squirrel control

[Mice!]

2 hours ago, sam triple said:

Managed to get hide and feeder up yesterday 

Great set up, but I'd put something behind your spinners so you aren't shooting into the tree.

But a great tree, I've watched loads of good videos where feeders are on big trees with great results and the pheasant feeder should help.

 

[sam triple]

19 minutes ago, Mice! said:

Great set up, but I'd put something behind your spinners so you aren't shooting into the tree.

But a great tree, I've watched loads of good videos where feeders are on big trees with great results and the pheasant feeder should help.

 

Thanks but yes  you’re right I should try and put something up behind the spinner got some more ally plate coming so I’ll screw some on to the feeder , the wood is full of big trees , beech , ash , etc the feeder is one of many around our release pen I was figuring it’ll be easier shooting them like this than trying to stalk them around the feeders , mate put a trail cam up earlier so that’ll give us a rough idea over a course of a week of how many are using it , farm next door trapped over 250 squirrels 

Edited July 4, 2021 by sam triple

[Mice!]

18 minutes ago, sam triple said:

Thanks but yes  you’re right I should try and put something up behind the spinner got some more ally plate coming so I’ll screw some on to the feeder , the wood is full of big trees , beech , ash , etc the feeder is one of many around our release pen I was figuring it’ll be easier shooting them like this than trying to stalk them around the feeders , mate put a trail cam up earlier so that’ll give us a rough idea over a course of a week of how many are using it , farm next door trapped over 250 squirrels 

Yeah you'll definitely get more this way than trying to stalk when there is so much cover around.  But things do often go quiet on the feeders around August and September when the natural food comes available,  although things seem to be behind this year.

[sam triple]

4 hours ago, Mice! said:

Yeah you'll definitely get more this way than trying to stalk when there is so much cover around.  But things do often go quiet on the feeders around August and September when the natural food comes available,  although things seem to be behind this year.

Hi , there’s plenty of natural food about at the moment the wood is on an arable farm , but why go hunting for it when it’s given to you ! 

[Mice!]

39 minutes ago, sam triple said:

Hi , there’s plenty of natural food about at the moment the wood is on an arable farm , but why go hunting for it when it’s given to you ! 

Its when the hazelnuts and such like start to ripen,  then you tend to struggle on the feeders, like kids in a sweet shop.

[sam triple]

9 minutes ago, Mice! said:

Its when the hazelnuts and such like start to ripen,  then you tend to struggle on the feeders, like kids in a sweet shop.

Yes there’s plenty of those in the wood too 2 inside of the pen , a few big old yew trees I think the only things that aren’t in there are Sycamores and pines 

[Mice!]

So the squirrels had a grace period,  free food with no one shooting at them, end of last week was preparation and this week I'm back on it.

 

when I left work this morning it wasn't raining much!! If I hadn't have gone this morning it would have meant only two sessions this week so off I went.

 

It was a very dull damp morning,  the rain was light but never stopped,  I was under my brolley but somehow not that comfortable,  probably because I was trying to keep everything dry.

 

There were birds everywhere this morning,  my guess is two new broods of blue tits, and they were camped out at the feeder, along with Nuthatch's and blackbirds and Robin's plus finches.

 

The first squirrel just appeared on the feeder, with everything moving in the rain your eye is drawn all over, no real sounds could be heard over the dripping and rustling of the leaves, but at least the ground wasn't crunchy.

 

The squirrel just sat on the feeder lid frozen, so after maybe ten seconds I shot it.

 

I'd waited probably an hour for that one, then maybe 45 minutes later same again,  me watching the birds and as if by magic up pops number two,  I'm pretty sure they both came from below and behind me along the ground then up onto the feeder. 

 

This one took some food from under the lid and sat obligingly, I let it grab another morsel as I wasn't fully ready with not seeing it arrive, I was watching a young Robin, Pfft whack flop. 

Big buck and a female. 

 

When I retrieved the camera last week it was full, squirrels pretty much all day, dawn till dusk, I've still not been through all the images but from what I've seen there were between one and three squirrels at a time.

 

I was expecting more but I think the wet morning had made them decide to stay in bed, this was backed up when I went out this afternoon to check another feeder a few minutes drive away,  camera went up Thursday, first squirrels arrived around 4pm ish, after that its squirrels and Jays all day, the first squirrel didn't arrive till 7:45 though today,  around the time the rain eased off.

 

I've set the hide I ready for the morning so I can just turn up and shoot, added a log for the squirrels to sit on under the feeder, and one for me in the hide.

Gave the gun a wipe down and left her to sunbathe and dry through the day. 

So ready for the morning and hopefully more squirrels to come, then off to big wood in the afternoon to prep there as well.

[old man]

Another blank morning yesterday. I arrived in the drizzle at 07.10 and left after periods of heavy stuff at midday.

Both feeders empty but not a sign of a tree rat.

Must try harder?

[sam triple]

9 hours ago, Mice! said:

So the squirrels had a grace period,  free food with no one shooting at them, end of last week was preparation and this week I'm back on it.

 

when I left work this morning it wasn't raining much!! If I hadn't have gone this morning it would have meant only two sessions this week so off I went.

 

It was a very dull damp morning,  the rain was light but never stopped,  I was under my brolley but somehow not that comfortable,  probably because I was trying to keep everything dry.

 

There were birds everywhere this morning,  my guess is two new broods of blue tits, and they were camped out at the feeder, along with Nuthatch's and blackbirds and Robin's plus finches.

 

The first squirrel just appeared on the feeder, with everything moving in the rain your eye is drawn all over, no real sounds could be heard over the dripping and rustling of the leaves, but at least the ground wasn't crunchy.

 

The squirrel just sat on the feeder lid frozen, so after maybe ten seconds I shot it.

 

I'd waited probably an hour for that one, then maybe 45 minutes later same again,  me watching the birds and as if by magic up pops number two,  I'm pretty sure they both came from below and behind me along the ground then up onto the feeder. 

 

This one took some food from under the lid and sat obligingly, I let it grab another morsel as I wasn't fully ready with not seeing it arrive, I was watching a young Robin, Pfft whack flop. 

Big buck and a female. 

 

When I retrieved the camera last week it was full, squirrels pretty much all day, dawn till dusk, I've still not been through all the images but from what I've seen there were between one and three squirrels at a time.

 

I was expecting more but I think the wet morning had made them decide to stay in bed, this was backed up when I went out this afternoon to check another feeder a few minutes drive away,  camera went up Thursday, first squirrels arrived around 4pm ish, after that its squirrels and Jays all day, the first squirrel didn't arrive till 7:45 though today,  around the time the rain eased off.

 

I've set the hide I ready for the morning so I can just turn up and shoot, added a log for the squirrels to sit on under the feeder, and one for me in the hide.

Gave the gun a wipe down and left her to sunbathe and dry through the day. 

So ready for the morning and hopefully more squirrels to come, then off to big wood in the afternoon to prep there as well.

Couple of nice shots how far is your hide from the feeder?

[Walker570]

That'll work.

[ratchers]

Was back on the wheat feeder this moring waiting for the first customer, and after 3/4 hour the only diner of the morning turned up, I let him enjoy a mouthful before he had to pay the bill.

I have a peanut feeder in the same wood and checked on that, a 1/4 down and I only filled it a few days ago so back tomorrow morning on that one.

[Mice!]

6 hours ago, sam triple said:

Couple of nice shots how far is your hide from the feeder?

Cheers Sam, the set up in this strip of wood is 18mtrs,( my feeders are all between 18-25mtrs often dictated by the ground) I sit behind some stuff I've positioned to further obscure me, it restricts my shooting options but when they go onto the feeder or the ground around it its fine. 

I used to be in front of what I'm now behind, I was a bit to close with not enough cover, this works a treat.

This morning was perfect weather wise, but strangely quiet, I think this was because there was a sparrow hawk with young going through the wood screeching,  it didn't stop the pigeons making a right racket clapping above me. 

Took almost an hour for the first squirrel to come in, but it was twitchy,  sniffing at the new log before sitting up on it, PFFT CRACK number one. 

The next came in at almost exactly 7:45 30 mins later, which was the same time the day before on the camera,  this one was again twitchy,  I've never thought of squirrels being bothered by something new but they clearly were, after having a sniff around it again sat up on the log Pfft whack down hard, number two. 

Bit of a lull, the magpies were kicking off big time, every other bird in the wood was in full alarm mode, the hawk must have been sat up above me somewhere. 

A third came in, I just caught sight of movement,  then a flickering tail, it didn't show again,  the dead squirrel or the log or both clearly unnerved it so I went and moved it. 

I thought I'll give it till 9, I had plenty of squirrels on camera and was expecting at least 5 but it didn't seem like it was going to happen today.

Probably five to nine, a squirrel came charging towards the feeder,  no stealth like the last three, straight up onto the feeder,  back down sniffing at the log, up down, circle around before settling above the feeder and starting to bark, it definitely wasn't happy. 

I couldn't quite get a shot, I was also sat on a log, I managed to scrunch down a bit, side on WHACK, it did the leg grab, hung then dropped and ended up 5 or 6mtrs from the feeder, shot clean through the head but still the nerves pushed it to escape. 

With that one coming in I had to give it a bit longer... but nothing else showed up, photo and pack up, I managed to see the Spar and two chicks before I left as well 🙂

Three big bucks.

3 hours ago, Walker570 said:

That'll work.

It did indeed 😉

 

[sam triple]

2 hours ago, Mice! said:

Cheers Sam, the set up in this strip of wood is 18mtrs,( my feeders are all between 18-25mtrs often dictated by the ground) I sit behind some stuff I've positioned to further obscure me, it restricts my shooting options but when they go onto the feeder or the ground around it its fine. 

I used to be in front of what I'm now behind, I was a bit to close with not enough cover, this works a treat.

This morning was perfect weather wise, but strangely quiet, I think this was because there was a sparrow hawk with young going through the wood screeching,  it didn't stop the pigeons making a right racket clapping above me. 

Took almost an hour for the first squirrel to come in, but it was twitchy,  sniffing at the new log before sitting up on it, PFFT CRACK number one. 

The next came in at almost exactly 7:45 30 mins later, which was the same time the day before on the camera,  this one was again twitchy,  I've never thought of squirrels being bothered by something new but they clearly were, after having a sniff around it again sat up on the log Pfft whack down hard, number two. 

Bit of a lull, the magpies were kicking off big time, every other bird in the wood was in full alarm mode, the hawk must have been sat up above me somewhere. 

A third came in, I just caught sight of movement,  then a flickering tail, it didn't show again,  the dead squirrel or the log or both clearly unnerved it so I went and moved it. 

I thought I'll give it till 9, I had plenty of squirrels on camera and was expecting at least 5 but it didn't seem like it was going to happen today.

Probably five to nine, a squirrel came charging towards the feeder,  no stealth like the last three, straight up onto the feeder,  back down sniffing at the log, up down, circle around before settling above the feeder and starting to bark, it definitely wasn't happy. 

I couldn't quite get a shot, I was also sat on a log, I managed to scrunch down a bit, side on WHACK, it did the leg grab, hung then dropped and ended up 5 or 6mtrs from the feeder, shot clean through the head but still the nerves pushed it to escape. 

With that one coming in I had to give it a bit longer... but nothing else showed up, photo and pack up, I managed to see the Spar and two chicks before I left as well 🙂

Three big bucks.

It did indeed 😉

 

👍👍

[ratchers]

Back to the peanut feeder this morning and there was a tree rat on a nearby pine which scurried off when he saw me.

Only had to wait 15 minutes for one to start his breakfast, but not for long. And that was it, only the one in 3 hours.

[Mice!]

1 hour ago, ratchers said:

Back to the peanut feeder this morning and there was a tree rat on a nearby pine which scurried off when he saw me.

Only had to wait 15 minutes for one to start his breakfast, but not for long. And that was it, only the one in 3 hours.

Same for me today, shot a new location at Big wood, one came in and down the feeder tree perfectly, fell off the feeder and rolled away down the slope,  another came in 10 minutes or so later, took one look at the dead squirrel and wasn't seen again.

Nothing else for the next two hours. 

[sam triple]

Went and had a look yesterday morning only saw 2 squirrels and they were at a pheasant feeder , checked my feeder and something has been on it previously, back tomorrow for another look 

[Walker570]

Very short on targets around here at the moment so I pulled a flip top which was looking shabby for repair.

I had a bright idea last week and had the top three levels of an IBC sitting down in my wood.  I cut the corner off, about a foot either way and just one level(see photos)   I then drilled a hole in the top end of each section for some big screws if I can use them on a tree ...alternative easy to use a strap as well.  I then screwed two length of two by one along the bottom rails (see photos) and then the flip top just sat on these with four screws from inside fixing it in place.  Two pieces of scrap timber across the front and the jobs a good un.  Possible to get eight brackets out of a n IBC.

Note the holes in the front where the little birds can help themselves and act as decoys, also just visible under the lid is a gap I leave so any tree rats new to flip tops can get a sniff, leading them to lift the lid.

Yes, I know the woodwork is a bit uneven but I honestly do not think the trre rats will notice that.

This should make a very frim fixing better than wood which will eventually rot or give way.

[Walker570]

More ideas... In my own wood I have replaced the original small stands for my live catch cages with full size tables.

I had badgers raiding any food on the floor and these tables stop all of that.  The live catch cages are adapted with peanut cages behind the treddle and I set these on the table end on to my cabins. You can just see one cabin under the laurels in the photo.  All reclaimed timber mainly from pallets.  The cover over the entrance to the cages is to stop large birds getting in, mainly pheasants.  I still have to release the occasional woodpecker. The traps are visited three times a day.

 

[ditchman]

you are like a cross between.....Rambo....Robo-cop.....Ray Eat em all Mears.......El Lobo Squirrelo......and Barry Bucknal...

keep it coming

[Mice!]

My first blank today since the start of June, I've had 15 squirrels off this feeder since then, the feed looked like it had dropped a touch, but I'm not sure how full it was.

The first hour was practically a write off,  I glimpsed a Tawny owl as I arrived and for the next hour the blackbirds were going nuts, it must have just been sat up and behind the feeder. 

Then things quietened down but no squirrels showed, I was nodding off by the time I thought right pack up.

The fella I gave a couple of squirrels to a few weeks ago was outside the wood picking stuff when I left, he said the squirrels were very tasty, he seemed disappointed when I said I'd got none.

[Sciurus]

12 hours ago, Mice! said:

My first blank today since the start of June, I've had 15 squirrels off this feeder since then, the feed looked like it had dropped a touch, but I'm not sure

They could be on the hazel now. 

How do I know? There was a b squirrel in my garden yesterday raiding a hazel I had coppiced.😡

[ratchers]

Three this morning, two off the wheat feeder and one off the peanuts, I then had a wander about the wood but saw nothing.

[Mice!]

11 hours ago, Sciurus said:

They could be on the hazel now. 

How do I know? There was a b squirrel in my garden yesterday raiding a hazel I had coppiced.😡

Could be mate,

I had a big mature female this morning from big wood, I wasn't hopeful because I hadn't topped this feeder up last week, there were people about and I was a sweaty mess so I left it.

Probably nearly an hour this morning when two squirrels showed up, they weren't subtle with the branches bouncing around but still took a good while to come to the feeder.

But then sat up above in the tree next to the feeder tree,  I managed to thread a pellet through the Holly and hit it perfectly,  the second squirrel simply vanished. 

In at the ear on the left side, exit below the right ear at the base of the skull.

It took some finding in the cover, but was probably only 5mtrs down the embankment. 

I then walked to the other feeder to top up and collect the camera. 

Squirrels,  normally a pair showing on and off so I'll add another feeder here as it's only a small one.

I found a young blue tit in the feeder, it had obviously gone in through the feed point, sat looking at me then flew off into the trees.

[Fisheruk]

Another from a woodland feeder this morning. It was having a mating scamper around the trunk of the pine before it finally decided to come to the feeder. 42gr of lead made certain it won’t be producing from the amorous pursuit.

 

[Rimfireboy]

On 03/03/2021 at 10:24, Mice! said:

@Sciurus yesterday was warm compared with today mate, and it's like pea soup out there, I couldn't decide,  shoot or not? Will they come out in this fog, and with it being so cold.

But the gas ran out in the caravan last night so I was as well staying up to sort it anyway.

Took nearly an hour but one came steaming in to the feeder, which was nearly empty when I arrived,  sat just where I wanted it but was a tad twitchy,  I let her eat a few nuts which settled her down, but she didn't finish the third.

The second squirrel was seriously unlucky,  I'd already decided I was packing up at 8:30 but I couldn't feel my toes, 8:18 and I'm trying to look up into the canopy from under my brolley,  movement,  the first had come from behind me and so did this one.

I eased the gun into position and watched as it charged down the feeder tree, no messing,  onto the floor, sniffed the dead squirrel then sat up with a nut from the little pile I'd put on the floor, Pfft whack. 

Both of today's squirrels flipped around a couple of times where as yesterday they just dropped. Buck and a doe.

Picture with the thermal for comparison,  I've been changing the colour settings a lot lately,  I'm finding that different colours work better in different conditions,  for me at least.

Today's two in the middle, yesterday's look really small, I think of bigger squirrels being older more mature animal's??

Have a good day folks.

That’s extra value alright 😀👍