squirrel control

[Mice!]

On to this morning, late call to go to the strip wood, I'll admit I was lazy and didn't take the brolley, I got in the wood and almost straight away the cock pheasant started clucking while he strutted around, then two squirrels started up, in front and to the side.

They seemed to be barking for quite some time, but didn't go anywhere, I think they were after the pine cones, they kept coming and going making noise the whole time.
I managed to drop one when it stopped but the next one was playing around running all over the place, but staying in the same three or four trees, it was lucky but not lucky enough, I had two shots hit twigs and yet it stayed, barking all the time.
Then she moved onto a clear bough almost to look at me!! Wrong move number two down.

Mating pair, shooting squirrels from trees is always more satisfying but at this time of year hard work.

It was only 7:30 but I was fairly sure I'd see nothing else here, the feed was down to about half way so it hasn't been that busy. 

So off to see if it was the owl on Tuesday that made things quiet. 

That would be this owl, lovely looking Tawny,  thankfully it wasn't being mobbed today but no squirrels showed up either. 

I meant to put a camera up but left it in the car, so next week 👍

[sam triple]

3 this morning off of my feeder 

[old man]

Sitting by 06.30 this morning, first boar within 15 minutes. Second candidate by 07.45 lost in the brambles, left for the night shift.

Nothing then for 4 hours.

[Mice!]

9 hours ago, sam triple said:

3 this morning off of my feeder 

Nicely done 

5 hours ago, old man said:

Sitting by 06.30 this morning, first boar within 15 minutes. Second candidate by 07.45 lost in the brambles, left for the night shift.

Nothing then for 4 hours.

I'm surprised you stuck it out so long? With it being so warm I'm not going out till later in the week, sleeping when its really hot is a pain.

I've topped up 4 feeders this afternoon though, put up three camera's to see what's going on,  I could pretty much tell from the feeders at big wood that that's where the action is.

Three more or less empty feeders,  one had some feed stuck and the squirrels have been trying to get into it,  but Aluminium isn't easy to chew.

Probably shoot Friday morning when its cooler. 

[sam triple]

👍👍👍

[Mice!]

Have a watch of this fellas and listen between 5 & 6 minutes,  he mentions the RSPB having been on the land doing a survey of bird nests, I've heard of the BTO doing surveys before but nobody else.

He says the results are the best yet and likely down to the grey squirrel control. 

[sam triple]

2 hours ago, Mice! said:

Have a watch of this fellas and listen between 5 & 6 minutes,  he mentions the RSPB having been on the land doing a survey of bird nests, I've heard of the BTO doing surveys before but nobody else.

He says the results are the best yet and likely down to the grey squirrel control. 

Someone was talking about this video yesterday at work , he like a lot of people were ignorant to the damage these vermin do 

[Mice!]

7 hours ago, sam triple said:

Someone was talking about this video yesterday at work , he like a lot of people were ignorant to the damage these vermin do 

Most folk are, they just think of them as cute acrobats in parks and gardens. 

[Walker570]

There is no doubt whatsoever that squirrel control aids the success of song birds but it has to be linked with a serious cull on magpies and jays.  As I have said previously, I am convinced that is why my small 10 acre wood is heaving with young birds of all species and joy of joys four young bullfinches this morning,  Keep whacking and stacking our efforts are not bad this year even with the dreaded plague preventing some of you getting out and about as usual.  I am l.most back up to my 2020 figure at this time and still have a area of woodland which should come up with a few double figures. Have to wait for the keeper to cut the rides and round the feeders and put some food out.

The RSPB, Song Nird Trust etc should be pressing for more column inches in papers and get a conversation going.

[old man]

22 hours ago, Mice! said:

Nicely done 

I'm surprised you stuck it out so long? With it being so warm I'm not going out till later in the week, sleeping when its really hot is a pain.

I've topped up 4 feeders this afternoon though, put up three camera's to see what's going on,  I could pretty much tell from the feeders at big wood that that's where the action is.

Three more or less empty feeders,  one had some feed stuck and the squirrels have been trying to get into it,  but Aluminium isn't easy to chew.

Probably shoot Friday morning when its cooler. 

Frustrating but I  hoped for better as I had not been able to go the previous week.

Hey ho, can't win them all? 

[Mice!]

1 hour ago, old man said:

Frustrating but I  hoped for better as I had not been able to go the previous week.

Hey ho, can't win them all? 

At least your gun didn't get wet.

[old man]

22 hours ago, Mice! said:

At least your gun didn't get wet.

Didn't get wet today either bud.

Sat for 4.1/2 hours just for 1 old boar.

I seem to have picked up a bit of a habit change relating to their preferred feeding now from the grain in pheasant feeders in preference to my offerings of kibbled maize, bird seed, sunflower seed and peanuts dripped with a tiny bit of aniseed oil.

Will have to reconsider things maybe.

The one today was shot on the ground at about 8 yds heading toward the pheasant feeder placed right next to my hideaway. On arrival , I saw a squirrel under a different feeder so who really knows?

[sam triple]

44 minutes ago, old man said:

Didn't get wet today either bud.

Sat for 4.1/2 hours just for 1 old boar.

I seem to have picked up a bit of a habit change relating to their preferred feeding now from the grain in pheasant feeders in preference to my offerings of kibbled maize, bird seed, sunflower seed and peanuts dripped with a tiny bit of aniseed oil.

Will have to reconsider things maybe.

The one today was shot on the ground at about 8 yds heading toward the pheasant feeder placed right next to my hideaway. On arrival , I saw a squirrel under a different feeder so who really knows?

Topped mine up with what pheasants are feeding on seemed to work 

[Mice!]

1 hour ago, old man said:

The one today was shot on the ground at about 8 yds heading toward the pheasant feeder placed right next to my hideaway. On arrival , I saw a squirrel under a different feeder so who really knows?

Do like Sam says? I'd ask the keeper if he's added anything to his feed?

But you would think your feed was more appealing?

 

[Mice!]

Make a brew chaps,

So the plan was set, camera's went out Tuesday, feeders topped up with the intention of checking them this morning or afternoon then shooting the busiest feeder Friday morning.

Last night in work was horrid, there just wasn't any air, so I finished an hour early and headed for the woods!

What a difference an hour makes when you can arrive at sunrise 5:10am, the fields were filled with morning mists waiting to be burned off and there wasn't a breathe of wind, 18°C pretty much perfect conditions.

I was in the wood and under the Holly tree by 5:20, five minutes later the noise started, two Jays arrived at the feeder 18mtrs away, the first fell off but then settled to feed, followed by a third, but up above them a grey shape was sliding it's way around the branches. You know your well hidden when Jays are this close but not bothered.

Never fails to amaze me how quickly you notice a bit of movement in the canopy on a still day and this squirrel wasn't bouncing around like they sometimes do, it made it's way down with the Jays giving way and came round the side of the trunk, head down and just stayed there..... ok Whack, thump, not so much as a twitch or blink.... the Jays went nuts screeching and jumping around but didn't leave for a good few minutes, finally the dead squirrel seemed to unsettle them and they took off.

So the plan was check the camera and see what's been coming, give it an hour then head for the other feeder.

But the camera wouldn't turn on? Not sure why, and there always seemed to be a squirrel around plus birds everywhere, looking through the thermal there were spots of heat everywhere, think stars at night!

Probably 45 mins later and number two shows up, straight to the feeder, Pfft crack. And I wouldn't normally have arrived yet 

Birds!! Woodpeckers, stock doves, balls of fluff everywhere.

It was strange, a squirrel would show behind the feeder in the trees, so I'm looking that way when up pops a squirrel from an apparently different direction, three came from the same direction, messed a little but followed the same route, one came from above and behind me.

So two hours, 4 squirrels, a fifth came but went, it wasn't the plan but I'll take it.

3 bucks and 1 doe, the first I shot was by far the biggest and had plenty of ticks.

The smart money said pack up and get to sleep, but I thought go grab the other camera so I know what to do tomorrow.

Back to the car, grab some feed and drop off the squirrels, go on I'll take the gun

Quick walk round and you can feel the heat building as you come around the hill before going back into the woods.

Made my way up and took a peek, nothing around but the feeder front is glowing so something has been on it but been spooked by my crunch crunch approach.

This is the view to the right of the feeder,  you can just make out on the left a little Crest, the ground falls away from here, and on the right of the picture behind the Silver Birch ....

Is a Sweet Chestnut which is a bonus.

So gun out and sticks up and I'm kneeling on my gun bag, at the crest, not the position I want to shoot from but I don't want to disturb things more than I have too.

I spot movement and a squirrel is heading up into the canopy,  it doesn't take long before it makes it's way through the branches and down the tree, onto the feeder,  settles Pfft crack and roll down the hill, straight away the barking starts, but I can't spot it.

It took a while but I caught some movement and it made it's way towards the feeder tree, through the canopy and down again,  went to the ground for a sniff, where the first landed, then back up to the feeder, they have to sit side on on these feeders, so I'm always presented with the same shot, Pfft whack roll down the hill, this might well work out nice in the future because the dead squirrels aren't under the feeder.

I'm really glad now I moved this feeder, another two bucks, both big lads.

I checked the camera and there were three squirrels at the feeder during the morning so I'm happy getting two while I was just popping for a look 😄🙂

I didn't where my over trousers, just my pants tucked into my wellies,  much more comfortable but I had a tick at the sock line 😡😡😡 I hate ticks, no idea how it got down there.

Picked up another camera this afternoon so now I need to look through them and decide if I'm going out tomorrow. 

[sam triple]

13 hours ago, Mice! said:

Make a brew chaps,

So the plan was set, camera's went out Tuesday, feeders topped up with the intention of checking them this morning or afternoon then shooting the busiest feeder Friday morning.

Last night in work was horrid, there just wasn't any air, so I finished an hour early and headed for the woods!

What a difference an hour makes when you can arrive at sunrise 5:10am, the fields were filled with morning mists waiting to be burned off and there wasn't a breathe of wind, 18°C pretty much perfect conditions.

I was in the wood and under the Holly tree by 5:20, five minutes later the noise started, two Jays arrived at the feeder 18mtrs away, the first fell off but then settled to feed, followed by a third, but up above them a grey shape was sliding it's way around the branches. You know your well hidden when Jays are this close but not bothered.

Never fails to amaze me how quickly you notice a bit of movement in the canopy on a still day and this squirrel wasn't bouncing around like they sometimes do, it made it's way down with the Jays giving way and came round the side of the trunk, head down and just stayed there..... ok Whack, thump, not so much as a twitch or blink.... the Jays went nuts screeching and jumping around but didn't leave for a good few minutes, finally the dead squirrel seemed to unsettle them and they took off.

So the plan was check the camera and see what's been coming, give it an hour then head for the other feeder.

But the camera wouldn't turn on? Not sure why, and there always seemed to be a squirrel around plus birds everywhere, looking through the thermal there were spots of heat everywhere, think stars at night!

Probably 45 mins later and number two shows up, straight to the feeder, Pfft crack. And I wouldn't normally have arrived yet 

Birds!! Woodpeckers, stock doves, balls of fluff everywhere.

It was strange, a squirrel would show behind the feeder in the trees, so I'm looking that way when up pops a squirrel from an apparently different direction, three came from the same direction, messed a little but followed the same route, one came from above and behind me.

So two hours, 4 squirrels, a fifth came but went, it wasn't the plan but I'll take it.

3 bucks and 1 doe, the first I shot was by far the biggest and had plenty of ticks.

The smart money said pack up and get to sleep, but I thought go grab the other camera so I know what to do tomorrow.

Back to the car, grab some feed and drop off the squirrels, go on I'll take the gun

Quick walk round and you can feel the heat building as you come around the hill before going back into the woods.

Made my way up and took a peek, nothing around but the feeder front is glowing so something has been on it but been spooked by my crunch crunch approach.

This is the view to the right of the feeder,  you can just make out on the left a little Crest, the ground falls away from here, and on the right of the picture behind the Silver Birch ....

Is a Sweet Chestnut which is a bonus.

So gun out and sticks up and I'm kneeling on my gun bag, at the crest, not the position I want to shoot from but I don't want to disturb things more than I have too.

I spot movement and a squirrel is heading up into the canopy,  it doesn't take long before it makes it's way through the branches and down the tree, onto the feeder,  settles Pfft crack and roll down the hill, straight away the barking starts, but I can't spot it.

It took a while but I caught some movement and it made it's way towards the feeder tree, through the canopy and down again,  went to the ground for a sniff, where the first landed, then back up to the feeder, they have to sit side on on these feeders, so I'm always presented with the same shot, Pfft whack roll down the hill, this might well work out nice in the future because the dead squirrels aren't under the feeder.

I'm really glad now I moved this feeder, another two bucks, both big lads.

I checked the camera and there were three squirrels at the feeder during the morning so I'm happy getting two while I was just popping for a look 😄🙂

I didn't where my over trousers, just my pants tucked into my wellies,  much more comfortable but I had a tick at the sock line 😡😡😡 I hate ticks, no idea how it got down there.

Picked up another camera this afternoon so now I need to look through them and decide if I'm going out tomorrow. 

Well done cracking shooting 

[sam triple]

I took myself up the woods this morning  at 05:30 checked the feeder 3/4 empty 😳 somethings has been having a good go since Tuesday so up to the feeding station barrel , full bucket load to fill the feeder up . By 6 am I’d had 2 then another 3 by 8am at which point my back was crying enough of being cramped up in my hide , a pheasant arrived and started feeding on the dropped food oblivious of the carnage littering the floor around him , it was positive to see the squirrels actively going to the feeder rather than going to it on an off chance and one coming down the trunk of the tree to feed from it , just wish I could remember to press record on my camera 🙈 that’s 8 this week , feeders been up for 2 weeks very encouraging 

Just now, sam triple said:

I took myself up the woods this morning  at 05:30 checked the feeder 3/4 empty 😳 somethings has been having a good go since Tuesday so up to the feeding station barrel , full bucket load to fill the feeder up . By 6 am I’d had 2 then another 3 by 8am at which point my back was crying enough of being cramped up in my hide , a pheasant arrived and started feeding on the dropped food oblivious of the carnage littering the floor around him , it was positive to see the squirrels actively going to the feeder rather than going to it on an off chance and one coming down the trunk of the tree to feed from it , just wish I could remember to press record on my camera 🙈 that’s 8 this week , feeders been up for 2 weeks very encouraging 

 

Just now, sam triple said:

I took myself up the woods this morning  at 05:30 checked the feeder 3/4 empty 😳 somethings has been having a good go since Tuesday so up to the feeding station barrel , full bucket load to fill the feeder up . By 6 am I’d had 2 then another 3 by 8am at which point my back was crying enough of being cramped up in my hide , a pheasant arrived and started feeding on the dropped food oblivious of the carnage littering the floor around him , it was positive to see the squirrels actively going to the feeder rather than going to it on an off chance and one coming down the trunk of the tree to feed from it , just wish I could remember to press record on my camera 🙈 that’s 8 this week , feeders been up for 2 weeks very encouraging 

 

 

[Mice!]

55 minutes ago, sam triple said:

another 3 by 8am at which point my back was crying enough of being cramped up in my hide

You need to sort that, nothing worse than being uncomfortable,  I added some extra padding to my game bag I sit on for that exact reason and moved a pallet around last week, I was somehow sitting funny and twisting myself. 

Great that the squirrels are on your feeder so quickly. 

[sam triple]

4 minutes ago, Mice! said:

You need to sort that, nothing worse than being uncomfortable,  I added some extra padding to my game bag I sit on for that exact reason and moved a pallet around last week, I was somehow sitting funny and twisting myself. 

Great that the squirrels are on your feeder so quickly. 

Just got a fishing chair this morning off of market place that will take over from the bucket seat 

[Mice!]

9 minutes ago, sam triple said:

Just got a fishing chair this morning off of market place that will take over from the bucket seat 

Very nice, was the bucket seat the wrong height then?

[sam triple]

11 minutes ago, Mice! said:

Very nice, was the bucket seat the wrong height then?

Just uncomfortable with virtually no padding and all of your weight compressed on to my lower back 

[old man]

2 hours ago, sam triple said:

Just uncomfortable with virtually no padding and all of your weight compressed on to my lower back 

Maybe an orthopaedic cushion to take the pressure off the coccyx? I have one and that improves my fishing chair. 

Thanks to you and Mice for the heads up about using a bit of the keepers feed, will ask just to be sure.

[sam triple]

3 hours ago, old man said:

Maybe an orthopaedic cushion to take the pressure off the coccyx? I have one and that improves my fishing chair. 

Thanks to you and Mice for the heads up about using a bit of the keepers feed, will ask just to be sure.

Hi , I suffer from a bad back can be ok for months then the slightest thing will set it off with no reason 

I just put peanuts in my feeder at first with virtually no luck changed your feeder food and wow what a difference, definitely worth a go 

[harrycatcat1]

I will be honest I have not trawled through 60 odd pages please forgive me but I have just put two feeders out a few days ago  with peanuts in. What do you use?

[sam triple]

7 minutes ago, harrycatcat1 said:

I will be honest I have not trawled through 60 odd pages please forgive me but I have just put two feeders out a few days ago  with peanuts in. What do you use?

Just what the pheasants are fed on each person will have their own mix , sunflower seeds , grain , etc