squirrel control

[Mice!]

51 minutes ago, Goldfish said:

Arrived at a wood with a new to me 20 bore (thanks @bruno22rf 😁), 10 minutes to check the pattern and I was off.

Had a walk round a block of woodland using a thermal to spot the dreys that were occupied in the frosty weather.

One shot into a hot drey and one squirrel fell to the ground and 2 ran out, shot the second as it hung onto the trunk thinking what the **** was that!!! Reloaded and shot the third as it hid in the upper canopy (no hiding from a thermal 😜) It was then that I used the thermal and spotted blood running out of the bottom of the drey, another squirrel was dead in bed 😀

3 shots for 4 squirrels 😎

2nd hot drey and the first shot opened the drey and dropped an occupant, the second resident was shot as it ran down the tree😀

5 shots for 6 squirrels and only 15 minutes into the session with a new gun!!!!!

I don't go anywhere now without the thermal, so many times a copse looks devoid of squirrels until you use a thermal and see them hidden in the ivy or on the side of a tree, a great bit of kit👍

I passed a number of dreys without action.......no heat seen, keep walking, saves lots of time and cartridges!!!

Got to say I don't like the idea of shooting dreys, I can understand it if you see a squirrel run in, but there could easily be a owl in there?

But I've only seen one drey giving off any heat, I was thinking they were too well insulated or just empty. 

[Goldfish]

Quote

Got to say I don't like the idea of shooting dreys,

I bet you can see the rational now given my results?

Big difference between an owl nest and a drey or repurposed drey, also wrong time of the year however thermal confirms this every time.

Quality thermal is indispensable, cheap ones less so.

£2,000 thermal, I can pick out an owl however if you can't spot the difference, don't shoot, easier to walk away than live with shooting an owl, thermals are expensive but indispensable when working as a vermin controller.

My advice is to find someone with a quality thermal and try it, you are blind without one, happy to demonstrate if your ever down this way👍

Edited December 22, 2021 by Goldfish

[Goldfish]

Quote

But I've only seen one drey giving off any heat, I was thinking they were too well insulated or just empty.

I can put my palm onto a tree then walk away 30 meters and wait 2 minutes and still see a perfect palm print when I look through my thermal.

When I worked for Fire & Police we used thermals to look at homes to identify cannabis farms, the lack of heat due to insulation or the loss of heat due to lack of insulation, an easy drive by job but thermal equipment has come on in leaps and bounds over the last few years and the image quality is outstanding.

Edited December 22, 2021 by Goldfish

[Mice!]

17 minutes ago, Goldfish said:

bet you can see the rational now given my results?

Big difference between an owl nest and a drey or repurposed drey, also wrong time of the year however thermal confirms this every time.

Quality thermal is indispensable, cheap ones less so.

£2,000 thermal, I can see an owl

Can't argue with with the results and I regularly see people post on FB about shooting dreys, but I haven't seen anyone say they could tell the difference between a squirrel and an Owl in a drey before. 

I am using an older thermal and it really impresses me, but I'm sure a newer model would leaps and bounds better.

4 minutes ago, Goldfish said:

can put my palm onto a tree then walk away 30 meters and wait 2 minutes and still see a perfect palm print when I look through my thermal.

I definitely see things I've touched,  but I've never tried it after 2 minutes. 

[Fisheruk]

23 minutes ago, Goldfish said:

I bet you can see the rational now given my results?

Big difference between an owl nest and a drey or repurposed drey, also wrong time of the year however thermal confirms this every time.

Quality thermal is indispensable, cheap ones less so.

£2,000 thermal, I can pick out an owl however if you can't spot the difference, don't shoot, easier to walk away than live with shooting an owl, thermals are expensive but indispensable when working as a vermin controller.

My advice is to find someone with a quality thermal and try it, you are blind without one, happy to demonstrate if your ever down this way👍

We have Reds and greys in this area so drey shooting without poking is a no no. If there is an owl inside an old drey you won’t see the difference in the heat signature of an owl or squirrel inside a drey. It will just be hot. You can see the difference when they are outside a drey on a branch, but then you can use the two marbles above your nose to verify anyway.

[Goldfish]

Never shot an owl, but shot thousands of squirrels. No reds in the area.

Old dreys large enough to hide an owl signature don’t exist in the woodland I manage, all pushed out long ago, campaign of drey removal in January and February each year.

If in doubt, walk away, I’m not talking of dreys the size of space hoppers in place for many years, I just don’t have any.

to be honest there are so many owl boxes and holed trees the problem I face is squirrels in owl boxes😆

Edited December 23, 2021 by Goldfish

[bruno22rf]

FWIW, Goldfish is a VERY experienced shot and a total credit to the Shooting Community, it's hard to imagine him taking a risky shot in any circumstances, struggling to recall meeting a more genuine Gentleman tbh.

[Mice!]

1 hour ago, Goldfish said:

Never shot an owl, but shot thousands of squirrels. No reds in the area.

Old dreys large enough to hide an owl signature don’t exist in the woodland I manage, all pushed out long ago, campaign of drey removal in January and February each year.

If in doubt, walk away, I’m not talking of dreys the size of space hoppers in place for many years, I just don’t have any

That's a lot different,  and reads a lot different than just reading about dreys being shot on a walk through the woods 👍

[Goldfish]

2 hours ago, Mice! said:

That's a lot different,  and reads a lot different than just reading about dreys being shot on a walk through the woods 👍

So easy to make assumptions without all the information, woodland across the UK is so different and managed in so many different ways.

However back on topic, shot these three with an air rifle this morning while they sat at a feeder in a 60 acre block of spruce, feeders are needed as a way of drawing the squirrels out of the canopy.

The cartridge in the image is for size perspective, its what I had in my pocket at the time that is easily recognised, huge great things!!!

Edited December 23, 2021 by Goldfish

[Goldfish]

4 hours ago, bruno22rf said:

FWIW, Goldfish is a VERY experienced shot and a total credit to the Shooting Community, it's hard to imagine him taking a risky shot in any circumstances, struggling to recall meeting a more genuine Gentleman tbh.

Merry Christmas from one gentleman to another 

[Mice!]

39 minutes ago, Goldfish said:

So easy to make assumptions without all the information, woodland across the UK is so different and managed in so many different ways.

That's why its important to to point things out, I'm sure there will be loads of people who still shoot dreys out rather than poke them, most of the woods I have access to aren't managed in any real way, they are just woodland.

[Goldfish]

5 hours ago, Mice! said:

That's why its important to to point things out, I'm sure there will be loads of people who still shoot dreys out rather than poke them, most of the woods I have access to aren't managed in any real way, they are just woodland.

Too many woods are not managed and left to fend for themselves, a management plan is a must, I work closely with our Woodland Manager, targeting high risk areas of woodland.

People forget a woodland is a crop and deer and squirrels can turn what could be a profitable block into wood chip for biomass if left unmanaged.

[Mice!]

35 minutes ago, Goldfish said:

Too many woods are not managed and left to fend for themselves, a management plan is a must, I work closely with our Woodland Manager, targeting high risk areas of woodland.

People forget a woodland is a crop and deer and squirrels can turn what could be a profitable block into wood chip for biomass if left unmanaged.

Certainly the case where I am, but it's largely Ancient woodland not commercial forestry.

I haven't shot on commercial forestry for a long time, and then it was pheasants in Scotland. 

[Goldfish]

Most of my woodland is ancient with some of the oldest Oaks in the county, still needs managing if they want to keep it for future generations.

 

[Fisheruk]

1 hour ago, Goldfish said:

Most of my woodland is ancient with some of the oldest Oaks in the county, still needs managing if they want to keep it for future generations.

 

Certainly the case where I am. Conservation woods with Barn Owls and Tawny Owls last  CD weekend when I was out I listened to two Tawnys calling to each other, male CD and female.

[sam triple]

Another 4 this afternoon before the rain set in 

Edited December 24, 2021 by sam triple

[Fisheruk]

5 minutes ago, sam triple said:

Another 4 this afternoon before the rain set in 

Well done. 👍Don’t forget to add them to the cull total.

[Mice!]

Merry Christmas squirrel whackers 🎅🎅

[sam triple]

13 minutes ago, Mice! said:

Merry Christmas squirrel whackers 🎅🎅

And to you Mice and all 

[Walker570]

Gave a tree rat it's Chrissy present this morning.   Trail camera let it down yesterday afternoon and it turned up on time.

Makes me an even 340 this year so far.

Hope you all have a happy festive season. Keep whacking and stacking.

[Fisheruk]

Best wishes to all and happy squirrel bashing 

 

[old man]

20 hours ago, Fisheruk said:

Best wishes to all and happy squirrel bashing 

 

👍

[Walker570]

A real damp miserable morning so I decided to go across the the dairy farm and spoil some magpies day.  This is the one where I have the raised permamnent cabin overlooking the yard and a flip top squirrel feeder on an oak tree behind the dry cow shed.    Still dark when I arrived at 7.30 so climbed up and got myself comfy.  The light came up and a maggie flitted down from the shed roof onto the concrete yard...phhhttwop .... No1  stone dead on the yard, so expected to then get others coming in screeching.  Looked to the feeder and there was a tree rat enjoying a peanut  phhhhtwop ....hmmmmm looks like a good morning.  a few minutes later another maggie dropped in and walked over to look at it's pal.  phhhhhtwop and this one danced about and fell in the slurry sump out of sight.   Glanced through the small observation slot towards the fli top and there right below the seat was another tree rat which scurried across the yard and down the bank out of sight, to appear two minutes later climbing up to the flip top.  Let it settle and partially enjoy it's last peanut....phhhhhhhtwop     No. 2 tree rat.  Saw a flick of movement 40yrds away along the slurry pit wall and initially though it was a pheasant but it then appeared  in the open and another maggie. Hmmmm thats a fair shot.....hmmmm first dot down on the scope.....phhhhhhhtwop...and the maggie faltered a feathor two flew and it flew behind the shed not looking at all well.  I was pleased with that one.   I was starting to think about a nice big muffin toasted with dry smoked back bacon and a layer of stilton chees with barbecue sauce and a couple of mugs of strenth six coffeee when another maggie flitted in and started to walk across to it's dead mate. It paised...phhhhhhtwop  No.4.  The bacon muffin was now dragging me out of the cabin and I left happy with 2 tree rats and 4 maggies in just over two hours.

[Mice!]

51 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

A real damp miserable morning so I decided to go across the the dairy farm and spoil some magpies day.  This is the one where I have the raised permamnent cabin overlooking the yard and a flip top squirrel feeder on an oak tree behind the dry cow shed.    Still dark when I arrived at 7.30 so climbed up and got myself comfy.  The light came up and a maggie flitted down from the shed roof onto the concrete yard...phhhttwop .... No1  stone dead on the yard, so expected to then get others coming in screeching.  Looked to the feeder and there was a tree rat enjoying a peanut  phhhhtwop ....hmmmmm looks like a good morning.  a few minutes later another maggie dropped in and walked over to look at it's pal.  phhhhhtwop and this one danced about and fell in the slurry sump out of sight.   Glanced through the small observation slot towards the fli top and there right below the seat was another tree rat which scurried across the yard and down the bank out of sight, to appear two minutes later climbing up to the flip top.  Let it settle and partially enjoy it's last peanut....phhhhhhhtwop     No. 2 tree rat.  Saw a flick of movement 40yrds away along the slurry pit wall and initially though it was a pheasant but it then appeared  in the open and another maggie. Hmmmm thats a fair shot.....hmmmm first dot down on the scope.....phhhhhhhtwop...and the maggie faltered a feathor two flew and it flew behind the shed not looking at all well.  I was pleased with that one.   I was starting to think about a nice big muffin toasted with dry smoked back bacon and a layer of stilton chees with barbecue sauce and a couple of mugs of strenth six coffeee when another maggie flitted in and started to walk across to it's dead mate. It paised...phhhhhhtwop  No.4.  The bacon muffin was now dragging me out of the cabin and I left happy with 2 tree rats and 4 maggies in just over two hours.

Can't argue with that morning Nev, had a grey dance through my garden this morning,  it practically danced a jig before it left taunting me, it'll be back.

[Longbower]

One of my previously , busiest peanut feeders is still full after a week . And nothing on the camera , so I think I will need to re locate it to another spot in the woods.   Or , persevere ?   

Your thoughts please