squirrel control

[hatter]

Today the squirrels in the wood were like buses. Wait ages for one then two come along together. After two hours in the hide without sight of a grey I was ready to pack up and go home. Then two greys turn up together and play a game of kiss chase around the feeder. The game ended very badly for one of the squirrels, another fat male removed from the wood. I gave it thirty minutes to see if the other squirrel would reappear but it didn’t so time to pack up and head home. 

[Mice!]

2 hours ago, hatter said:

Today the squirrels in the wood were like buses. Wait ages for one then two come along together. After two hours in the hide without sight of a grey I was ready to pack up and go home. Then two greys turn up together and play a game of kiss chase around the feeder. The game ended very badly for one of the squirrels, another fat male removed from the wood. I gave it thirty minutes to see if the other squirrel would reappear but it didn’t so time to pack up and head home. 

Always the case, I had one show in the garden yesterday,  then another today,  they both fell over, and both females again. 

[Sciurus]

6 hours ago, hatter said:

Today the squirrels in the wood were like buses. Wait ages for one then two come along like buses

Sounds like my day yesterday, nothing, then a stationary grey on the left hand tree and two running about in a right hand tree. With a 3 shot pumper- which shot should I take!

Thanks for the good wishes 👍

[ratchers]

After the sparse summer I returned to one of my permissions and cleaned and filled the flip top up recently. I gave it 10 days and went to see what was happening and found the feeder empty,quite a surprise, so I refilled and settled in and after an hour and a half a customer turned up but it turned out to be quite a challenge,it took a peanut and then disappeared round the back of the tree, it did this three times until I got sick of that game and shot it once it turned round after taking its last peanut,a head shot and lights out,a mature female. I will be back as I don't think that one squirrel had emptied the box.

Sorry to hear  you've not been well Sciurus, hope you are feeling better,  good hunting!

[sam triple]

Just one yesterday afternoon conditions weren’t great but I expected more ! 

[hatter]

4 hours ago, sam triple said:

Just one yesterday afternoon conditions weren’t great but I expected more ! 

It’s one less mate. They all count. 👍

[Sciurus]

Some days, it is better to stay in bed, yesterday was one of them!

I was hoping to go to a local private wood and wanted to be in place by 7.30 to intercept a few greys as they usually travelled in from a nearby wood around that time.

I was just finishing a cup of tea at 7am when my nose started bleeding. No big deal, except I have started taking blood thinners and the bleeding wouldn’t stop.

7.45 it had slowed to a drip, so off I went. I got into position and every time I looked down, it started gushing. Gloves off, search for new tissue, lift camo mask and mop up. Repeat every few minutes. The greys wisely disappeared elsewhere.

I then had a brainwave and decided to plug my nostril and go for a wander instead. Unfortunately, this would work for a few minutes and then the dripping started. Not such a clever idea after all! 
 

I did manage to shoot one running along a dry stone wall but after 2 hours of looking and acting like an extra from a zombie film, I gave up a went home. (It finally stopped bleeding at 11am).

A single male

The Zombie, just before the gushing!

This morning, no nasal problems, so I set off to a local hotel and campsite with a large wood, housing  a few reds. It was the first day of hard frost, exactly zero degrees. The mist from the lake slowed the journey down to 20mph and I arrived later than I wanted, no problem I could hardly see the trees! 

Eventually, the mist cleared a bit, and I spotted two greys running round the base of a tree, in a ravine in front of the hotel, I had to do a wide circle to get close and by then one grey was sat at the top of a tree and the other had disappeared. Because I was in the Hotel grounds, I loaded with Cheddite Silenzia in my .410 hushpower- very quiet but not very powerful. Pop- down came a young female.

Moving onto an unused section of the campsite, a grey appeared from nowhere and stopped directly above me. I had to pull the gun from my gunslip (as I was on a public footpath) cycle a cartridge in the pumper and it unsurprisingly disappeared. I did however spot a grey tail sticking out of a forked branch. Pop - down came an adult female.

Even though I was wearing lined gloves, my fingers were frozen (blood thinners again😡) and I couldn’t load the cartriges into the magazine, so I decided to climb up a few hundred feet into the wood, where the sun was shining.

Up in the wood above, you can see the mist below. The wood and the climb was lovely and warm, but useless for the thermal. I did however spot a lone red, which was a bonus.

 

All in all, a nice morning to be out, but i need to return and get the remaining grey (& any others)

[Mice!]

1 hour ago, Sciurus said:

Some days, it is better to stay in bed, yesterday was one of them!

I was hoping to go to a local private wood and wanted to be in place by 7.30 to intercept a few greys as they usually travelled in from a nearby wood around that time.

I was just finishing a cup of tea at 7am when my nose started bleeding. No big deal, except I have started taking blood thinners and the bleeding wouldn’t stop.

7.45 it had slowed to a drip, so off I went. I got into position and every time I looked down, it started gushing. Gloves off, search for new tissue, lift camo mask and mop up. Repeat every few minutes. The greys wisely disappeared elsewhere.

I then had a brainwave and decided to plug my nostril and go for a wander instead. Unfortunately, this would work for a few minutes and then the dripping started. Not such a clever idea after all! 
 

I did manage to shoot one running along a dry stone wall but after 2 hours of looking and acting like an extra from a zombie film, I gave up a went home. (It finally stopped bleeding at 11am).

A single male

The Zombie, just before the gushing!

This morning, no nasal problems, so I set off to a local hotel and campsite with a large wood, housing  a few reds. It was the first day of hard frost, exactly zero degrees. The mist from the lake slowed the journey down to 20mph and I arrived later than I wanted, no problem I could hardly see the trees! 

Eventually, the mist cleared a bit, and I spotted two greys running round the base of a tree, in a ravine in front of the hotel, I had to do a wide circle to get close and by then one grey was sat at the top of a tree and the other had disappeared. Because I was in the Hotel grounds, I loaded with Cheddite Silenzia in my .410 hushpower- very quiet but not very powerful. Pop- down came a young female.

Moving onto an unused section of the campsite, a grey appeared from nowhere and stopped directly above me. I had to pull the gun from my gunslip (as I was on a public footpath) cycle a cartridge in the pumper and it unsurprisingly disappeared. I did however spot a grey tail sticking out of a forked branch. Pop - down came an adult female.

Even though I was wearing lined gloves, my fingers were frozen (blood thinners again😡) and I couldn’t load the cartriges into the magazine, so I decided to climb up a few hundred feet into the wood, where the sun was shining.

Up in the wood above, you can see the mist below. The wood and the climb was lovely and warm, but useless for the thermal. I did however spot a lone red, which was a bonus.

 

All in all, a nice morning to be out, but i need to return and get the remaining grey (& any others)

Brilliant pictures mate.

[Sciurus]

 

1 hour ago, Mice! said:

Brilliant pictures mate.

I thought you might recognise the permission. The hills were all lit up this morning. Glorious and gloomy at the same time.

I bet you were cold this morning!

[old man]

Yesterday, Mm? Still no action on the feeder, ! that did roam into the area shot off again at another walkers presence? I have the feeling they are being harassed by keepers staff? Having moved the feeder further away I'm sure it didn't spot me.

Back tomorrow.

[Mice!]

23 hours ago, Sciurus said:

 

I thought you might recognise the permission. The hills were all lit up this morning. Glorious and gloomy at the same time.

I bet you were cold this morning!

I know where you are 😉 but I'm on a training course,  very warm and snug, despite being incredibly bored, but it's supposed to be an advanced course 😅😅

I'd much rather be out shooting with you 😄

[Sciurus]

Today was a bit different, I was asked to survey a  small wood owned by a local charity in order to advise them on the best course of action to take in the long and short term, in order to improve  their chances of attracting red squirrels to their woodland. In return, we get a donation to the Red squirrel group I belong to.

The wood was small, perhaps an acre, with a good mix of mature beech and scots pine and younger saplings  so promising habitat, but infested with greys (I spotted six without a thermal). So the  report will have the normal stuff regarding existing habitat, trees to plant and distance from nearby red colonies etc. However, the number one recommendation- Get RID of the existing grey infestation and most importantly continue to regularly control the greys!

It is likely we will be asked to do the grey control. Large charities and Local Authorities don’t want to invite criticism! The wood is close to the town centre, next to a college, so shotguns are out of the question but it is ideal for airgun shooting at a feeder. Parking is a nightmare  and expensive and at £1.80 twice a day, I won’t be recommending trapping!

 

 

 

[old man]

Another strange outing, one came through the tree tops at full speed from behind after 10 minutes of me sitting. A bright bit was that the feeder had lost half a cup full so maybe?

Used the time to zero my second S200 with it's new Hawke scope.

Edited December 1, 2022 by old man

[sam triple]

Slightly better 3 hours today 2 sows 1 bore 

 

 

[Sciurus]

I went out on Friday to my favourite permission, perfect conditions and shot badly with .410 hushpower, ended up shooting just two. Goodness knows what went wrong.

This morning, I had a lie in and arrived at the permission where I had the gusher of a nosebleed earlier this week around 9.15.

I parked in the entrance to have a look at the copse at the front of the house where the greys travel in from a neighbouring wood. No greys in the usual spots, but I did get a signal on the thermal from a tree on the boundary, binos out, confirmed its grey, binos down and out of the undergrowth pops another grey. Deciding a grey on the ground is better that a grey in a tree, I took the shot- one down. The other grey disappeared but I could just detect a signal of its back, hugging the trunk further up- two down and I had only been there 5 minutes. Of course, I completely missed the third- never to be seen again.

Moving into the wood at the rear of the house, I spot another unexpected  grey running around the branches in a young oak where I have never seen greys before. Bang . Number 3 down.

A pleasant half hour passes, I spot 2 hares and a woodcock but strangely no deer. Finally I spot another grey at exactly on the same spot on a wall where I shot one on Monday, presumably siblings. A more interesting shot through the forked trunk of  a tree. No 4 and the last one of the morning came down.

 

An all Female bag.

I don’t usually shoot so late in the morning (& never on a Sunday) but I enjoyed this morning, no one about and a reasonable bag for such a small wood. I’ll have to try it again.

 

[Mice!]

48 minutes ago, Sciurus said:

don’t usually shoot so late in the morning (& never on a Sunday) but I enjoyed this morning, no one about and a reasonable bag for such a small wood. I’ll have to try it again

They probably had a lie in as well because it's cold, good shooting 👍

[arjimlad]

I had a new experience yesterday. I was walking quietly round the pen with my FAC Super 10, looking out for squirrels when I spotted one running through the trees.

When it didn't emerge from one particular tree I looked closely through the binos for it and spotted a large hole in the tree and a squirrel fully within the hole looking out at me. I could only see the side of his head. It was about 20 yards away. 

He ducked back out of sight but I put up the sticks and lined up on the hole, so when he started peeking out again.. THWOCK! 

The unmistakeable sound of a solid hit was amplified within the hollow tree, and the grey had gone to meet his eternal rest within a woody mausoleum (at least until the tree eventually falls down).

 

[Fisheruk]

Useful for target practice 

Edited December 5, 2022 by Fisheruk

[Walker570]

Not in a tree hole but I have shot quite a few peeping out from under the lid of my flip top feeders. They don't half make a mess bouncing about inside.

Not much happening here at the moment nothing moving in our little wood and my 'new' transport is still in the garage being 'repaired' which means I can't get off road in the golf course or the farm or the estate. Frustrating. 

We seem to have thinned the village tree rats as my neighbour on the otherside of the village is not seeing any either.

I just discovered that a lady up the road is also trapping them quietly

[arjimlad]

3 hours ago, Fisheruk said:

Useful for target practice 

Nice one ! 

 

[Sciurus]

Tree rats everywhere up here. (Unfortunately)

Out again this morning and a different wood., This  time  with a pal and his two whippets (mother and daughter).

The shooting is a little different. One whippet runs slightly ahead, so no greys are seen scratching about but any movement in the trees, the mother is switched on and sits patiently beneath the relevant tree. By that time the two of us surround the tree, until the grey is spotted and shot by one of us. It stops all that running circles round the trunk. 
Most of the greys were spotted by thermal hiding at the tops of firs or in yews to keep warm. Once identity is confirmed, the grey is shot or persuaded to move with a warning shot and finished off by the other gun. The dogs sit patiently waiting for their present from Heaven. Its quite comical watching them manoeuvring for position as the grey comes crashing through the branches, try to guess where it will fall or catch it midair.

Two interesting shots. One grey was knocked clean off the branch and landed with a hell of a thud, pretty well in front of us, we looked but no corpse. There were however two dogs sat beneath two separate trees looking up expectantly. Working on the principal that mother knows best, we scoured the first tree for a good few minutes before it was spotted and dispatched.

The other interesting shot was by me. We saw a grey run into a yew and disappeared. I could get a vague signal on the thermal but it was impossible to locate it exactly. I gave it a warning shot to shift it for my pal to shoot but it dropped down stone dead. What made it special is the .410 mossbergs are very tightly chocked and therefore very easy to miss a visible squirrel never mind a hidden one.

Interesting views in the previous posts about greys in tree holes. There are alot of mature oaks with holes up here, in fact we don’t see many dreys. Following Storm Arwen , there are now alot of oaks with cracked and torn limbs. It is very common to shoot a grey looking out of a hole or crack as they think they are safe and warm.

Todays tally was seven. Unfortunately tomorrow is hospital day but I hope to be out Wednesday and Friday. Got to get them while we can (& there are fewer tourists walking about). We can’t let them breed (the greys and tourists😂!)

 

.

 

Edited December 5, 2022 by Sciurus
Correction

[Sciurus]

Back out this morning to the hotel and campsite on the fringe of the Red Zone to get the rest of a family that I didn’t get last week.

It was sub zero, with a smattering of snow on the tops. The hotel was closed for refurbishment, so I didn’t have to be too discreet but unfortunately there was a major hiking route straight through the centre of the grounds and because of the sunny crisp conditions, the walkers were out in force.

Twice, I have thermalled  a grey and twice they disappeared into the undergrowth as a walker passed. I finally spotted a third but he heard me crunching on the lawn and disappeared up a tall pine well before I was in range, the thermal just reddedout because of the frost and sunshine 😡

Retracing my steps, half an hour later, blow me, squirrel number 1 was running up a rhododendron, bang and he was down ( after doing abit of aerial acrobatics).

Even better squirrel number 2 was sheltering in a holly, he thermalled like a pigeon but just didn’t quite look right and I just couldn’t see him with the binos. As I got very close, he bolted and I hit him hard but he kept going and I dropped him with the second shot.

Both were youngsters and both were shot within 10 yds of where they were disturbed by the walkers.

A pleasant mornings walk and I was home drinking coffee just after 10am

[Walker570]

Went down to feed the bird tables this morning and check the live traps. Every litle bit of food had been cleared. Approached the second table and had a tree rat run off infront of me and then when approaching the table far side of the wood another shot across the ride.  So we have two uninvited visitors to deak with over the weekend if the traps don't get them beforehand.

[Fisheruk]

The war of attrition pays off. Went out before daybreak this morning. -3c. Sat in the hide in front of the feeder. Waited until 8.30am and a Red squirrel pops up on the feeder, closely followed by another Red. These two start chattering and chasing each other. Another Red arrives and takes advantage of the others being distracted and snatches a peanut from the feeder, then another. Then the dispute is ended and the others return for a feed.

After an hour and a half, no greys appear. So off home.

Then this afternoon well away from that wood a large female finds itself confined in a trap. 
 

We just need to keep at ‘em and make space for the Reds.
 

 

[Mice!]

I went and topped up a feeder at 22:30 last night 🥶🥶 two pairs of gloves on and two coats and it didn't seem so bad.

A fox screamed out when I arrived,  there's no wind or movement of air up here at the moment,  so the call seemed really close and loud, and definitely made me jump.

It's only a small feeder so I wasn't surprised it was completely empty,  I brimmed it and poured extra on the floor, I'll be back Saturday,  well wrapped up that's for sure.

9 hours ago, Fisheruk said:

The war of attrition pays off. Went out before daybreak this morning. -3c. Sat in the hide in front of the feeder. Waited until 8.30am and a Red squirrel pops up on the feeder, closely followed by another Red. These two start chattering and chasing each other. Another Red arrives and takes advantage of the others being distracted and snatches a peanut from the feeder, then another. Then the dispute is ended and the others return for a feed.

After an hour and a half, no greys appear. So off home.

Brilliant.