squirrel control

[Walker570]

Well, I had a bit of fun this morning. It dawned bright and sunny and the light was already up as I approached my flip top on the Pear Tree and a tree rat was already chewing on a peanut .  I gently eased my way forward to my IBC hide and settled in knowing that it would return and sure enough it did and the Boxer 177 did the job. Ten minutes later another came on to the feeder and received the same fate. Ten minutes later a third came and sat at the back of the feeder looking down at it's mates. That one jumped so high and hard as the 177 struck home it knocked the lid off the hopper.  Fifyeen minutes later another came down the pear tree and was looking inside the hopper when the 177 arrived it dropped straight into the hopper and bounced about a bit showering maize and peanuts everywhere.  I finished on six within an hour and 15 mins and then drove across the field to another feeder and as I lifted the lid there was a tree rat still in it. I slammed the lid down and put the bucket of feed on top whilst I went and fetched the rifle.  Now all of my feeders have holes in the front so small birds can come and help themselves, so I simply put the end of the barrel over one of these holes and fired a couple of shots and the bouncing about stopped, job done.

One of the delights of sitting in hides is what you see close up and a cock bullfinch came and fed on seeds on a dock stalk just a yard away from my small window. They really are one of our most colourful birds and it was great to see one here.

[old man]

3 hours ago, Walker570 said:

Well, I had a bit of fun this morning. It dawned bright and sunny and the light was already up as I approached my flip top on the Pear Tree and a tree rat was already chewing on a peanut .  I gently eased my way forward to my IBC hide and settled in knowing that it would return and sure enough it did and the Boxer 177 did the job. Ten minutes later another came on to the feeder and received the same fate. Ten minutes later a third came and sat at the back of the feeder looking down at it's mates. That one jumped so high and hard as the 177 struck home it knocked the lid off the hopper.  Fifyeen minutes later another came down the pear tree and was looking inside the hopper when the 177 arrived it dropped straight into the hopper and bounced about a bit showering maize and peanuts everywhere.  I finished on six within an hour and 15 mins and then drove across the field to another feeder and as I lifted the lid there was a tree rat still in it. I slammed the lid down and put the bucket of feed on top whilst I went and fetched the rifle.  Now all of my feeders have holes in the front so small birds can come and help themselves, so I simply put the end of the barrel over one of these holes and fired a couple of shots and the bouncing about stopped, job done.

One of the delights of sitting in hides is what you see close up and a cock bullfinch came and fed on seeds on a dock stalk just a yard away from my small window. They really are one of our most colourful birds and it was great to see one here.

A superb outing sir!

[Sciurus]

@Walker570A great result. You have been lucky to get out as the rain has been torrential here these last two days and I am beginning to get ‘cabin fever).

[old man]

7 minutes ago, Sciurus said:

@Walker570A great result. You have been lucky to get out as the rain has been torrential here these last two days and I am beginning to get ‘cabin fever).

I'm a bit stir crazy too, shooting bus off road for 3 weeks for parts and some type of virus for nearly month. Hey ho!

[Mice!]

32 minutes ago, Sciurus said:

@Walker570A great result. You have been lucky to get out as the rain has been torrential here these last two days and I am beginning to get ‘cabin fever).

Has it rained? Not sure I've noticed 😅😅😅

There was some fair water on the fields driving home today.

[Walker570]

Good day bad day here, so take the advantage when offered.  To be honest I have not shot that feeder for over three months because of access.  I think the one 120yrds away will also produce in the next week.

[hatter]

A very windy day in the wood yesterday. But there was plenty of squirrel activity with one sitting on top of the feeder as I approached it. Shot three within the first hour but the last one made a bit of a mess on the feeder which frightened the next squirrel away. Spent the next two hours bird watching and drinking tea. Then packed up and got home before the rain started. A very enjoyable way to spend a morning. 

[Sciurus]

What a week-torrential rain for days on end and bitterly cold wind. No way was I going out to chase greys, who were probably staying in their dreys anyway.

Had a lie today, since it forecast snow and was surprised to see the sun shining and no rain or wind. Looked out the kitchen and saw this character standing on my wall eating wild strawberry plants- even the birds won’t eat the fruit!

Although it was already 10.30am, I took this as a good omen that greys would be about and unlocked my little used 12 bore and off I went to a friends house with a 10acre wood.

The sun was shining and the thermal wasn’t much use, I soon saw a grey running up a pine- I gave him 15 minutes but he didn’t reappear. It didn’t help that the road was below me and there were loads of walkers out enjoying the sunshine.

I walked to the rear of the house, where my pal was chainsawing fallen timber, after a quick chat,  I continued my wandering and immediately saw another grey run up another tall fir. This tree was solitary so there was nowhere to go. Again I gave it 15 mins but no show, as I walked directly under the tree, I got the faintest reading of a head. It was nearly on the extreme range of my gun but I reasoned I would at least have two chances at it. As it happened I knocked straight down but gave it a second barrel as it grabbed a branch on the way down. An adolescent female.

I carried on wandering, just glad to be out and reached the end of the wood. Scanning around, I caught a small signal around waist  height through the brash. I moved forward a bit and it disappeared, back a bit, there it was- a small reading in a gap of about 6 inches in the brash. Thinking it was probably another roe hiding, I walked through the brash without much care but instead saw a large grey sitting happily on another fallen tree (& no need for the binos). Bang, gave it the choke barrel and my grandfathers 100 yr old W Richards did the business - a large female. 
 

It was 1 pm so time for lunch, however it was just so good to be out after being stuck in the house for a week. The forecast is sub zero but no rain, so I hope to get out again in the next few days.

 

 

[sam triple]

This one arrived at the feeder about 2 minutes after my arrival at the hide , gun wasn’t even out of its slip , thought I was going to be in for a good few hours but it was the only one , still hard going at the moment 

[Mice!]

A change in work plans meant a late start today,  the arrangement being we would meet at 11am, and I was still late!

I was going out on @Sciurus  ground where I can also shoot, he's mostly on top of the greys with just a few wise ones, the important thing being there are reds so the pressure stays on, even when you know its going to be one or two squirrels maybe. 

 

There were public about enjoying the winter sunshine,  which meant we couldn't do part of the ground so we headed up the hill, obviously I had layered up, long John's, thermal socks, scarf and it wasn't long before the scarf was off and I was warming up 😅😅

 

It didn't take long for the first grey to be spotted,  I was looking one way when G said squirrel,  so we moved in looking for it, me with the R10 and him with his .410( bang stick)

Both scanning but it was the movement which gave him away,  going up a trunk, I whistled then brought the gun up, the squirrel was side on on the trunk with only me able to see him, then he moved up onto a branch half facing us, I was leaning against a tree, gave it two mil dots over shooting upwards and shot, but the pellet seemed to go nowhere?

Reloaded,  lined up, Pfft and the squirrel dropped. 

I can only think the cold over the last few days had affected things somehow on the first shot?

A good sized male

We then headed up further doing a loop, with matey saying where he normally sees an odd squirrel,  there are some big trees, on top of embankments, so spotting a squirrel can be challenging,  and the sun being out didn't help with patches of bright red showing up on most of the trees and leaves.

We had a couple more heat spots that were possibly squirrels,  another spotted going up a tree which promptly vanished then the Jets arrived,  I think they were F22s a pair, then four screeching overhead, the noise was just incredible as they played going through the pass, I did try taking a photo, no chance, but got a video just for the noise really 😁

 

We had done a sort of squashed figure of 8, and were heading back past the spot where a grey is often seen, it's quite a formidable spot and a grey was spotted,  but once it was up the trunk we couldn't see it, I moved up and around a bit hoping a different angle would reveal it but neither of us could see it, we waited then I caught movement,  a tail twitch before it hopped up into site, it was a long way up with just it's head and chest showing. 

I squatted down against a tree trunk to get a clear shot, aimed for the chest to allow for the steep angle and Pfft Whack with my mate shouting YES behind me, it fell a long way, I scrambled up the banking but didn't find it.

 

After that we carried on and got the highlight of the day, we'd crossed a stream followed the path and up popped a red, by the time I'd got my glove off and phone out the picture was poor, but it's still a picture of a red 😁😁😁

 

We had a bite to eat, had a fly over from an Osprey! then headed to another spot, more to show me where it was than anything else, and what a lovely spot it was, with folk walking around obviously .

 

Given it was late on I wasn't expecting to see much, then my thermal just switched off which really didn't help, the new battery had only been on for around three hours so I need to keep an eye on that.

But before it did we spotted something in a Yew tree, scrambled up the bank only to watch two pigeons fly away,  but they hadn't looked like pigeons to us.

This put us higher than we were on the path and walked us right to another squirrel on the floor, spotted by G then shot by me off my knee, I'd not taken the sticks today and was really happy with the shothe, G asked why I'd took my time, he couldn't make out what the squirrel was doing rooting around,  then it sat up, and I didn't want to miss!!

Big female.

 

We went further into the woods, another squirrel was spotted, I was given the other thermal and told go get it, I made my way down, spotted two but only managed to get the one, another big male, the light was going fast and it was getting hard to see through the scope what the thermal could see.

Really happy getting the two in there, as there are reds spotted in here as well occasionally. 

Great piece of woodland which I can't wait to get back too, I'm a very lucky boy.

 

@Sciurus couldn't help myself mate 👍

 

[old man]

16 hours ago, Mice! said:

A change in work plans meant a late start today,  the arrangement being we would meet at 11am, and I was still late!

I was going out on @Sciurus  ground where I can also shoot, he's mostly on top of the greys with just a few wise ones, the important thing being there are reds so the pressure stays on, even when you know its going to be one or two squirrels maybe. 

 

There were public about enjoying the winter sunshine,  which meant we couldn't do part of the ground so we headed up the hill, obviously I had layered up, long John's, thermal socks, scarf and it wasn't long before the scarf was off and I was warming up 😅😅

 

It didn't take long for the first grey to be spotted,  I was looking one way when G said squirrel,  so we moved in looking for it, me with the R10 and him with his .410( bang stick)

Both scanning but it was the movement which gave him away,  going up a trunk, I whistled then brought the gun up, the squirrel was side on on the trunk with only me able to see him, then he moved up onto a branch half facing us, I was leaning against a tree, gave it two mil dots over shooting upwards and shot, but the pellet seemed to go nowhere?

Reloaded,  lined up, Pfft and the squirrel dropped. 

I can only think the cold over the last few days had affected things somehow on the first shot?

A good sized male

We then headed up further doing a loop, with matey saying where he normally sees an odd squirrel,  there are some big trees, on top of embankments, so spotting a squirrel can be challenging,  and the sun being out didn't help with patches of bright red showing up on most of the trees and leaves.

We had a couple more heat spots that were possibly squirrels,  another spotted going up a tree which promptly vanished then the Jets arrived,  I think they were F22s a pair, then four screeching overhead, the noise was just incredible as they played going through the pass, I did try taking a photo, no chance, but got a video just for the noise really 😁

 

We had done a sort of squashed figure of 8, and were heading back past the spot where a grey is often seen, it's quite a formidable spot and a grey was spotted,  but once it was up the trunk we couldn't see it, I moved up and around a bit hoping a different angle would reveal it but neither of us could see it, we waited then I caught movement,  a tail twitch before it hopped up into site, it was a long way up with just it's head and chest showing. 

I squatted down against a tree trunk to get a clear shot, aimed for the chest to allow for the steep angle and Pfft Whack with my mate shouting YES behind me, it fell a long way, I scrambled up the banking but didn't find it.

 

After that we carried on and got the highlight of the day, we'd crossed a stream followed the path and up popped a red, by the time I'd got my glove off and phone out the picture was poor, but it's still a picture of a red 😁😁😁

 

We had a bite to eat, had a fly over from an Osprey! then headed to another spot, more to show me where it was than anything else, and what a lovely spot it was, with folk walking around obviously .

 

Given it was late on I wasn't expecting to see much, then my thermal just switched off which really didn't help, the new battery had only been on for around three hours so I need to keep an eye on that.

But before it did we spotted something in a Yew tree, scrambled up the bank only to watch two pigeons fly away,  but they hadn't looked like pigeons to us.

This put us higher than we were on the path and walked us right to another squirrel on the floor, spotted by G then shot by me off my knee, I'd not taken the sticks today and was really happy with the shothe, G asked why I'd took my time, he couldn't make out what the squirrel was doing rooting around,  then it sat up, and I didn't want to miss!!

Big female.

 

We went further into the woods, another squirrel was spotted, I was given the other thermal and told go get it, I made my way down, spotted two but only managed to get the one, another big male, the light was going fast and it was getting hard to see through the scope what the thermal could see.

Really happy getting the two in there, as there are reds spotted in here as well occasionally. 

Great piece of woodland which I can't wait to get back too, I'm a very lucky boy.

 

@Sciurus couldn't help myself mate 👍

 

Superb bud!

[Sciurus]

@Mice! Thanks for the write up - I’ll now tell everyone the truth.😂

I was in the car park on time- there was no one about. When you arrived 10 mins later, there was walkers everywhere ! It was a cold but sunny day, we were both layered up, however I didn’t expect to see people picnicking under one of my favourite trees. We rightly made the decision to head for woods.

The last time, Mice came to this permission, he amazed me by spending 20 minutes trying to locate a grey really high up in a scots pine. I couldn’t even spot anything with the thermal, he just spotted an eye through his scope of his air rifle and down it came . It had a mate- and I missed 😡

So we slogged up to ‘Kevs’ tree, thankfully there were no greys to embarrass me. Moving across the slope, I saw a  flash of grey up a sapling higher up the slope. Being a small sapling, I thought it would be easy to spot, we separated and climbed up the slope either side of the tree. Mice gave a whistle, I readied myself but couldn’t see it (the thermal was redding out). Pop went the Bsa and I heard the pellet whistle through the branches. A miss.  Pop again, thud and down came a grey from a large oak 30m away. How Hawkeye Mice had spotted the grey in a completely different tree so far away was just amazing. Much kudos 👌

We continued into a dip between two small hillocks. I pointed out the two likely trees to keep an eye on but there was nothing. 
We did a circle of the upper woodland-  nothing doing, however I did have the satisfaction of beating him up the steep slopes even though he is twenty years younger! All I could hear was  deep breathing and cough cough😂

Descending back to the lower wood, I spot another grey run up the tree I had singled out earlier. This was a gigantic beech growing above vertical stone cliff face, the base of the cliff face was perhaps 20 ft above us. The slope was steep and slippery. Up he went, good luck I thought you got no chance. I clung to the nearest tree for safety. The beech was incredibly tall, I kept scanning the whole tree with the binos, nothing. After a few minutes I lost interest and kept scanning the rest of the wood with the thermal for an alternative candidate. Pop, thud. I turned round and in slow motion a very large grey cartwheeled out of the tree onto the cliff above. I let out an involuntary YES!  The distance and angle of shot was unbelievable, especially without trigger sticks.

Hawkeye Mice beginning his descent after his latest impressive shot!

We (He) finished the day with 4 greys, this might not sound much, but these are two permissions that are regularly controlled because of the reds, the greys are very wary and the public can be anywhere.

It was interesting that on the day,  I was the quicker spotter of movement , presumably because I hunt greys more than shooting at a feeder, but the hours of practice and patiently sitting at a feed clearly paid off for Mice. 
All the greys were extremely well fed, I tried to explain to Kev, that he could only hit them because they were so large but I don’t think he believed me.😂

Thank you Kev, I  enjoyed our day out, next time you want some testing shots, you know you are welcome anytime 👍
 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mice!]

40 minutes ago, Sciurus said:

We did a circle of the upper woodland-  nothing doing, however I did have the satisfaction of beating him up the steep slopes even though he is twenty years younger! All I could hear was  deep breathing and cough cough

I was just hanging back mate incase you slipped 🙄 nothing to do with being over weight 😳

42 minutes ago, Sciurus said:

Thank you Kev, I  enjoyed our day out, next time you want some testing shots, you know you are welcome anytime

Always a pleasure mate, and the Hawkeye Mice has made me giggle,  you spot them and I'll shoot them 😁

[Morkin]

I made my start yesterday, so hopefully I'll do my little bit again this year, I had 2 yesterday afternoon, trying my new thermal toy out which I am very pleased with, I think I had 42 last year so I've got to pull my finger out and try to beat that,🤔🤔🤔😜👍

[ratchers]

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.

[Mice!]

7 hours ago, ratchers said:

two greys down within five minutes!

Nicely done. 

[Longbower]

There are still very few turning up at feeders in the woods. and those that do , are very wary.

I've only managed to bag three , since the turn of the year, despite the feeders being topped up and hours , spent shivering in the hide.

Still , on the plus side , the amount of small birds coming and going is a beautiful thing to see.

[Mice!]

3 hours ago, Longbower said:

Still , on the plus side , the amount of small birds coming and going is a beautiful thing to see

Brilliant mate, I can't imagine the squirrels are just eating stashed acorns still, so must mean there numbers are well down.

[Walker570]

Out at dawn this morning on the Pear Tree feeder where I dumped the squirrel in the feeder. They had knocked the lid off again which indicated they had been inside. I put it back on and scraped the remains of the feed out on the platform. Only been back in my IBC hide a few minutes and the first arrived...WHACK!!!..from the recently serviced AA S200 ( it was leaking like a sieve they said).  I had barely fed another pellet in when I saw a flash of movement and a fox dived in and grabbed the dead squidge and carried out onto the field and began tp eat it. Another squidgy appeared on the feeder and got the same as the first. The ifrst fox looked back towards me and then another big dark almost black fox walked within about 15yrds ands vanished in the wood. Then a third squisge appeared and was welcomed by the AA S200.  Just minutes afterwards a third fox went running from behind me obviously picked up my scent. Definite a different one as this one was bright red coated with a distinctive white tail top.  Definitely need to get out after dark more often obviously.

MY old AA S200 I love it because of the flat bottomed square forend. It just sits in the shooting table in the hide waiting patiently.  Now after it's full service and new seals and valve at the front for filling, it is ready for many more outings to come.

[Morkin]

GOOD WRITE UP WALKER 570, I went last evening , or late afternoon , and sat there and my first visiter came after 45 minutes, but similar , I had a buzzard swoop down and take the Furry only minutes after I shot it. Things must be hungry🤔👍

[Sciurus]

This week, I have been busy responding to a flurry of grey sightings in my area reported on our website. This involves thanking the reporter and getting someone local to deal with the offending squirrel where possible. We ask that any sightings include a postcode or OS ref number.
I did have to smile at the last report “ a grey squirrel was seen in a tree on the path between A to B, just above the dead sheep!” The footpath was also only 4 miles long….

One sighting was in a small urban wood owned by a local charity, a quick email to the Estate Manager and permission was granted to shoot with an air rifle . A good result as we had always had problems with greys from the ‘Establishment’ next door.

Out this morning, I went back to the start of the red zone, where this year it has been a constant battle to keep the greys out. It was drizzling and a miserable day. I started in the garden of the hotel as usual and as usual there was a grey on sentry duty in the same tree and as usual it beggared off before I could get within range. Turning back, I got a signal in a tall pine and spotted another grey, by the time I had unslipped the .410, it had moved into a clump of branches, I couldn’t see it but a quick bang into the clump, shifted it further up the trunk another bang shifted into sight, bang and it finally dropped. A female.

I did the usual route into the woodland above and didn’t see any more greys, so hopefully, we might finally be getting on top of them. I did however see a single red in the same area Hawkeye Mice shot the first grey of the day 2 weeks ago. I haven’t seen any reds in this spot before, so hopefully they are spreading wider.

On the way home, I called into the new permission- a lovely wood, right next to the busy ‘Establishment’, where people were  constantly coming and going. So I would have to be really discrete. I had only gone a few feet and a grey ran up a small sapling 20 ft in front of me. By the time I had unslipped it had disappeared, but  I didn’t see it go. No problem, it was now sitting nicely in a large beech behind me. A quick crouch behind the trigger sticks, psst, thud my 177 did the business and down dropped an adult male with none of the usual theatricals. Its a long time since I had used the Daystate, I had forgotten how satisfying it is to use the air rifle compared the lump of the Mossberg with a Hushpower drain pipe on the end.

At the end of the wood, I saw a grey run through the treetops followed by another and then into a neighbouring garden. I moved closer and set up the trigger sticks and waited for them to return. It was only a minute or two and they were back, unfortunately they were feeling frisky and rarely stopped still, if they did, there was no safe backstop. Very soon it began rain heavier, my glasses steamed up and the telescopic lens just glazed over, I couldn’t see a thing! A quick wipe and it just filled with rain. Time to go home. The greys will be there next time, with the promise of a steady supply from the ‘Establishment’ next door.

 

 

[Mice!]

3 hours ago, Sciurus said:

did however see a single red in the same area Hawkeye Mice shot the first grey of the day 2 weeks ago. I haven’t seen any reds in this spot before, so hopefully they are spreading wider.

Brilliant mate, let's hope those reds breed and move all through the woods 👍👍

And good shooting,  much more precise with the Pfft gun 😉

[Mice!]

Well I was out last night after dark, it was surprising how light it was despite being 19:30 with light cloud reflecting the light and half a moon peeking through, I put a big repaired feeder back out at big wood, probably going to go away from ply wood, it's easy to work with but not lasting like it used to.

Glad to say a lot of replanting has gone on, so it doesn't quite look like the Somme any more.

Refilled that feeder and the small one by it, then headed off to two others, one was hammered and the other is getting used which was what I expected,  so some shooting to come 👍

[Morkin]

I had a look out this afternoon about 3_4.30 and had one female of my feeder near the river , seems very quiet there at the moment🤔 I did have a few there last year and not alot of woods close by,but I bet they will turn up soon👍👈

[Morkin]

Had a look at another area on the farm which I shot last year, and stayed a little while , which produced 1 male but I missed the second , the pellet hit a stick, but that stick has gone 👍, THANKS FOR READING🤔