squirrel control

[Sciurus]

AVB, I think this is a case of being “brain” dead but the other vital organs continue for a few minutes as everything shuts down. If you poked it in the eye with a stick, you would get not reaction.

I have seen this happen occasionally when culling in a trap, so like you put another pellet in the brain (or heart and lungs from point blank range).

They are very tough critters.

Keep up the good work.

[Fisheruk]

On 09/11/2020 at 15:07, AVB said:

I am a novice air gunner and I only shoot squirrels in the garden at moment and having quite a bit of success. However today I hit one at about 20m (.22 springer). It jumped very high when I hit it and then twitched a lot on the ground before falling still. Assuming it was I dead I walked to it only to find it still breathing which I was upset about (I dispatched it with a shot through the top of the head). The shot was well placed very slightly just below the ear and had passed right through the head. I thought this was the right place to shoot them so interested to known why death wasn’t quicker. 

Yes, they are very tough, some seem to have huge resources of adrenaline. I really wouldn’t want to try and shoot them beyond 25m with sub 12 because you will get too many runners. I far prefer to use more power like FAC air, or .22lr, or 17HMR. Whatever is suitable for the land you are on. There is no such thing as overkill. Dead is dead and our job is to dispatch as humanely as possible.

[Walker570]

Nothing dies INSTANTLY, not even a head shot. You did the right thing. As Fisheruk says keep your shots within 20yrds, I would even say 15 yards for body shots. Even hit with a 22RF at that distance they will often make it for a few yards before expiring.  I would attempt to shoot head shots as often as you can. Set your rifle up for this and know where it shoots from 10 to 25yrds.  A calibrated scope helps here.

[Sciurus]

Another murky and warm morning, perfect for the thermal and a bit of grey control at an Outward Bound Centre.

I have often shot in their woods but this time I was allowed around the hall and cabins which were closed due to lockdown.

The first grey was on guard duty in the car park and duly hightailed it before I could the gun out of the car. 100 yds further down the drive, a second grey was spotted in the boughs and was left on permanent guard duty. 

I then met up with the Estate Manager with his 20 bore and we spotted yet another grey in the boughs watching over the track. It was out of range for my .410 but the 20bore completely knocked it out of the tree.

Red Squirrels are occasionally spotted on this estate, so In the next coppice, a small squirrel was spotted crossing into a larch, but we couldn’t positively ID it. It was certainly greyish but it ran like a red and we didn’t see a halo. The pulsar picked up the squirrel in the foliage but we couldn’t see it with binos. We tried the old trick of banging sticks on the trunk and throwing up sticks but it wouldn’t shift so we gave it the benefit of the doubt and moved on. The manager said he would check the coppice out again tomorrow.

Half an hour later, a grey was spotted running up another larch right to the top and disappeared. Getting into position, I put a shot into the top to move it on and the 20bore brought it down as leapt into the next tree. 

We continued for another half an hour but saw no more.

Only 3 greys removed but another  pleasant morning out. The manager was so impressed with the thermal, that it is now on his Christmas wish list.

 

 

 

[Walker570]

Nice one

[Morkin]

I wood just like to say can't agree more with the 20_25 yard for sub12 air rifle ,I use 177 or 20 at 20 yard ish I personally get better results, I've been setting up feed stations the last few years with very good results .Just like to say also your outings make very good reading Thanks all and keep atum 

[Fisheruk]

47 minutes ago, Morkin said:

I wood just like to say can't agree more with the 20_25 yard for sub12 air rifle ,I use 177 or 20 at 20 yard ish I personally get better results, I've been setting up feed stations the last few years with very good results .Just like to say also your outings make very good reading Thanks all and keep atum 

Great to see your interest in tree rats. As you cull any in your area don’t forget to add them to the Grey Squirrel 2020 running cull total. 👍

[Morkin]

11 hours ago, Fisheruk said:

Great to see your interest in tree rats. As you cull any in your area don’t forget to add them to the Grey Squirrel 2020 running cull total. 👍

Thanks for that may I just ask what site to look for 2020 full total Thanks for help and replying

[Fisheruk]

5 hours ago, Morkin said:

Thanks for that may I just ask what site to look for 2020 full total Thanks for help and replying

It’s this site, just look for the forum other shooting, vermin control and you will see the thread for Grey Squirrels 2020 cull totals

[Mice!]

Four new feeders up today,  its surprisingly difficult finding areas with clear lines to shoot, hopefully the squirrels will be on or near them next week sitting up nicely when I have a walk around..

I only saw 5 today but there was a cold wind blowing. 

I just need to find them again 😆😆

[Sciurus]

20 hours ago, Mice! said:

Four new feeders up today,  its surprisingly difficult finding areas with clear lines to shoot, hopefully the squirrels will be on or near them next week sitting up nicely when I have a walk around..

I only saw 5 today but there was a cold wind blowing. 

I just need to find them again 😆😆

Great stuff, I like it.

With 4 more feeders up, it will give you some nice walk round shooting as well sitting at the larger feeders.

With the lockdown, there are certainly less people walking about for us to avoid and hopefully you are able to stay out longer.

I agree, it’s very hard on public land to find suitable spots for the feeder and hide, which is also away from the footpaths and discovery.

A few years ago, I put up a feeder and shot it for a while but months later I am blowed if I can find the spot!

The greys are making a reappearance around here again. (You obviously weren’t feeding them enough!)😂

[Walker570]

Yes, just checked my 2019 diary and this week there was an increase in movement to food. I have had two in my wood which I consider a squirrel free zone, in the last 10 days or so, both trying to get at the peanuts in the live catch cages.

Putting the cameras out this week on all my main feeders to monitor activity levels.

[Mice!]

What a difference a week makes, I went up to the big wood this morning,  waited 15 minutes in the car then headed in, I'd say 90% of the leaves were off the oaks and things looked very different, very open.

I'd done some pruning to sit under a big holly tree and I'm glad I did, with the leaves off the shadows had gone.

I spent the first half an hour with a few little robins for company,  they seemed to be seeing how close they could get without being seen.

Around half 7 the wood woke up, Nuthatch's appeared and a wren popped up to sing to me, 

This is the view from under the holly, then the problem came, a big buzzard circled around above me then landed in the trees behind feeder!! I thought that was it, but a pair of rooks turned up and chased the buzzard off.

The small birds hadn't seemed bothered at all obviously knowing they were safe, the woodpecker had arrived along with great tits and coal tits.

I was expecting the morning to be a wash but then heard a squirrel calling softly to my right, I looked and spotted it in a big Sycamore and thought ok, that vanished then a few minutes later from the left of the feeder a squirrel came down a trunk and onto the floor out of sight?

I'm waiting expecting it to come onto the feeder but it showed up further to the left rooting around on the floor, then sat up and started eating,  it was sat relaxed and happy. 

Spot the squirrel?

I managed to put a pellet between the branches and it's fair to say the squirrel dropped on the spot, just collapsed with barely a twitch. 

As he fell.

He was hit from this side, still got the acorn in his mouth.

Zoomed in to show the gap, he just stopped in the wrong place. 

The other squirrel in the Sycamore showed up a couple of times and a pair playing chase me around an oak behind me but nothing else showed.

I gave it till 9am hoping the circling buzzard might come and take the squirrel but it didn't unfortunately. 

View from the feeder, it looks open but the buzzard didn't see me, a magpie was hoping about unconcerned and the woodpecker seemed quite happy. 

Looking up through the holly, with the little robin looking back.

I popped to the other feeder in the wooded strip, the owners have asked me to put up another feeder as their seeing squirrels in another spot, it probably won't do much but I'll play along,  I checked the feeder and it's been hammered again   probably two thirds down since last Wednesday so I'll say the squirrels are coming back onto the feeders. 

[Mice!]

7 hours ago, Sciurus said:

Great stuff, I like it.

With 4 more feeders up, it will give you some nice walk round shooting as well sitting at the larger feeders.

With the lockdown, there are certainly less people walking about for us to avoid and hopefully you are able to stay out longer.

I agree, it’s very hard on public land to find suitable spots for the feeder and hide, which is also away from the footpaths and discovery.

A few years ago, I put up a feeder and shot it for a while but months later I am blowed if I can find the spot!

The greys are making a reappearance around here again. (You obviously weren’t feeding them enough!)😂

This spot is semi private mate, it's more a case of being discreet,  everyone is on  board but they don't want any grief if that makes sense, lockdown has given me a few weeks to wander freely but I was trying to put the feeders up where I can still use them in the future,  and like you say I just have to find them again now 😄

Hopefully bag a good few over the next few weeks.

[Walker570]

Nice report. I'm of the same mind. Every morning weather permitting, even some damp ones as a couple of hides are weather proof, I intend being out from day break.  I do have seven driven days booked in Dec so will not be out on those

That gives me 40 days so one a each outing would get me back close to last yeats total.

[Sciurus]

Great report and photos. With all that hard work, you deserve some action.

[AVB]

On 10/11/2020 at 17:41, Fisheruk said:

Yes, they are very tough, some seem to have huge resources of adrenaline. I really wouldn’t want to try and shoot them beyond 25m with sub 12 because you will get too many runners. I far prefer to use more power like FAC air, or .22lr, or 17HMR. Whatever is suitable for the land you are on. There is no such thing as overkill. Dead is dead and our job is to dispatch as humanely as possible.

Thanks. My garden is 35m deep and I had assumed that my gun would be lethal at that range but taking your advice I will need to rethink my strategy. At the moment I can open the door, brace myself against the frame and take a nice shot without venturing outside. I’ve marked out 25m now and won’t take any shots beyond that range. I am building some feeders so I can bring them into where I want them to be rather where they want to be. 

[Fisheruk]

24 minutes ago, AVB said:

Thanks. My garden is 35m deep and I had assumed that my gun would be lethal at that range but taking your advice I will need to rethink my strategy. At the moment I can open the door, brace myself against the frame and take a nice shot without venturing outside. I’ve marked out 25m now and won’t take any shots beyond that range. I am building some feeders so I can bring them into where I want them to be rather where they want to be. 

If you can put a post up in your garden, or have a suitable tree then a simple squirrel feeder with a lift up lid would bring them nicely into range.

 

Now you see it, now you don’t!

[ratchers]

Was out yesterday for the first time in a while and decided to split the day up.

First off in the morning I would take the FLIR and hopefully find some greys, well it worked but not quite as I

anticipated, spotted six but not with the thermal but flitting about on the ground, annoyingly they kept out of

range and when in range I could never get a clear shot, there was always some brash or branch in the way.

It went better in the afternoon when after two hours watching the feeding boxes I got two in half an hour,two adult

females, topped the feeders up ready for next time.

[Walker570]

1 hour ago, Fisheruk said:

If you can put a post up in your garden, or have a suitable tree then a simple squirrel feeder with a lift up lid would bring them nicely into range.

 

Now you see it, now you don’t!

Yup!   That's the way to do it.  I also drill some 1/4 inch holes in the front of mine and this allows small birds to come and help themselves but also act as decoys. Tree rat very quickly learns to lift the lid and I ahve shot a couple actually inside the feeder when the feed has been low. I actually put a brick by the feeder now to pop on top of the lid as I approach to stop any escape.  That is when the 1/4 inch holes come in handy because tree rat will look out of the hole and meet a lump of lead coming the other way.

[Mice!]

I was sat this morning having a brew listening to the wind thinking I should go to bed but really want to check the feeders, so decided a quick walk wouldn't hurt?

Arrived on site ten minutes later to be told one feeder was probably empty and there have been squirrels around a couple, happy days.

The first feeder was almost empty, the second two had possibly been used, the tits were certainly enjoying themselves, the fourth has been vandalised already!

Not been up a week, so that's getting wired up next week.

I managed two this morning, one is in the brambles I took the other out of a pine, talk about windy, the tree the squirrel was in was rocking, the tree I was leaning on was rocking, the squirrels tail was blowing back over its head, but it didn't look concerned at all, lots of waiting hoping for a pause in the wind before getting a shot off.

I was aiming a good inch left of the strike and expected the shot to go a touch more right, but it landed with a resounding thud! You just don't get that when there on the deck.

Only saw maybe 6 in the couple of hours I was out, and given the wind and sheets of rain I was surprised to see them.

Thursday is supposed to be cold and calmer so bring it on.

Do BSA's still work ok after they get wet?

[Walker570]

I had two hours in a hide this morning ...8 till 10 and a pair spent almost all of that time racing bakwards and forwards across the clear area bypassing my flip top and the pheasant feeder.  Not offering a shot. They obviously had other interests.  Went to just pick up the chip from one of my cameras at 2pm and there was one sat on top of the flip top..... not sure but it could have been giving me the finger.  Camera showed he/it had at least two friends visiting as well.  Thursday morning looks good.  Still a ton of food about, even the pheasants are not hitting the feeders.

[Mice!]

20 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

Went to just pick up the chip from one of my cameras at 2pm and there was one sat on top of the flip top..... not sure but it could have been giving me the finger.  Camera showed he/it had at least two friends visiting as well.  Thursday morning looks good.  Still a ton of food about, even the pheasants are not hitting the feeders.

Yes it was 🤣🤣.

The ones I saw about were going full tilt, the two I got moved up off the ground when I approached,  that was a mistake they won't repeat. 

[Sciurus]

I have had an excellent week, after a month of hiding, the greys are pairing up and showing their faces.

On Monday, 2 of us were out with .410s, thermals and experienced whippet, it was blowing a bitter cold wind. We were out at my favourite Stately Home, with Woods sloping down to the lake shore. (Mice shot his first Posh grey there.)

The place was in lockdown, so no pressure to get out by 9am. The first and usually best wood was completely empty but bitterly cold. Moving down to the next wood, we were sheltered and within minutes the first grey was spotted and shot. Nearly all my woods are ancient with huge beeches and oaks with large cracks and holes for greys to hide. Our method of grey control is to surround the tree where a grey is spotted and shoot it. Sounds simple but the reality is it has often disappeared and often 10mins has gone by before a faint signal is obtained, then by manouvering round either a clear shot can be taken or the grey makes a break for it and is shot. Often it is too high in the trees for the .410, but a warning shot soon gets it going!

On Monday, each time we shot one, we would  rescan the area and inevitably it’s mate was spotted and shot. 

We finished at 11, with 7 shot 3 pairs and 1 juvenile (all well fed).

After a well deserved bacon butty at Greggs, we moved on to a property that we had never been to before which was in ‘Red’ country. It is usually controlled by other members but one had moved away and there had been recent grey sightings. We had probably left it too late, we had a one mile slog up and down a steep hill and only saw one grey. It was at the top of a larch but the banking was so steep that Peter was nearly level with it and it was easily shot. We finished at 1.30, I was knackered but we did see 2 reds. We will return next week early one morning.

One of the many waterfalls on the new permission.

Tuesday morning was murky and we set out in my nearest wood with the trainee whippet. This wood is one the most popular with tourists (not unusual to see Japanese dragging suitcases!) on the way to a beauty spot, but there was no one about, so we did areas we usually have to leave. It was a repeat of the day before, They were difficult to spot, but all paired up. We shot one as it disappeared into a drey and as we picked it up, it’s mate suddenly appeared and was shot as it headed into the drey. At 11am it was suddenly full of dog walkers and joggers so we finished with eight (4 breeding pairs.)

This morning, it was pouring but I was determined to get a grey that had been taunting me in a local park for about 2 months reasoning that due to bad weather and lockdown, local dog walkers would have a lie in. Taking the Daystate, I spotted the grey running in the canopy, it stopped long enough in a fork for me to get a head shot, then I had to run to pick it up before a dog walker came round a corner- not easy when you are carrying a thermal, binos, air rifle and shooting sticks!

Total 17 and it’s only Wednesday. Tomorrow  the forecast is good, so I hope to evade domestic duties and get out again.

[Walker570]

My Forest Ranger took time off from preparing my evening meal and went for a check round our traps in the wood. She saw a flick of movement and froze.  Two young tree rats began chasing each other around the big old oak in the middle of our wood and then a larger one appeared from under some laurels and joined them. Checking the diary there was an influx about this time last year.  Right at dusk i drove down and tipped a bucket of peanuts and bird seed at the base of the oak which is 20yrds from one of my permanent cabins.  Just need to crawl from beneath the sheets in the morning and get down there before light.