Squirrel Trapping

[Fenbo 0]

Been trapping squirrels for years using the same method, a plywood tunnel with a MK4 Fenn placed in the middle positioned at the base of the tree covered over with brash, then a hand full of nuts thrown inside. Caught hundres of the bar stewards this way, the problem i'm having now is hedgehogs more hedgehogs than squirrels at the moment. I've lifted the traps until i can come up with a solution to preventing Mr hog entering the tunnel and not making it out again i've tried placing sticks over the entrance not working, even boxed the entrance in cutting a hole in the middle what i thought was only big enough for squirrels the hogs are at all stages of growth and still manage to make their way in Never had this problem in the past, must be in hog territory, though i have been rotating traps, the hogs must have had a good productive year this year, there certainly seems to be more about.

 

Anybody out there hold the solution to what is becoming a right pain in the ass!

[john b 38]

well you've tried what would have been my first suggestion - fencing in the entrances.

 

My next suggestion would be to elevate the traps some how. Get some sort of board you can use as a base and stick the whole lot on top of a couple of milk crates or similar. Maybe even just a few bricks. I expect hedgehogs can climb but it should reduce the accidentals, particularly of the base board overhangs the supports so there would be a ledge to get past.

 

Failing that fix a base board to one of the larger branches.

[john b 38]

Fenbo

 

Just to return to the fencing for a moment, I've just checked my 'Collins Guide to Animal Tracks and Signs'. It states that the entrance to a squirrels drey is about 5cm in diameter, which is smaller than you might imagine. How small did you go with the hole ?

 

John

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

I'd do much as ye are at present, Fenbo. Only I'd tie the tunnels to a leaned branch and use a good smear of smooth (in this case) peanut butter to hold the visual attractant of the peanuts.

 

Hedgeies can climb like spiders, mate. But they have a tendancy to reserve such bahaviour for ingress and egress manouveres. If they're just looking for food, they just snuffle about in horizontal mode. Ye practically won't 'fence' out a hotch. They'll just bulldoze their way in. If it's ground level at least.

[masterhunter 3]

Been trapping squirrels for years using the same method, a plywood tunnel with a MK4 Fenn placed in the middle positioned at the base of the tree covered over with brash, then a hand full of nuts thrown inside. Caught hundres of the bar stewards this way, the problem i'm having now is hedgehogs more hedgehogs than squirrels at the moment. I've lifted the traps until i can come up with a solution to preventing Mr hog entering the tunnel and not making it out again i've tried placing sticks over the entrance not working, even boxed the entrance in cutting a hole in the middle what i thought was only big enough for squirrels the hogs are at all stages of growth and still manage to make their way in Never had this problem in the past, must be in hog territory, though i have been rotating traps, the hogs must have had a good productive year this year, there certainly seems to be more about.

 

Anybody out there hold the solution to what is becoming a right pain in the ass!

Fenbo, I use Magnum bodygripper 116's. Get a small piece of tube. I use the white plastic split tube that you can buy in DIY shops for putting round your copper pipe where it comes through the floorboards to the radiator (saves you painting the pipes) About 5/8 diameter and 2" long. Drill a hole through it about 1/2 " (I use a cone cutter) pack this tube with peanut butter slide on to the trigger wires of the trap. Fit the trap into a wire cubby. (Imake my own out of 2" square weld mesh). The trap can be placed through the top of mine with the spring turned at right angles to the trap. Take two fencing staples and nail the cubby as high as you can reach on a nearby tree trunk. Take an old knife/spatula and smear peanut butter on the trunk of the tree just below the cubby.

I quarantee you wont catch any "hotchiwhiches". (hogs)

regards masterhunter

[TOMO 24,880]

PLACE THE TUNNELS IN THE TREES ON A CONVIENIENT BRANCH, USE SCREWS NAILS OR EVAN WIRE TO HOLD EM IN PLACE TOMO

 

 

[talpa 55]

Been trapping squirrels for years using the same method, a plywood tunnel with a MK4 Fenn placed in the middle positioned at the base of the tree covered over with brash, then a hand full of nuts thrown inside. Caught hundres of the bar stewards this way, the problem i'm having now is hedgehogs more hedgehogs than squirrels at the moment. I've lifted the traps until i can come up with a solution to preventing Mr hog entering the tunnel and not making it out again i've tried placing sticks over the entrance not working, even boxed the entrance in cutting a hole in the middle what i thought was only big enough for squirrels the hogs are at all stages of growth and still manage to make their way in Never had this problem in the past, must be in hog territory, though i have been rotating traps, the hogs must have had a good productive year this year, there certainly seems to be more about.

 

Anybody out there hold the solution to what is becoming a right pain in the ass!

 

Hi, I have had the same problems with hogs, so as a result I am just using single catch and multi catch - Legge traps, that way the hogs remain a pain in the proverbial but do snuffle off slowly on their release. Any rats/squirrels can be run into a sack and given a swift heavy strike to the head - which will make it to the corner every time. There was a neat tree set with a magnum trap on here a couple of months ago by one of the regular posters, Peg and Gun may be. As I recall used clout nails to hold traps on a vertical trunk with a single nail to hook a covering of leafy twigs to disguise it. I've not tried it but did make a mental note to give it a whirl some time.

keep the hogs safe.

talpa

[Guest ARTEMIS]

What do you strike them on the head with? A hammer, priest, brick? or just bash them on a wall?

 

Just wondering as I'm about to try to catch my first rat (in a live trap). Is there a particular way to get the rat from the trap INTO the Sack without being bitten?

 

Also - will I need a license to do that? (hope not!)

Edited August 14, 2007 by ARTEMIS

[Hob&Jill 258]

What do you strike them on the head with? A hammer, priest, brick? or just bash them on a wall?

 

Just wondering as I'm about to try to catch my first rat (in a live trap). Is there a particular way to get the rat from the trap INTO the Sack without being bitten?

 

Also - will I need a license to do that? (hope not!)

If I were you I would get a air pistol (crosman 2240), I wouldnt risk getting bit by a rat Not worth it....

[Guest ARTEMIS]

Hmm, will I need a license for the air rifle, and will it be legal for me to shoot it in my garden?

[Hob&Jill 258]

No you wont need a licence, and yes it will be legal to shoot in your garden so long as the pellets stay in your garden.

 

Are you 50 foot from a main road? As I think that might be a requirment too..

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Artemis; H&J's right on the money with the 22/44. It's probably the most perfect dispatch gun ever made. I'm not personally lisenced to hold a " Pistol " yet ~ please remember, I'm in Eire and here they class a .44 Magnum or a .22 Air Pistol pretty much the same. In uk ye only need be seventeen years of age to just breeze in off the street and buy what pretty much what ever air gun ye choose.

 

But, if I ever get the nerve to ask for a 'Pistol' lisence, this'll be the baby I go for like a ton of bricks! It's powered by CO2 bulbs. No strong springs to worry about. It's bolt actioned. Pop one in the breech and that's about it. Best of all, it has just that sneaky bit of extension on the muzzle. Perfect for offering ratty in his new, temporary home.

 

Believe me; The rat will first go frantic and dash from corner to corner. Trying to find a way out. Then he'll more generally leap around a bit. Just gently introduce the muzzle of the pistol. Curl ye finger round the trigger. Wait. He'll try to bite it soon enough. Have it aimed at a slightly downward angle. Wear Safety Goggles. Squeeze that trigger as he hangs onto the bars and gnaws franticly at the steel. Use Hollow Points.

 

There'll be a little 'Crack!' and ratty will lay there, twitching as the most scarlet of blood forms quite a pool beneath his little head. But he'll be stone dead already. The kicking's just his nervous motor function winding down.

 

Tip him out and bag him up for disposal. Chuck some water at the trap, to rinse the blood away. Reset it.

 

Please be sure to wear a pair of 'Marigolds' for the entire process. Helps keep You alive.

 

Here's ye gun. Under a ton all told: " RatBuster ".

[Guest ARTEMIS]

That's odd - when I was a kid, I used to have a "cap gun" (oh the good ole days!) that looked really, really like that rat-buster. No wonder the "big boys" used to naff off when I started waving it in their direction!

 

Will get that in a while (when I've saved the pennies!)......

 

Why the heck is it "inhumane" to drown the feckers though? I mean, why do we have to be humane to RATS? What can be less inhumane than poison anyway?

 

Thanks again for the intelligent advice and talking me through the process - it all helps. Especially the bit about how the rat is going to behave, and to introduce the muzzle of the pistol to him so as to get a good shot (rather than standing at the far end of the garden taking pot shots at the critter - which actually IS how it could have happened otherwise!!!)

[Hob&Jill 258]

Why the heck is it "inhumane" to drown the feckers though? I mean, why do we have to be humane to RATS?

 

We have to be humane to ANY quarry, rat, rabbit,squirrel ANYTHING What you just wrote is disgusting, sorry but thats how I see it

 

Just because they are annoying, dirty and infectious dosent meen they should be treated any less than anything else. If we have the right to kill them, then whenever posible they should have the right to a quick and painless death.

 

Poison, Ditch will probably know abit about it, being a pest controler. Wether its humane or not, I dont know, Im not a professor (or a pest controler)

 

Think about what you said, why should it be ok for a rat to have prolonged death and its not ok for anything else?

[Guest ARTEMIS]

Being totally inexperienced of drowning anything - I imagined it WOULD be quick! - I just didn't get why drowning WAS inhumane! Thinking - if it can't breathe, surely it won't take long!

 

Also the rat is going to be running up and down it's cage trying to get out - because it's afraid - and that is BETTER somehow? Well, if it's going to be quicker then the answer will be yes (by comparison) - like I said - No personal experience of drowning anything!

 

Was not intending to prolong the death - there's no joy in that - the quicker they're dead the better IMO (IF it's okay to kill), just seems a bit tidier (no mess)!

 

If it's going to take AGES with the critter struggling away, then obviously drowning it is NOT a good solution as I had imagined..... and that's ALL I did - imagine but not DO!

 

BTW, the humane trap is sitting on the table behind me (not out set up to catch!)..... I don't have a pistol handy!

 

APOLOGIES for offending you.