haven't seen this many squirrels in ages, another one was on the box but he saw me move the gun and disapeared, it wasn't long before the same on or another found the lure of peanuts too much and paid the price, in one hour shot three and saw another four and then nothing. Some left for next time though.
  2. Wheat has worked for me too but only when there is no other food available whereas peanuts always work, wheat is a lot cheaper especially if the shooting sydicates gives it to you!
  3. Well out at last after a long spell of very wet and windy weather and what a glorious day with warming sun, the farmer wasn't too happy about the state of his land or sheep and was hoping this was the start of better weather in the run up to his lambing time. Had a natter for a while and then went in to the wood, upset the screeching jays and nearly got a shot at a magpie but the pine branches were in the way, a perennial problem in this wood, its quite a small wood and I arrived at the place where I normally see greys, there was some fresh holes in the ground where they had been looking for buried stuff so I got next to a big tree to wait, after about an hour I spotted movement in the treetops and tracked one and then a second, they were right at the top in the sunshine in cover and I had to wait another twenty minutes before they moved, after several trees one stopped in the open and as the grey looked small so I opted for a body shot, it crashed down through the branches and lay stone dead at the tree base, I quickly got the thermal out to find the second and could just see it a V near the top, took the shot but hit a twig hiding it, had a look through the thermal again and it was still there but more in the open this time and another body shot sent it crashing to the ground, a mating pair so a good result.
  4. ratchers

    Pcp wanted

    I have one for sale, bsa ultra se in .177, beech ambidextrous stock, £400.
  5. ratchers

    bsa ultra

    I have a ultra se 177 for sale, vgc £400 am in carlisle
  6. Took the opportunity of todays better weather to go down to the farm in search of pests. First went in to the yard looking for corvids but the famer was out and about making a racket so nothing doing so went to the wood. Using my new magic toy(thermal)it wasn't long before I spotted a squirrel, it had seen me and moeved away through the pines,whereas before I would have soon lost it, I tracked it slowly sometimes losing it before picking it up again,I was about 50 yards away now and there was a lot of magpie chatter so sneaked up to all the noise and there was about three flitting about, now I'm not so sure which is higher on my hit list,greys or magpies(this is a sheep farm after all),I nearly kept getting one in the crosshairs only for it to move,this went on for a few minutes before they flew off, oh well back to the squirrel, scanned around and found it above my head at about 60 degrees up flat along a branch,had to move to one side of the tree I was at and he moved upwards and I lost it. Stayed still hoping to find it again when a grey appeared from my left,no need to scan this one,it jumped across a few trees then started decending down a trunk,a good squeak made it stop for a shot,aimed for a head shot and missed,it ran 10 yards then fell over dead,I had killed it with a heart and lung shot by missing its head,just the angle the shot was taken at. I thought I would use the grey to decoy them magpies in, so set it out in the field, I had no hide or material to build a hide,just thought I would hide behind a large tree with a view of the decoy and a likely tree a bird may land in, I had no great hopes but the sun was shining. Ten minutes in a crow landed in the tree and went down right away next to the grey,I never had chance to move as it must have seen my eyelash twitch and was off, next up 20 minutes later was a magpie,saw it coming across the field and veer towards the bait so it had seen it, I think it landed in a tree just out of sight but I never saw it again. And the reason was a buzzard was getting mobbed by some crows, it landed in a tree some way off then I saw it flap its way over to the tree near me,it eyed the bait up for a few minutes then landed next to it, it danced around and was very wary but eventually started tucking in. I watched it eat for about 20 minutes then snuck away. I might try a bait decoy set up properly some time as I never expected any results.
  7. Bought the Hikmicro Lynx LH19, it was a lot of money but I think it will make a lot of hunting trips worthwhile now whereas before I saw nothing.
  8. Was out to the sydicates wood yesterday afternoon and took my latest toy, a hikmicro thermal so instead of ambushing a pheasant feeder for hours I can now go out and about on the hunt. Still staked out a feeder as the keeper said there was always a grey at this particular one but no luck. Scanned about and saw a squirrel, I tracked it moving away for about a hundred yards until it stopped high up in the canopy thinking it was hidden, not any more, a jsb brought it down. Off again and was I pleased I had my wellies on after all the rain, an hour later I got another sighting on the ground but the squirrel disapeared over a ridge,I walked up but could see nothing but some movement in the pine trees above caught my eye, no need for the thermal, it was sat up chittering,took the shot and down it came stone dead. I then went and checked on my peanut feeder which hadn't been touched for months and the peanuts were going mouldy in the bottom, cleaned it out ready for a refill next time I go.
  9. Brampton Group lent me a Scout Flir ages ago but never had much luck with it. Just recently bought my own Thermal, a Hikmicro, and yesterday was the first time out with it and its a improvement on the Scout Flir and it claimed its first victim.
  10. I used to get mine from Wilkos £20 for a 12.5 kilo bag, shop now sadly closed but have found Home Bargains do a similar bag.
  11. Theres no competition,a dead grey is good whoever shoots it and as it happens they have been shooting on this land longer than me, wer'e all working to the same goal, the return of red squirrels.
  12. Went down to the farm this morning as it wasn't raining! let me say I was pleased I took my wellies, squelch squelch. Seems as though I was a day late as the red squirrel group had been down and shot 26 greys, there was two of them and they had thermal spotters( I still want one,maybe Santa will help)but a good result so I wasn't expecting to see anything. Got into the wood and thought if any animals can't hear me paddling through the sogginess they must be deaf, well I found the deaf one, it was jumping about through the branches, onto one tree then the next, down the trunk and onto the ground, it was about 20-30 yards away and I was tracking it through the scope when at least it stopped for a scratch and I had a clear shot,the jsb did its job,watched it for a few seconds to make sure it was a clean kill only to hear a grey barking, well there was another just a few yards away from the shot one wondering what had happened to its buddy, took a few moments to locate it but thanks to the tail swish found it, it was in a tree but I thought if I waited it would eventually come to see the dead grey and five minutes later it also took a jsb to the head. When I first started shooting this wood years ago there was a pair of reds but both succumbed to squirrel pox but I keep plugging away at the greys and am hopeful we will get the reds back.
  13. Its the syndicates first pheasent shoot today and I was talking to the organiser who said there were squirrels on the pheasant feeders, specifically one feeder he continually saw the greys on. So yesterday afternoon the weather was set fair and I went to the wood,got ready and walked to the feeder,with this feeder you can see it from 50 yards away,I couldn't see anything so I approached quietly just in case and spooked a grey that I hadn't seen, it scurried up a tree but made the mistake of leaving a gap through the branches, one dead grey later,barely bigger than a kit. I cleared some brash out of the way so I had a clear shot and waited in ambush just in case, during an hours wait I saw a buzzard back or fro in the trees and wondered if it was after the dead grey I had put a few yards away. I was packing up quietly when I saw a flick of greyness about 30 yards away, so back in position and waited, 10 miutes later kit number 2 took a jsb. I have a feeder in this wood but its never been touched in months but I thought I would check it, gave me a chance to look at all the pheasant feeders on the way and I did see a grey running away from one so will stake that one out in due course, my feeder untouched when I checked.
  14. Was down to the wood yesterday afternoon and was quite shocked to see how much damage had been caused by Storm Babet with large limbs and tree tops broken off. Had to dodge around where the path had been blocked,arrived at the feeder to find it had been vandalised, I'm sure it was not storm damage as there was no branches near, mended as best as I could with no tools at hand. Spent the next 2 1/2 hours watching nothing,no greys or the red turned up, the next visit will be interesting in many ways.
  15. Back to the wood this morning but only had a couple of hours before I had to go to work. Feeder level down again but as I saw no greys in the two hours I was there and only the red which was busy eating and burying, it looked fantastic running from the shade in to sunshine, it just sort of lit up! must take my camera.
  16. I have been reading about airgunners using thermal spotters a bit recently as the greys are not coming to the feeding boxes as much due to the abundance of natural food so they are going walkabout to find them so my question is which thermal is good and which is bad for detection and identification at airgun(non fac)ranges.
  17. Thanks for the info. Went out yesterday morning before dawn and had to scrape the windscreen due to a heavy frost. Got in position at the feeder before it got light and waited, first customer was my old friend the red who did his usual trick of eating and burying for half an hour, it went quiet until I saw a grey on the tree trunk holding the feeder, waited for it to take a nut but it was off, oh no I can't have scared it surely and then I saw what had put him to flight, the little old red squirrel, hang on isn't it supposed to be the other way round? any ways the red starts eating and then off to bury which gave the big brave grey time to come down to have his breakfast, one peanut and then the lead took care of him. So one grey less and the red still about, good result.
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