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squirrel control


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3 hours ago, Fisheruk said:

I had a report this morning from a lady who use to have Red Squirrels visiting her garden. She hadn’t seen them last year, but grey squirrels were harvesting her walnuts last autumn. I loaned her a live trap and we removed 4 Grey Squirrels. 
This morning she messaged to say she had seen Red Squirrels back in her garden over the last two days, and still no grey squirrels. That’s what it is all about.

Good news. 👍

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5 hours ago, Fisheruk said:

I had a report this morning from a lady who use to have Red Squirrels visiting her garden. She hadn’t seen them last year, but grey squirrels were harvesting her walnuts last autumn. I loaned her a live trap and we removed 4 Grey Squirrels. 
This morning she messaged to say she had seen Red Squirrels back in her garden over the last two days, and still no grey squirrels. That’s what it is all about.

Superb.

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Morning tagether I would just like to ask what live traps you prefer plus use and do you make them yourself because some are pricey when you get some do gooder stand on them , I do put all traps out of the way but people walk about as they please , As for fen traps can you legally use them at all now ? Because the tree rats have eaten  into the plastic pheasant feeders would it be legal to put one inside the feeder drum ?.

Thanks for any feed back .

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In the new 100 acre wood we are going to have a concerted trapping effort over two weeks starting Good Friday. We’ve 6 folk who are working a roster to cover the traps morning and afternoon. It’ll be interesting to see how many we can pull out with 12 traps.

Edited by Fisheruk
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8 hours ago, Morkin said:

Morning tagether I would just like to ask what live traps you prefer plus use and do you make them yourself because some are pricey when you get some do gooder stand on them , I do put all traps out of the way but people walk about as they please , As for fen traps can you legally use them at all now ? Because the tree rats have eaten  into the plastic pheasant feeders would it be legal to put one inside the feeder drum ?.

Thanks for any feed back .

Up here we only use live traps in case we catch a red squirrel.

The Society mostly use mink traps covered with black plastic. We pay around £18. The plastic provides shelter to any trapped grey and also makes the trap more interesting for a grey to explore.

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Surprisingly, once laid the trap becomes fairly invisible, especially when the plastic is crumpled and weathered. People just think it’s a piece of rubbish. On the ground I might put and old branch over it or in a well walked area, I tie it in a holly bush etc. I have more trouble with badgers playing football with the traps than humans!

I also use an Elgeeko trap for tying vertically to a trunk, but they are a bit fiddly and temperamental . 

@Goldfish has a lot of experience and success with kill traps and hopefully can give you some better advice.

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@Morkin Fenn no 4 and 6 traps can still be used for squirrels. Not the cheaper copies just branded traps from the approved list such as Fenn and Springer.

Before use a risk assessment must be completed in respect to human and non-target species, if there is even the slightest possibility of catching a red, do not use.

If Fenn traps are deemed safe to use a tunnel or cover must be used to stop birds landing on them or they becoming leg hold traps for badger or deer etc. Putting them in a feeder wouldn’t be seen as appropriate as there is a high chance the animal would not be caught and killed, ie if they stepped on the trap sideways or with the back leg

The tunnel entrances need to be reduced to 2” and the tunnel a minimum of 15” long and 6 1/2” wide and tall.

scrap wood, weld mesh and metal can be utilised, I have put images up further back in this thread.

word of warning, do not make a box containing a row of traps with top entrance holes as when the first squirrel is trapped it becomes bait for buzzards and the remaining traps become leg hold traps for the buzzard as it hops around the box.

Also only bait the trigger plate and outside the tunnel as bait around the trap could result in squirrels being caught but not killed as they search and don’t approach the trap properly, ie turning to find and pick up food

 

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Edited by Goldfish
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 Thanks for the feedback tagether great help , just reassuring really good pictures thanks to give ideas. I always cover traps well so nothing else gets in them but mostly just concerned about this new ruling with stoats etc . But I have always sticked the entrance to limit anything else

Thanks again and keep atam      

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Well, I sat for two hours this morning on a flip top which had been used a bit, not a lot, but I thought I might see a tree rat.  Nothing showed apart from a bunch of little birds scoffing the peanuts I had spread. I do think I have wiped them out in this location because the farmer and his wife have not sen any for weeks.  Still, that's the name of the game isn't it?

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4 hours ago, Walker570 said:

Still, that's the name of the game isn't it?

Certainly is, we know they'll be back, but there will be less breeding so less pressure on the other wildlife. 

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another pair for me this morning,  there was one straight into the feeder tree but it didn't come down,  then two within a couple of minutes,  Male and female. 

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Blank for me today, I saw deer, fox, woodpeckers,  which startled the fox, loads of different tits , Nuthatch's and tree creepers.

I must have been hidden well enough because pigeons and crows were landing above me.

There were a couple of squirrels moving around as I walked in but after that I only saw a couple off in the tree tops.

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Back to the golf course for my last stroll around,  the golfers are back next week.

Usual procedure with the brolley and nets, then I put some nuts on the feeder and the ground and gave the feeder lid a couple of good bangs.

I settled in and 5 minutes later up pops a squirrel, but it didn't act normally,  it was up, down and around,  past the nuts and gone? Then it was back, and gone again. 

It grabbed a nut the first time but wasn't that bothered about it, seemed to bite it but leave it, I think it was looking for the squirrel that had banged the lid, not food.

Just over half an hour before it actually settled on the feeder looking in my direction,  Pfft whack flop.

Number two came along half an hour later, it came in bold probably saw the dead one and retreated up the tree, it did this twice then started settling down and grooming, I wasn't convinced it was going to come down, awkward angle from sat down, but that's the advantage of Pfft guns and trigger sticks,  number two done, fell like a brick.

Both males. 

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Must say I've been surprised they keep coming to the feeder,  I've been expecting it to dry up but it keeps getting results. 

I took a walk then, socially distanced chat with the lads working then went looking for a squirrel I'd seen Tuesday in an area I don't normally go, as I walked up to the small copse,  I saw a squirrel fly through the tree tops and into a drey, I got close put a pellet in the drey and waited, it suddenly came out straight up like a rocket,  then followed 15-20 minutes of me trying to get an angle and a shot, twigs branches and the squirrel hiding but patients paid off and down it came, number three!

Number three was also number 40 for four months of shooting,  still a few about but far less than there were, and far fewer breeding this spring. 

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The angle of the photo is deceptive,  the female at the front was actually smaller than the two males, a most enjoyable morning. 

I'll move into the wood that has a footpath through it but it needs a good looking at first, I don't want feeders wrecking or dog walkers suddenly appearing,  but from what I've seen there aren't often people in there early on.

 

 

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Well, finally found one in my own little wood. My Forest Ranger reported two chasing and I went down and had the one a young female, gave it an hour but nothing else showed. Some nice quality weather promised for the next two weeks, so out early and see if my other spots have any action.  A colleague reported one dead on the road right outside the gate of one of my farms, so it seems they are on the move.

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2 Squizzers sunday morning, out at 5:30 after being led into a false sense of security by the weather report of 8 degrees and a 5% chance of rain - the chill hit me slightly before the lashing 5%, why do we pay these half wits?

Could not find the first feeder despite having a new map but eventually stumbled (literally) on No1 to find it like a palace, completely built up and even had a seat with arms set into the ground!! Shot both Nutty's from here but would not have cared if I didn't fire a shot, at one point I had a Green Woodpecker and 4 Nuthatches on the feeder with numerous Tree Creepers around the base of the tree, without wishing to sound over dramatic, when my time comes, if I'm met by such a sight again then I will go quite happily.

p15 nuttyu.jpg

Edited by bruno22rf
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Out on this glorious morning to my first permission, a house on a large plot of land with massive beech trees, have shot here on numerous occasions and dont think theres any greys left but the owner likes me to shoot the bunnies that are ripping up his lawns, there was some nuts taken from the flip top but no sign of any greys, two missed shots at rabbits,blast.

On to the second permission at 8.30 about 10 miles further on, a very boggy 7 acre wood, flip top hardly touched but after 20 minutes shot a young male squirrel. Saw another about 50 yards away through the brash but it disapeared. All the time I was waiting in the hide the wildlife was on top volume, crows squawking, woodpeckers screeching, magpies and jays doing the same, woodies flapping, but no many song birds, the odd buzzard and a peregrine flitting back and forward from its nest to perch above the slain squirrel. Saw another three squirrels together away in the distance but they never came to the box. The peregrine kept coming but never landed so when I left I had to do what I always do and bag and binned the grey. The Red Squirrel group who I volunteer for recommend this just in case the grey is carrying squirrel pox.

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1 hour ago, ratchers said:

The peregrine kept coming but never landed so when I left I had to do what I always do and bag and binned the grey. The Red Squirrel group who I volunteer for recommend this just in case the grey is carrying squirrel pox.

That's certainly something a bit different while out on the squirrels.

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Had an early run across to Lincolnshire this morning and they where out playing. Managed to get six to stand still for a second and just shot the sixth on the deck when a muntie doe walked out 25yrds away ..... surprise surprise ....I happened to have my 22BR along as well as the 22RF so had to call it a day and rush back home to get it in the cooler.

This was all from the cabin I built on the old water tank stand which I put on here two or three years ago. Back over again on Friday becaue lots of tree rat activity.

002.jpg

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1 hour ago, Walker570 said:

Had an early run across to Lincolnshire this morning and they where out playing. Managed to get six to stand still for a second and just shot the sixth on the deck when a muntie doe walked out 25yrds away ..... surprise surprise ....I happened to have my 22BR along as well as the 22RF so had to call it a day and rush back home to get it in the cooler.

This was all from the cabin I built on the old water tank stand which I put on here two or three years ago. Back over again on Friday becaue lots of tree rat activity.

 

A very sleek munty, had lived very well.

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2 hours ago, Walker570 said:

Had an early run across to Lincolnshire this morning and they where out playing. Managed to get six to stand still for a second and just shot the sixth on the deck when a muntie doe walked out 25yrds away ..... surprise surprise ....I happened to have my 22BR along as well as the 22RF so had to call it a day and rush back home to get it in the cooler.

This was all from the cabin I built on the old water tank stand which I put on here two or three years ago. Back over again on Friday becaue lots of tree rat activity.

002.jpg

Nice little bonus there for you. 

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