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How many Grey Squirrels are killed in 2020


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I was walking around my local park today in perfect conditions for a thermal, my hands went numb!
Both me and my lad spotting squirrels and various birds at different ranges with the Pulsar, really clever that you can follow the movement through brambles where normally they have vanished, same with scanning trees, wet dreary day, sleet into snow and many of the squirrels were just sat on branches enduring the weather, no movement to get your attention but boy do they glow through the Pulsar, I can see why people are shooting so many when they are using them.

Very impressive. @Sciurus no wonder you like walking around with the 410, your feet stay warm and you can find the squirrels. 

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1 hour ago, jamesleee123 said:

I've bagged 11 this last two weeks from my bathroom window with my BSA R10 se .177.

1782

👍Great stuff! Keep at them.

 

23 minutes ago, Mice! said:

I was walking around my local park today in perfect conditions for a thermal, my hands went numb!
Both me and my lad spotting squirrels and various birds at different ranges with the Pulsar, really clever that you can follow the movement through brambles where normally they have vanished, same with scanning trees, wet dreary day, sleet into snow and many of the squirrels were just sat on branches enduring the weather, no movement to get your attention but boy do they glow through the Pulsar, I can see why people are shooting so many when they are using them.
 

Too true! Your life will never be the same from now on...And so easy to use!

Get your son to thermal  a few dreys and treeholes while you are out and see if anyone is at home. It’s surprising how many greys stick their head out of the top of a drey, inviting a shot from an air rifle or shotgun.

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For those of you using live catch traps....

Its been a  bumper year for natural food and my traps are only just startng to catch this week.

I'm doing a  bit of research on the subject and really need to know when others started to catch and how well or not the yields were.

Thanks in advance.

R. 

 

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12 hours ago, Robertt said:

For those of you using live catch traps....

Its been a  bumper year for natural food and my traps are only just startng to catch this week.

I'm doing a  bit of research on the subject and really need to know when others started to catch and how well or not the yields were.

Thanks in advance.

R. 

 

Send @Sciurus a message mate,  he does a lot of trapping. 

Male this morning at the same feeder, I don't usually use plastic feeders because of this but I bought it online. Sunflower hearts and crushed peanuts. 

1783

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Hi Robertt

Unfortunately Mice is crediting me with more ability than I actually have and I am probably the last person to ask! Where I am, there are a lot of ancient woodlands, inches deep in acorns etc.

I usually have about 20 traps out from January to the end of June. Most of them in people’s gardens. I catch the most in June, (I think it was 50 or 60 this time) then July 1 the catches suddenly stop or slow to a trickle as the greys start on the Beech and hazel and then acorns and sweet chestnut.

I am then lucky if I catch more than 2 or 3 a month in summer and autumn. I stop trapping in woods in August as it’s too time consuming and shooting at a feeder is more effective.

I currently have half a dozen traps still out in gardens, which the house owners look after, but they have only caught one or two in the last few months, however for me, shooting now with a thermal is very effective.

I will restart trapping (probably February), when natural food runs out and people start reporting greys on their bird feeders. This year might even be March.

Our most consistent  trapper, is a lady who traps all year just in one spot - a small wood next to a caravan park. She swears by having a hazelnut and a walnut in the feeder compartment along with the usual mix. If things are slow, she will throw a piece of white bread in as well, as this appears to be attractive for some reason. There must be a very strong scent trail from the caravan park to her trap.

Hope his helps a bit.

 

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20 hours ago, Robertt said:

For those of you using live catch traps....

Its been a  bumper year for natural food and my traps are only just startng to catch this week.

I'm doing a  bit of research on the subject and really need to know when others started to catch and how well or not the yields were.

Thanks in advance.

R. 

 

Just starting to see a need for food in one or two places but they are still on the wild food round here.  I see from my diary that things started to warm up around now numbers killed but we did not have he tons of natural food on the deck like this autumn.  I have only had two in traps since September.  Mind, there are not many if any in our little wood for more than 48hrs.  It will be interesting to see when they start to get hungry again.  On the large estate I also shoot on the Keeper says he is only seeing them on the deck and foraging not interested in his pheasant feeders or my flip tops. I reported a day or two ago his son had shot 41 just quietly stalking them on the deck.

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All of us have reported how fat the greys are this year, which indicates to me that they still have plenty of natural food left and will be difficult to trap. Obviously this will vary from area to area depending upon local food sources.

I think the answer to Roberts question is it varies from year to year depending upon local natural food sources.

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I went down to my local park at 8am this morning, the car park was half full of camper vans, there were dog walkers, joggers, fishermen and even a paddle boarder. I had no chance shooting any greys!

D4858A86-0DE6-41FE-993A-0D8175B140BE.jpeg.ef2b3f39c8d59add4426603064acf4b3.jpeg

Spot the swimmer, yesterday there was a few of them in loughrigg tarn!

Is it me or is the world going mad?

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13 minutes ago, Sciurus said:

I went down to my local park at 8am this morning, the car park was half full of camper vans, there were dog walkers, joggers, fishermen and even a paddle boarder. I had no chance shooting any greys!

D4858A86-0DE6-41FE-993A-0D8175B140BE.jpeg.ef2b3f39c8d59add4426603064acf4b3.jpeg

Spot the swimmer, yesterday there was a few of them in loughrigg tarn!

Is it me or is the world going mad?

Beautiful location 

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1 hour ago, Martlandhw100 said:

😁

I'm guessing you have permission to shoot in the park or do you not need it up there? I'm not being funny just intriguing to know. 😁

Permission,  but it's one of those areas where you need to be very discreet,  in and out early.

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2 hours ago, Martlandhw100 said:

 

I did wonder, must be hard work with all the joggers and dog walkers 😀

I am doubly blessed, I have retired to a very beautiful part of the country and as a member of Westmorland Red Squirrels, I am licensed to shoot to shoot on a large acreage of NT and Council woodland as well as some beautiful country houses and hotels, a lot of it on the shores of the lake.  

Red Squirrel Conservation here is well supported by business and the public sector and very good for tourism business. The downside, nearly all the sites are open to the public, often the property is a major tourist destination in itself so we are required to be very discrete, most of it is done early morning, as Mice said ‘in and out’.

My moan this morning was because under lockdown, I have been able to stay out a lot longer and be able to go where I want undisturbed but this weekend we have more tourists than usual trying to escape the city and getting out of bed too early, spoiling my shooting!

Still, there are worse problems to have !

 

 

 

 

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Definitely are blessed with that part of the country, I bet its been great while everyone has been in lockdown and you have free roam. Ino when I have spoke yo Mice before he said it's well backed witch is great 👍 you have to do what you have to do to protect the reds, where my mum and dad live in Scotland they have frequently got reds coming to the feeders he has got up but again I think the grays are well controlled by the rangers. 

8 hours ago, Mice! said:

Permission,  but it's one of those areas where you need to be very discreet,  in and out early.

I did wonder, must be hard work with all the joggers and dog walkers 😀

4 hours ago, Sciurus said:

I am doubly blessed, I have retired to a very beautiful part of the country and as a member of Westmorland Red Squirrels, I am licensed to shoot to shoot on a large acreage of NT and Council woodland as well as some beautiful country houses and hotels, a lot of it on the shores of the lake.  

Red Squirrel Conservation here is well supported by business and the public sector and very good for tourism business. The downside, nearly all the sites are open to the public, often the property is a major tourist destination in itself so we are required to be very discrete, most of it is done early morning, as Mice said ‘in and out’.

My moan this morning was because under lockdown, I have been able to stay out a lot longer and be able to go where I want undisturbed but this weekend we have more tourists than usual trying to escape the city and getting out of bed too early, spoiling my shooting!

Still, there are worse problems to have !

 

 

 

 

Don't know what happened there 🤣

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Winter shooting coat on and out in the woods at 8.30 this morning, a beautiful day. The thermals weren’t a lot of use, it was  too cold early on, then too sunny. We ended up just ratching round but my pals whippet helped to spot any movement on the ground and canopy and we finally ended up with 4.

It’s so good to be out and about on days like this.

Total 1787

 

 

 

 

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Sciurus some beautiful scenery you have on your perm. As you say above was cold this morning, also very still in my neck of the woods, was in the hide before daylight, saw a few at distance and the did not want to sit still. So in the end I checked out the feeder they hadn't fed from it but had taken some food from around it, still to much natural food around.

Got bored(no patients this morning) so after a coffee and a slither of pork pie I decided to upgrade the hide, now has its own seat and new camo(fresh ivy).

Later walked an area not shot for a few weeks and had seven with 12g, sun was out by this time and they were a lot more active.

1794

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