Grey Squirrels

[SportingShooter 0]

I always enjoy this time of year, unlike many others who are reeling from the end of the game season but being a keeper i dont shoot all that much game anyway.this time of year is for catching up on the vermin who are preceeding to eat all the wheat from the feeders on the ground. even though i have shot 124 squirrels since last may just wandering around, they are an ever increasing problem especially with the mild weather. so today enough was enough, time to trim them a little. i got together with two friends rising early and out by 7.30, to blow some grey dreys from here to the next county.we were armed with a greener GP a Baikal S/S and a single barrel .410. we started off in a small wood shooting out 22 dreys and picking up 4 squirrels, not a bad start. we then moved on to the biggest wood on the ground 76 acres of bramble and rhodedendron, flushing 5 woodcock,two of which would have made the perfect left and right,on the way and shooting 69 dreys and picking up 7 squirrels AND as we were walking to our next spot guess who pops up for a look around old charlie .BANG! all three of us together just to make sure, a dog big un too. then a few more patches of woodland and hedgerows to go. we shot another 41 dreys and picked up 5 squirrels as well as a lonely crow who came for a look and was taken with a superb shot from the .410 at 40 ish yrds. who knows how many were dead in the drey but using BB and 3's and any other stuff that happens to be lying around it must have been a few. all in all then 132 dreys, 16 squirrels a fox and a carrion.

it felt good to be doing something not only for the shoot but everthing else that shares the ground.(and the Wheat bill!)

sorry for the long post but thought it might of been of interest to some of you, will post some pics on soon.

thanks

ss06

[cragman 2,642]

Nice one SportingShooter06. We've had the squirrels on the bird feeders this week outside work and I bagged five with five shots from the TX200. Dropped like sacks of shit . I left a couple behind a wall on wednesday night and they were gone in the morning, so I told the local farmer that it's more than likely charlie boy. Doing the dreys soon.

[Tyla 3,179]

Sounds like a good day out

[harrycatcat 31]

Well done mate, keep shooting the little vermin

[Ste* 0]

Welldone mate.

[SportingShooter 0]

Thanks guys was a good day out nice and cold so they were all still sleepin when we got there.

thanks again

ss06

[JohnwK 0]

Thanks guys was a good day out nice and cold so they were all still sleepin when we got there.

thanks again

ss06

 

Nice One Keep up the good work.

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Do ye not have traps out for them, SS? Or do ye find the occassional purge less time consuming that endless trap emptying?

 

They reckon the gray plague has crossed the Shannon some time hence. They've been sigted just a few miles from here too. One ever shows it's face round here, it'll be a race to get it, between the burgeoning Pine Marten population and a 35g Ballistic Tip!

 

Please, god; Let it be my BT that finds it first! I've just Gotta see that!

[SportingShooter 0]

Do ye not have traps out for them, SS? Or do ye find the occassional purge less time consuming that endless trap emptying?

 

They reckon the gray plague has crossed the Shannon some time hence. They've been sigted just a few miles from here too. One ever shows it's face round here, it'll be a race to get it, between the burgeoning Pine Marten population and a 35g Ballistic Tip!

 

Please, god; Let it be my BT that finds it first! I've just Gotta see that!

I have a few fenn traps out around the place but i prefer to shoot them, just more enjoyable, I have a purge twice a year, once at the end of the shooting season, the other at the end of April, Early May, to clear out the younger ones.

From then on its just bagging what is around when I happen to be there, this is how I bag most of mine.

 

Ballistic Tips are lethal on them, I have shot a few with the HMR now and even one with the .222 and each time they just implode, talk about humane despatch.

 

I wouldnt wish the greys on anyone or country, they are a menace to all native wildlife. If they have crossed the Irish Sea, then you have your work cut out for you Ditch, more of those BT's on order I hope.

Regards

SS

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Fact is, mate; They must have got to Eire some time hence. I honestly don't know when ~ something else I must make time to look into. But, last year, I caught a radio report saying they'd crossed the Shannon. Well, I'm practically a headless chicken with regards to what's where in relation to my cottage and permission lands. Thus, I'm genuinely ashamed to say, I don't even yet know which side of me the great river runs I've seen her and know the town named for her. But where she had, thus far, kept those tree rats contained? I don't know. The west? The south? One given county? I don't know! But they've crossed her and are now in Co. Leitrim and, I'm reliably informed, Roscommon too.

 

This presents something of an ecological twin edged sword to me. Both the above counties have a burgeoning pine marten population. (They too having been introduced here). Now, pineys are notorious for their taste for and ability to aquire a Red squirrel snack at any time. And yet they've never been credited with damaging Red squirrel numbers. K?

 

What disturbs me is; Will they prove as adept at knocking over grays? That is, will they munch into the rat population as much as they do their natural prey?

 

See, if they ignore the rats, for what ever reason, then the Red's are surely doomed. They'll have their time honoured nemesis - the piney - munching them up for dinner. But now they stand to have the pox ridden rats hitting them harder than they've ever been, over here, with disease as well as physical abuse. Same recipe brought about the extirpation of the Red throughout england. And that without a piney in sight!

 

Another issue is the base habitat preferences of all concerned. I use 'Preferences' advisadly! Reds are just about 100% wedded to their coniferous domain, yeah? Pineys are commonly depicted as being much the same. Actually so much folk myth and legend, I can personally assure ye! Those buggers are happy enough where ever they can find themselves a meal and a bit of peace and quiet to enjoy it. Fir trees, my arse.

 

That, at least, puts them on a head on collision course with the grays, doesn't it? What ever tree a gray gets to, a piney stands to follow.

 

Sorry. Typing as I'm thinking here. ( ) Never the best way to carry on an on line discussion. But can ye see what I'm trying to grasp and get at? In a nut shell: What may the arrival of the rats mean to our Red's? Bit f*cking obvious! But which side will the pineys influence in all this, and how? Can't help thinking we Field Sports types will have a handle on this long before some grant funded, mountain bike riding bloody scientists finally get their arses together. And thus we'd be first able to react.

 

 

BT against 'rat? I'd be happy if I was left with a tail for a trophy!

[Muntjac Man 0]

If you want a slightly different revenge on the dreaded grey tree rats, they are actually nice to eat. Believe me, when I tried them I was surprised.

 

If you do want to eat them, preferable to head shoot 'em with air rifle.

 

Trouble is, obviously there isn't a huge amount of meat on them, and they do not like giving up their jackets, but if you can be bothered, the meat is very fine grained, very tender (doesn't need long slow cooking), and tasty (much more flavour than rabbit, but not as much as hare..).

 

Rgds

 

MM

[SportingShooter 0]

Fact is, mate; They must have got to Eire some time hence. I honestly don't know when ~ something else I must make time to look into. But, last year, I caught a radio report saying they'd crossed the Shannon. Well, I'm practically a headless chicken with regards to what's where in relation to my cottage and permission lands. Thus, I'm genuinely ashamed to say, I don't even yet know which side of me the great river runs I've seen her and know the town named for her. But where she had, thus far, kept those tree rats contained? I don't know. The west? The south? One given county? I don't know! But they've crossed her and are now in Co. Leitrim and, I'm reliably informed, Roscommon too.

 

This presents something of an ecological twin edged sword to me. Both the above counties have a burgeoning pine marten population. (They too having been introduced here). Now, pineys are notorious for their taste for and ability to aquire a Red squirrel snack at any time. And yet they've never been credited with damaging Red squirrel numbers. K?

 

What disturbs me is; Will they prove as adept at knocking over grays? That is, will they munch into the rat population as much as they do their natural prey?

 

See, if they ignore the rats, for what ever reason, then the Red's are surely doomed. They'll have their time honoured nemesis - the piney - munching them up for dinner. But now they stand to have the pox ridden rats hitting them harder than they've ever been, over here, with disease as well as physical abuse. Same recipe brought about the extirpation of the Red throughout england. And that without a piney in sight!

 

Another issue is the base habitat preferences of all concerned. I use 'Preferences' advisadly! Reds are just about 100% wedded to their coniferous domain, yeah? Pineys are commonly depicted as being much the same. Actually so much folk myth and legend, I can personally assure ye! Those buggers are happy enough where ever they can find themselves a meal and a bit of peace and quiet to enjoy it. Fir trees, my arse.

 

That, at least, puts them on a head on collision course with the grays, doesn't it? What ever tree a gray gets to, a piney stands to follow.

 

Sorry. Typing as I'm thinking here. ( ) Never the best way to carry on an on line discussion. But can ye see what I'm trying to grasp and get at? In a nut shell: What may the arrival of the rats mean to our Red's? Bit f*cking obvious! But which side will the pineys influence in all this, and how? Can't help thinking we Field Sports types will have a handle on this long before some grant funded, mountain bike riding bloody scientists finally get their arses together. And thus we'd be first able to react.

 

 

BT against 'rat? I'd be happy if I was left with a tail for a trophy!

I can see where youre coming from Ditch and whatever the natural outcome, the human outcome will always be to protect native species and so the Grey will be head of the list, the Pine Marten, thats an interesting one to ponder, whether they will go against the Greys or give up on them in favour of easier prey.

 

And as you rightly say, the countrymen and women will be dealing with this problem and notice the outcome of the Pine Marten question long before the faceless beureaucrats even know a problem exists with their idiosyncratic ideal of holding onto power.

 

I hope you never see one and if you do happen to see one then I hope you cant see any part of it after the BT has done its job. Lets hope the Shannon will keep quite a few at bay until the current population has been curtailed or anhialated.(We can but hope)

 

Regards

SS