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How many Grey Squirrels are killed in 2020


steve_b_wales
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1 hour ago, Sciurus said:

A very good question.

Shooting grey squirrels with an air rifle and feeder (or trapping) can be very effective in season between January and July when natural food is scarce. 

However come July onwards, the greys prefer fresh acorns, Beech mast and hazel, which begins to appear and they are less likely to be attracted by a feeder and they also  become trap shy. So instead of making the greys come to you, you then have to hunt the greys.

Dependant upon which fruits are ripening the greys will move from feasting upon say acorns to feasting upon sweet chestnuts etc, so you need to keep an eye open to what and where they are eating and shoot them where they are feeding.

It can be difficult to shoot them with an air rifle at this time of year, because they are unlikely to stay still and are hiding in the leaves, so a shotgun can be used to shoot them running about the branches.

In the autumn and leaves fall, a thermal is very useful to spot greys in trees or under bushes and again it’s easier to shoot them with a shotgun- particularly if there are two of you on either side of a tree.

I like to use a 12bore, but I am a volunteer with a Red Squirrel Group and most of my shooting is on NT or Council woodland (with public access) or around Country House Hotels, so a moderated shotgun tends not upset or disturb the public or guests too much.

A moderated 12 bore is too long and heavy to carry about so the preferred weapon of choice up here is a moderated mossberg .410 pump, which is fun gun to use and pretty quiet.

Hatter, Keep up the grey control, if you haven’t got a shotgun, try shooting them with the air rifle while they are foraging on the ground for nuts.

Cheers

Scurius

 

 

 

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15 hours ago, Sciurus said:

A very good question.

Shooting grey squirrels with an air rifle and feeder (or trapping) can be very effective in season between January and July when natural food is scarce. 

However come July onwards, the greys prefer fresh acorns, Beech mast and hazel, which begins to appear and they are less likely to be attracted by a feeder and they also  become trap shy. So instead of making the greys come to you, you then have to hunt the greys.

Dependant upon which fruits are ripening the greys will move from feasting upon say acorns to feasting upon sweet chestnuts etc, so you need to keep an eye open to what and where they are eating and shoot them where they are feeding.

It can be difficult to shoot them with an air rifle at this time of year, because they are unlikely to stay still and are hiding in the leaves, so a shotgun can be used to shoot them running about the branches.

In the autumn and leaves fall, a thermal is very useful to spot greys in trees or under bushes and again it’s easier to shoot them with a shotgun- particularly if there are two of you on either side of a tree.

I like to use a 12bore, but I am a volunteer with a Red Squirrel Group and most of my shooting is on NT or Council woodland (with public access) or around Country House Hotels, so a moderated shotgun tends not upset or disturb the public or guests too much.

A moderated 12 bore is too long and heavy to carry about so the preferred weapon of choice up here is a moderated mossberg .410 pump, which is fun gun to use and pretty quiet.

Hatter, Keep up the grey control, if you haven’t got a shotgun, try shooting them with the air rifle while they are foraging on the ground for nuts.

Cheers

Scurius

 

 

 

Thank you very much for such an informative reply to my original question. I do have a 12 bore o/u shotgun so that would be appear to be a good starting point. I can’t say I’m that good a shot with a shotgun so the 12 is probably going to give me a better chance of a hit than a smaller 410. Fortunately noise isn’t an issue on my permission.

A thermal monocular/spotter does appeal but I can’t afford one just yet. 

Thanks again for your prompt and helpful response. 

Regards

Russ 

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On 16/10/2020 at 11:09, hatter said:

 

A thermal monocular/spotter does appeal but I can’t afford one just yet. 

Hi Russ, thermals are expensive but are a game changer for grey control in red areas. I thought you might be interested to see this photo I took through a thermal.

 

13B8FBF9-D3ED-4234-A8B3-7429E8F831B8.jpeg.68782feb5d483d378febf96ecf4f86bb.jpeg

 

37A1623C-82E7-43EE-806A-EC933B135B3A.jpeg.880dca865d4795127a1ad189e6fa0d95.jpegHi 

I took  this photo a few years ago and it shows how clearly greys show up with a thermal. Normally this grey would have been spotted by eye, but the thermal will pick up just part of the body hiding in branches, which would not be visible to the naked eye.

Keep up the grey control with whatever gun suits you.

Cheers Garnet

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On 19/10/2020 at 20:21, Sciurus said:

Hi Russ, thermals are expensive but are a game changer for grey control in red areas. I thought you might be interested to see this photo I took through a thermal.

 

13B8FBF9-D3ED-4234-A8B3-7429E8F831B8.jpeg.68782feb5d483d378febf96ecf4f86bb.jpeg

 

37A1623C-82E7-43EE-806A-EC933B135B3A.jpeg.880dca865d4795127a1ad189e6fa0d95.jpegHi 

I took  this photo a few years ago and it shows how clearly greys show up with a thermal. Normally this grey would have been spotted by eye, but the thermal will pick up just part of the body hiding in branches, which would not be visible to the naked eye.

Keep up the grey control with whatever gun suits you.

Cheers Garnet

Thanks for the interesting and informative reply, I agree that the thermal does appear to be a game changer. Looks like I’ll have to do some over time or rob the kids money box. 

Thanks again. 

Regards

Russ 

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Only two today and they both paused just a second too long.  I saw a couple of dozen but they where all on a mission, most carrying acorns.  I only had about a 15ft wide ride at best to get a shot and most did not even slow down.  The pheasant feeders are all up and running so give them a few eeks and they will be in play.  Anyway two to add which breaks a long period of drought.

1473

Edited by Walker570
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I think I mentioned this subject some time ago. A squirelly decoy.  As I sat very frustrated because the squirels kept darting across the ride back and forth but not stopping ... all but two mentioned above.... I started to wonder if I had a couple of squirrel decoys sat up with quivering tails in the middle of the ride, if or not those crossing would just stop long enough for the cross hairs to settle. Not too difficult to mount a small motor and an intermittent switch..think pigeon whirly...to vibrate the tail.  Pretty easy to make up a wooden body to take a salt dried skin , even tanned.  I used to use some very small electric motors for the race cars .... think pro scalextrics ... back in the 60s and 70s and a couple of recharchable batteries.

Any thoughts

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5 hours ago, Walker570 said:

... I started to wonder if I had a couple of squirrel decoys sat up with quivering tails in the middle of the ride, if or not those crossing would just stop long enough for the cross hairs to settle. Not too difficult to mount a small motor and an intermittent switch..think pigeon whirly...to vibrate the tail.  Pretty easy to make up a wooden body to take a salt dried skin , even tanned.  I used to use some very small electric motors for the race cars .... think pro scalextrics ... back in the 60s and 70s and a couple of recharchable batteries.

Any thoughts

It’s not a problem I have, but it’s a very interesting idea. There is only one way to find out . Even if it’s doesn’t work,  You’ll have the fun of making and trying iout.

It would be interesting to know if they just stop and look at your decoy or even attack it?

We will definitely need photos!

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I'm sure I have a small motor somewhere in my workshop and making the manaquin is not a problem, just cut a series of profiles out of 1/4 ply and stick them together and fill with wood filler. The motor can go in the stand and a piece of wire up the tail attached to the motor. I have a whirly intermittent unit as well.  Watch this space.  Some wet days this next week so plenty of time in the workshop.:good: Getting the tail to wag will be the main challenge. 

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10 hours ago, Walker570 said:

I'm sure I have a small motor somewhere in my workshop and making the manaquin is not a problem, just cut a series of profiles out of 1/4 ply and stick them together and fill with wood filler. The motor can go in the stand and a piece of wire up the tail attached to the motor. I have a whirly intermittent unit as well.  Watch this space.  Some wet days this next week so plenty of time in the workshop.:good: Getting the tail to wag will be the main challenge. 

Maybe a cheap remote control car motor, change the gearing perhaps? mount in an old sandwich box? bound to be something on ebay, I thought about this some time back for a decoy for foxing but the noise of the motor put me off so bought a decoy addon for my icotec caller but I see they have gone up in price somewhat, check out you tube aswell bound to be something on there.

Just a thought if you placed a one end of a length of bendy wire off the end off the motor so it rotated, as it did rotate it may look like a wag? This is the way the icotec one works.

Link to the icotec decoy this is the one I have.

Mick

Edited by powler
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15 hours ago, Martlandhw100 said:

Was that on a feeder or out the trees? 

Out of the trees, its a small un touched area of a bigger wood that was thinned out some years, so the greys seem to congregate there, its a small area, two acres max. Walked through today and area was quiet of greys but the wind was howling through so may it difficult to spot, yesterday was still and sunny so very good conditions and they were very vocal.

Walked the rest of the thinned out wood today which is about twenty acres and had six from there and three from another wood.

I will put some feeders down in time but they still have plenty of food at the moment.

1490

Mick

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2 hours ago, powler said:

Looking good, just a thought would a windscreen wiper motor give the correct movement of a tail?

Mick

Well all you need...I think... is movement and by attaching a thin wire to the shaft of the motor and by just slightly bending the wire to which the tail is attached will ....hopefully.... cause it to twitch. Watching them when something annoys them and they twitch the tail don't wag it. Hopefully it will work, if not back to the drawing board,

I intend using slightly less power than 12v so hopefully the motor will rotate a little slower. We will see.

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Well got the skin off the tree rat and had it laid out/stretched and salted, so whilst it was still soft I covered the wooden form with wood glue and stretched the skin on and stapled it all in place.  NOW, let us face it, a real neat taxidermy job is not required. I thought the ears and shape important as well as the colour which the skin/fur will give.  I think it will fool a few and by the time they have run up to have a look and paused to see what is wrong with it they will be in happy tree rat lah lah land.  I just want them to pause for 5 seconds no more and the job will be done.

Now I have to put in the electronics for the tail. I have pulled the bone from that and it is now fitted with a wire two thirds the way up which will go on the shaft of the electric motor and hopefully when revolving it will twitch the end of the tail tantalisingly.  Looks like rain again tomorrow  indoor play so should get that sorted.get that sorted

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Edited by Walker570
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