Squirrel control - take care

[jillybean]

all modern air pistols are only legally allowed to run at 6 ft lbs. its just not enough power to kill anything cleanly, and it has no range, the pellet trajectory will drop after 20 feet or less. an non FAC airgun can run up to 12ft lbs and will dispatch quickly when delivered to the head up to 55 yards if you are practised. My brother shot me with a 6ft lb gun some years ago, whilst it did hurt, it didnt do any damage. the same cant be said for me, my brother still bears the scars.

[MartinD]

I have never killed anything, but I personally think that a guaranteed death by drowning within 1 minute or less has to be preferable to a shot or blow. (I have read a claim that a squirrel was dead (or unconscious) within 30 seconds when drowned). For a shot to be clean, the squirrel must be help immobile - even in a trap there is a lot of room for struggling - how do you immobilise it? For a blow to be administered, I assume that the animal must be removed from the trap, which must subject the animal to a potentially prolonged period of stress, and there is no guarantee that a single blow will despatch the animal. I think the RSPCA have got this one wrong. It is even worse if you look at the practicalities - I set a trap, inspect after 24 hours and find a squirrel. It is illegal to release it once caught, but if I then have to take it to an RSPCA person to be humanely killed, it may be in the trap for a further period of many hours - which is the worse of the evils?

[jillybean]

If you hit a squirrel with a .17 or .22 HMR rifle,in the head, making SURE its either on the ground or against a trunk or some other impenetrable object, I promise you it wont even know its been hit. the 17HMR fires a supersonic round so the little fella dosent even hear anything, and is dead before the shooter hears the bang. Not a twitch. The problem is that its extremely time consuming, stalking clever wild squirrels, for they are understandably nervous of gun toting Humans. and the cost and responsibility of getting a firearms certificate, gun, ammo, cammo, just goes on and on. the people who succeed are the ones who can shoot from a hide at a baited area. mine are all wise to it now,and rarely come near my camp, even if I Leave peanut butter sandwiches out for them.

[Darren]

One idea I want to try is putting out a bird feeder and waiting in the hide for squrriels.

[woodbodger]

Jillybean you sound the sort of lady I would call "SIR" all this information on velocity's etc you must be ex S.A.S. On another note leaving out peanut butter sandwiches isn't that enticing them into the area where you don't want them: being a bit devils advocate here.

[jillybean]

Youre right of course Woody, I always feel its cheating to use bait. but my wood is all on its own, and the sqizzers just skitter freely all over it, stripping bark of young and old trees alike. I will never get em all, but if I can keep the population down, there's less damage. I do have an ally in the buzzards nesting close by, I'm sure they have struck terror into those grey furry hearts. and for your infomation, my friends call me "your Highness" ! ;)

[MartinD]

When I am in the wood I see squirrels all over the place. I think if I stood still for 5 minutes I would be guaranteed to see half a dozen of them scampering about. I have a guy who comes with his air rifle, some sort of camouflage outfit (to hide his shape as much as anything), but when he is in the woods he claims he sees only 1 or 2 in the couple of hours he is here - it's as if they have an air rifle radar. He gets more rabbits and pigeon than squirrel.

I had the FC here this morning, and he was pointing out the damage done to young oak by squirrels, and suggesting that I use 'bait', which is effectively grain treated with warfarin. I think if I had the choice of death by drowning or by warfarin poisoning, I might choose drowning!

[Sussexboy]

I would like to clarify what Jillybean says about the .17hmr as it could be misunderstood the way she has written it. It is a very useful calibre, but you should note that it should only be used on squirrels if they are on the ground with a safe backstop. It should NEVER be fired at a squirrel in a tree, even if it does have the trunk behind it. If you were to miss the squirrel and the tree, the bullet could travel several miles, and what goes up must come down. What you don't want is someone to be in the way when it does come down. The same goes for the .22LR, it is not as fast or powerful as the .17hmr but it will still travel up to a mile or so. Remember the onus is on you to be sure that the shot you take is safe, you are responsible for where that projectile ends up.

The only guns that can be safely discharged upwards towards the tree canopy are shotguns and air rifles. I would be uneasy using a FAC rated air rifle (over the 12ft/lb license free limit) for this purpose as well, depending upon the power rating of it.

FWIW I don't think anybody was advocating hunting with an air pistol, but using one as a despatch tool for a trapped animal. I agree that it is not up to the job and would prefer a more capable tool. I am firmly of the belief that if you are to take the life of a sentient creature then your priority is to do it with the least suffering possible. For that reason I don't like live trapping, although it has to be done in some circumstances.

Sorry for such a preachy first post, but I get all twitchy when I see anything about firearms use that could be misunderstood, or even worse, misrepresented.

I am happy to answer any questions people have about use of firearms, if I don't know the answer, I know plenty of people who will!!

[daniel070883]

Hi all,

I take part in Small Pest control and can confirm a couple of things.

Use of a .177 Air Rifle uses smaller pellets that travel faster than a .22 but have a lower impact force on the target.

Use of a .22 Air Firle uses larger pellets that travel slower than a .177 but have a higher impact force on the target.

A good quality .177 is capable of dispatching Squirrels and Rabbits as long as you have clean head shot.

A .22 is more suited for the job.

Although I would not recommend shooting anything further than 40 yards as this may not result in the force required for quick humane dispatch.

Air Rifle Shooting is a hobby of mine and if anyone is interested in letting me shoot on their land or in their woodland i would be very interested.

I would be willing to pay fees for the privelage also.

Please let me know.

Regards

[RichardKing]

Started setting Fenn traps under a hedge in my garden to catch rabbits that were getting in despite extensive net fencing.

Last year caught half a dozen rabbits, but this year 3 rats. Caught a rat in the shed the same way.

Less time consuming than shooting & cheaper than poison (and safer)