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squirrel control


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What ###'@@@@ me off is, those comedy countryside programs Countryfile and Springwatch where you have 2 real life farmers in the line up who know damn well what the pests do on the land and will not broach the subject because the BBC will not bring the killing of pests to the attention of the viewing public.  Because of this as I mentioned trying to explain this to my friends and work colleagues they just think we are killing for the joy of it.

Where I live now in Swansea and our last house those areas are now void of any song birds, because of the magpies and jackdaws and squirrels, our last house we used to have  well over 9 species of song bird come to our garden throughout a year...all gone.  I have sent the BBC emails to discuss these issues on their programs and never had a response back.

All I can say to us all who go out and shoot the pests is keep at, because if we don't that's all that will be left in the  future. 

MM

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3 hours ago, madmax666 said:

Because of this as I mentioned trying to explain this to my friends and work colleagues they just think we are killing for the joy of it.

your certainly not alone, i mentioned this a week or so ago, doesn't always go down well. But in my garden the song birds are plentiful and lots more species compared to how it used to be.

point these people to songbirdsurvival, its a good website and not coming from shooters.

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ask them what this vegetarian squirrel is doing chomping on a blue tit?

 

Edited by Mice!
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8 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

Booked two in yesterday from a new spot.  Got it all set up nicely adjacent to a pheasant feeding area.

ha ha your going to have a thousand pictures of pheasant, and those two squirrels waiting for you.

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Can't count can you...three tree rats there and two of them hanging on the feeder, following morning.   Will not have the camera there much longer anyway it served it's pirpose by proving the targets would be there.  Two largish woods link up with this small copse and some big ancient trees, so I think this set up is going to be long term.  We will see.

Don't know where the second picture went ... weird as it was there earlier.

Hah Hah!!  There it is.... enjoy

062.jpg

Edited by Walker570
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9 hours ago, bruno22rf said:

Second foray yesterday - got to wood only to find 7-8 Caravans parked up and the woods overrun by little feral kids. Shooting has been stopped until the local council remove their fingers and do something .

O dear, wear wellies next time your out, then you can wash off anything you step in.

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We had a nice surprise today, we have been controlling greys in a wood for only 12 months and have shot around sixty greys in that time, however today we spotted a solitary red! There is a small colony of reds a few miles away but reds haven’t been seen in this wood for at least 5 and probably 10 yrs, so this is an encouraging sign- all we need is for it to find a mate and keep up the grey control. Unfortunately we also spotted several greys but they stayed well out of range in the top of some tall larches. We will have another go next week.

 

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6 minutes ago, Sciurus said:

We had a nice surprise today, we have been controlling greys in a wood for only 12 months and have shot around sixty greys in that time, however today we spotted a solitary red! There is a small colony of reds a few miles away but reds haven’t been seen in this wood for at least 5 and probably 10 yrs, so this is an encouraging sign- all we need is for it to find a mate and keep up the grey control. Unfortunately we also spotted several greys but they stayed well out of range in the top of some tall larches. We will have another go next week.

 

Brilliant. Keep up the good work

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Thanks, the RSNE have been very supportive on this site, in fact it was their ranger that spotted it first - his eyes (& ears) are nearly 40 yrs younger than mine. He is also a lot better with a thermal!

The NT have just licenced me to shoot at one of their houses that hasn’t had grey control for years, so looking forward to tomorrow. - unfortunately I can’t go too early or I will annoy the tenants and I have to leave before staff and public arrive. The grounds are open to the dog walking public 24 hrs a day so it will be a flying visit!

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1 hour ago, Sciurus said:

Thanks, the RSNE have been very supportive on this site, in fact it was their ranger that spotted it first - his eyes (& ears) are nearly 40 yrs younger than mine. He is also a lot better with a thermal!

The NT have just licenced me to shoot at one of their houses that hasn’t had grey control for years, so looking forward to tomorrow. - unfortunately I can’t go too early or I will annoy the tenants and I have to leave before staff and public arrive. The grounds are open to the dog walking public 24 hrs a day so it will be a flying visit!

Thats fantastic news, i find once your in place and still the dog walkers don't notice you, the dogs are on leads where i go, also folk are out later at the weekends when they don't have to walk the pooch before work.

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Hi Kev, yes I agree with you (as usual), however this time of year is generally shotgun time, the greys stop coming to the feeders and traps around July and so in the larger woods, when the leaves are falling we spot them with the thermal and pop them off with the shotgun, this way we can cover a lot of acres in a morning- so if the walkers/mountain bikers don’t see us walking about with guns, they will certainly hear us!

The Estate where the two of us got sixty, about twenty were shot with air rifles over feeders and the rest by shotgun, it’s a few miles away on the west bank of the lake so I don’t have time to trap there, but it is privately owned so We can go there to shoot at anytime.Now that we have spotted a red, we can’t shoot the dreys anymore! I don’t want to be the volunteer that shot the red!!!

This morning, we went to the new NT permission and got 4 in an hour walking round the bigger wood with the mossberg 410 hushpower which unfortunately echoed round the large buildings. At 8.30 people were arriving so we locked the gun in the boot and had a walk round the smaller wood in front of the main house . We spotted 3 or 4 greys there and which were used to people walking about but unfortunately it is situated next to a B&B in the grounds, so I don’t think we can use a shotgun there without risking complaints.

I am  going back next week and wil do the same again except I will take the air rifle into the smaller wood and stay quietly for another hour or so, hopefully without upsetting anyone.

Keep knocking the greys off.

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1 hour ago, Sciurus said:

Hi Kev, yes I agree with you (as usual), however this time of year is generally shotgun time, the greys stop coming to the feeders and traps around July and so in the larger woods, when the leaves are falling we spot them with the thermal and pop them off with the shotgun, this way we can cover a lot of acres in a morning- so if the walkers/mountain bikers don’t see us walking about with guns, they will certainly hear us!

That made me laugh, i thought you would be sneaking about like a ninja, then BOOM shotgun 😂😂 

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I hadn’t thought of it like that. Perhaps that’s why my wife laughs at me when I leave the house in my squirrelling outfit - mind you she wasn’t laughing when I woke her up at 6 am on her day off! Seriously though, a muffled bang with subsonic cartridges doesn’t seem to worry squirrels too much and the noise doesn’t seem to travel as far a normal shot.

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I've just been out in the woods for a few hours with my kids, topping up feeders and having a mooch around. Didn't see anything in the area we shoot, saw two squirrels on the boundary area, but the floor was full of acorn and beech mast, this hopefully means were on top of the squirrels.

kids certainly enjoyed themselves, daughter is a natural at spotting fungi, and i nearly lost them at hide and seek 😅😅 WP_20181007_15_06_19_Pro.jpg.5cab11350cc67a0f35cc043284396bdf.jpg

 

WP_20181007_13_58_29_Pro.jpg.c80723de00af121e8121785069d907c7.jpg

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Nice. :yes:

This storm blew two of my squirrel hides down, so this morning in the pouring rain, I went up to rebuild one and because the original position was just too close I took the opportunity to move it.  Had it up and looking tidy and was just using some zip ties to secure the camo net when i saw a movement and there, munching away on the whole maize I had just topped the feeder with, was a tree rat, brazen as you like.  It's days are numbered I can tell you and don't let anyone tell you squirrels don't show in the pouring rain.  I was only there because I want the hide set for Tuesday morning.  It was tipping down.  Camera is showing tree rats are on the feeder by my second hide but that is lay flat on the deck at the moment. Another job for Tuesday

Have just had a night vision unit given me. Needs a small repair to the plastic surround but is in full working order with battery pack and charger so the brown rats which have show after dark are in for a serious shock.

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Hey Walker, have you using nut oil or aniseed? Few folk saying it really brings them in on their maize, and yes I've seen a few squirrels about in the rain.

Another couple seen near me but nothing going in the trap or up the garden, new position and bait time.

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At this moment I don't seem to have any trouble getting them to come in it would appear but aniseed has always been a puller for a number of species and I am sure tree rats will respond.

This wet weather has slowed me down a bit but the next two weeks should see some action as reports from keepers suggest they are on the pheasant feeders.

Got one playing peek a boo from the neighbours walnut tree at the moment. Nips out into my wood to bury nuts and then screams back. Even if it stood still I don't have a shot , no background and twenty sheep in the field behind the first hedge and some expensive brood mares beyond that.  It will make just one mistake.

Edited by Walker570
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I have always been led to believe greys don’t like rain. Certainly on our trail cameras, the reds don’t mind the rain but the greys go absent. If it rained heavily on Friday and all day Saturday, perhaps the greys stayed in the dreys and by Sunday, they were driven out by hunger even if was raining? - just a thought.

In one of my woods where I can only use an air rifle, the greys are speeding around the tree canopies and don’t stop long enough for me to get a shot in but would be an easy shot for.410. Grrr

I prefer to use aniseed, I don’t know if it does much good but I love the smell! (I was reared on aniseed balls!).

Keep knocking them out....

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I concur with the above . In the woods this morning while it was raining , not a movement. But , after 2.30 when th sun came out and the wind dropped , it was as if the woods had come alive   . The Grey's were very active . 

Got two , with a Walther .177 Terrus , I bought of Gun Watch (listed here). This morning..

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