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ratchers

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Posts posted by ratchers

  1. squirrel control

    in Airgunners

    Posted

    Out this morning and had to scrape the car again,was gonna be another cold un in the wood and yes I saw that doberman again, but maybe it was guarding a red, YES I saw a red squirrel for the first time in five years, all them cold mornings shooting greys had paid off and even though there are still greys in the wood, we have a red again, I spent five minutes watching it go up and down a large pine tree before it went. Pleasure over back to knocking the greys off, only shot one out of five seen but they all count,

  3. squirrel control

    in Airgunners

    Posted

    Just back from a very cold morning in the large wood in which I got four recently,had to scrape the ice off the car first! was in position by seven and first thing I saw was a very fit Doberman which eyed me up and then went, thank goodness. After a while the first grey came along and was at the base of the tree where the feeder was and I was justing waiting for it to go and get breakfast when off he went through the brash, oh well, suns up and starting to warm up slightly when after an hour finally get a grey on to the feeder where he receives a clean head shot, did see another grey but not close enough.Was hoping to see the red which was seen on the trail cam on the box, maybe next time I hope.

  5. squirrel control

    in Airgunners

    Posted

    Down on the farm for the the first time in a while and really wasn't expecting to see any greys especially right at the start of the wood where Iv'e never seen them before but there it was shinning up a pine tree,waited for it to give a clear shot which it never did but now there were two and I followed them through the upper tree branches until one stopped and gave me a chance lent on a tree for support and fired, heard the pellet hit and saw it rear up and then just stand there for ages,was about to shoot again when I heard it hit the ground, retreived it to see a clean head shot. Did see another grey where I normally see them but lost it in the branches.

  7. squirrel control

    in Airgunners

    Posted

    52 minutes ago, Mice! said:

    @ratchers well done fella, was the groups feed old stuff? Wheat or maize? Some seem to think you can put any feed out and it will bring in the squirrels,  but we know it doesn't work like that.

     

    They use a mixture of wheat maize and sunflower seeds, I have used wheat in an open hopper before and it does work but peanuts are best but I cant afford to use an open hopper with peanuts,the food would be gone in no time, although its nice to see the songbirds about I just use simple lift lid feeding boxes.

  9. squirrel control

    in Airgunners

    Posted

    Was out this morning on a feeder I set up a few weeks ago, its actually in a wood Iv'e shot before and cleared the greys out of. The squirrel group have maintained their presence with some trapping and a feeder as required with a trail cam helping, now its a 50 acre wood so a bit of room so I had set my feeder up away from the existing one. After a week the level had gone down one inch, checked again after another week and empty! now the public have public footpaths through this wood but can be found wandering all over the place and I thought someone had played a trick on me by taking all the nuts as none of the squirrel group have seen many greys and the trail cam showed only one red and grey visiting their box. I topped it up on friday gone so thought would go this morning before the bad weather arrives later in the week. I got settled in to wait and could see the level had gone down since friday, I had hardly got my gun loaded before there was a grey on the box, nice head shot, one down, I had another two within half an hour and could see some playing tag in the distance, as it was quite cold(could see my breath)was going to give it two hours total but on an hour and a half bagged the fourth one and decided I needed to feel my hands again. In total saw seven greys and got four, lets hope this helps the one remaining red as we've had a bout of squirrel pox this year.

  11. squirrel control

    in Airgunners

    Posted

    Out to check my feeders today but took the gun any ways, first up the level had hardly gone down and nothing about so went along to the second one where the level had gone down,gave it a clean out and topped up with peanuts, as I had been creating a bit of disturbance I thought I would walk round the far side of the wood which is higher up. After a slow watchful walk I thought I heard claws on bark but wasn't sure as I had a hat on due to the cold wind,scanned all over and I spotted a squirrel running along a branch towards the trunk, got the gun leaned on a handy tree and looked through the scope,the grey was peaking through the V of trunk and branch and luckily I was able to thread a pellet through for a head shot,it was quite strange the way it sort of floated down, it landed softly rolled about a little before expiring,a nice clean humane kill. Never saw another thing so 100% sucess rate!

  12. 177 Slugs

    in Airgunners

    Posted

    On 23/02/2023 at 19:10, happyshooter said:

    I am quite happy using zan .177 slugs in my hw100.177

    there accurate , and at 20 yds have so far nailedx6 tree rats

    i am about to try .20 slugs in my huntsman.20cal,

    so watch this space.

            atb brian

    Keep us posted, I have a huntsman .20

  16. squirrel control

    in Airgunners

    Posted

    Bit of a late report as I was out last saturday morning at the same wood, took the low route as I could see nothing was on my feeder so when I got near I was able to peek over the bank at the pheasant feeder,nothing there either. Got settled in and I could see the peanut level in my feeder had gone down, waited two hours and apart from one grey away in the trees saw nothing,thought I would peek over the bank before I left and there was a grey at the pheasant feeder,went back five yards for my gun and peeked over the bank again,damn no sign of it, waited and finally saw it a few yards away five feet up a tree looking at me,could just get a clear shot and down she went,a good clean humane kill. So even though my feeder has been up weeks and the level goes down, I've never even seen a grey on it, might stand more of a chance now as with the end of the pheasant seaon their feeder has been taken away.

  19. squirrel control

    in Airgunners

    Posted

    Out this morning to the sydicates wood,got there at 8.15 bit later than I wanted but had to scrape the car windscreen of ice before I could set off.

    I was going to stake out the peanut feeder I had set up a few weeks ago, its only 100 yards from where I park the car, so got all the gear out and set off, now theres two ways of getting to the feeder, the low way and the high way, so used the high path as its easier, this leads to a pheasant feeder which is only 30 yards from my feeder, as I got closer I thought I saw a bit of grey underneath the pheasant feeder, sure enough little guzzleguts was having breakfast, I quietly turned round and took the low path which is hidden from the PF, sneaked up and unsheathed the gun and peaked over the bank and there he was still tucking in, only 10 yards away, as this distance thats my secondary(or should that be first? zero point)I aimed straight on and dropped him with a head shot. What I hadn't seen was his mate a few feet away until it shot up a tree,it went half way up and wondered what the heck was going on,I could see him but couldn't get a shot, wasn't long before hunger overtook fear and he was under the PF and went the same way as the first, two greys down within five minutes!

    Spent the next two hours watching my feeder with no visitors even though the level had gone down, saw two squirrels away in the tree tops doing acrobatics.

    I have another peanut feeder in the same wood which I went and checked on, level had gone down so may ambush this one next time.

  25. squirrel control

    in Airgunners

    Posted

    Was at the sydicates wood today and was walking up to my feeder which passes a pheasant feeder,at about ten yards away I noticed a squirrel underneath not it the bit bothered by me,as it happened my air rifle was in its slip case unloaded so I quietly slouched off round another way hoping to sneak up on it,arrived in postion ready and looked over the bank and it was stil there but due to the brash and trees I couldn't get a clear shot, plus the grey was jiggling about,after a few annoying minutes I got a heart and lung shot which stopped its free breakfast. On to stake out the feeder now and after an hour there was a grey on the feeder but he wouldn't stop still and I think he didn't have a clue how to open the lid so after some acrobatics he was off. Saw some other squirrels in the trees running about but nothing else came down.

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