[Closed] Grey Squirrels - Removing the pest

I would, I have to ask how are you planning to dispatch the grey vermin bastard once you've caught one
<edit>it also kills the bastard......yeah go for it

Bookmarking.👍

Eat them. Then eat signal crayfish. We've eliminated other species in the past using a similar technique.

12-24 squirrels we appear to have now

Is this a feral hogs reference? It's excellent if so.

In answer to your question: I've no objection to killing some squirrels, but would probably seek a bit of advice from an ecologist first, just in case there's something that the squirrels are keeping in check that would be worse.

Remove the squirrels. Non native and invasive. I'm pretty sure it's illegal to release any you catch.

stevious - as far as I can see there isn't. There are also no Pine Martin or Red Squirrels which appear to be to be the only side kill from these devices. Interested to know what Grey Squirrel keep in check as an invasive species which is why I posted this

Catch them in a proper trap and find someone to dispatch them for you. Plenty of hunters around that will have them for food.

These guys in Scotland will assist with trapping and dispatching. https://scottishsquirrels.org.uk/

You can trap them and then finish them with an air pistol. Illegal not to (also need to be checked every 24h and be on your own land or have land owners permission) but means you can release any critters you didn't mean to catch. It's harder to do but safer for other species (unless they are also considered pests as, again, they will need killing).

Problem is they will just come back, they will have a corridor from your woods to the big woods and eventually just encroach again thanks to the ready food source.

This trap kills them, lets their body fall to the floor to be eaen by our local fax.....

A lot easier than posting them to Scotland or resetting the trap after each one you catch.It does 18 before you rest. That's why I put the link to the advert.

Eat them. Then eat signal crayfish. We’ve eliminated other species in the past using a similar technique.

I’m absolutely in favour of both, not that I’d eat the tree rats, but signal crayfish, oh yeah!
I was at a little pub festival some years back, I think it might have been Lechlade, and the beer garden with the stage backed onto a river. There was a family there with several of those wooden reels with orange line on, dropping weighted bait into the river, waiting a couple of minutes, pulling them in, and there would be a big crayfish on the end. After a couple of hours they had a garden bucket three-quarters full of the things, they were looking forward to the barbecue later!
I know they’ve invaded the Broadmead Brook, which joins the Bybrook just outside of Castle Combe, so I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a trap and leaving it baited for a day or so. Quite partial to shrimp, prawns, langustines...
Anything that helps our native crayfish, and is edible and, best of all, free. 😁
The ongoing reintroduction of Pine Marten into the greater U.K. can only be a good thing, both for the martens, but also for red squirrels, because it’s becoming increasingly clear that anywhere that marten start to flourish, grey squirrels pretty much vanish, and also nesting birds don’t suffer so much predation.

You need to dispatch the the pest.

The pest being next door but two.

Will that trap do cats too?

Asking for a friend.

not cats . There is very little side kill because you have to stick your head 5 inches up the tude to be killed. There are warnngs about reds and pine martins but other than that they are good

Damn

The most recent figures of how many creatures are killed by cats are from the Mammal Society. They estimate that cats in the UK catch up to 100 million prey items over spring and summer, of which 27 million are birds.

This is the number of prey items which were known to have been caught. We don't know how many more the cats caught, but didn't bring home, or how many escaped but subsequently died.

I ain't going after the bird slaughtering bastards after wathing this : https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81031373

cats and grey squirrels are vermin; cats to asian restaurants, greys on the barbie.

We tried squirrel a few years ago, it was ok. OH did them in a kind of Southern fried style crumb with chips.

All in favour of removal of the greys from woodlands. No issue there. However, Have some experience using those traps albeit for mice/rat control and when speaking to others to get feedback/advice there was a lot of people mentioning that the weren’t particularly effective on squirrels and woodpeckers can be caught out by them. Main issue seems to be that they’re the wrong orientation, pointing downwards, a squirrel is most likely to encounter it when returning back up the tee from the ground after feeding so not likely to investigate. Woodpecker the opposite.
I’d be devastated if woodpeckers suffered as collateral damage to my trapping efforts.
Now, Where was the guy selling that air rifle again?

It isn’t helped by a neighbour 3 doors up who puts out nuts to attract the squirrels

In a nutshell.

4:13 for the trap

Alternatively find someone and discreet with an airrifle

Alternatively find someone and discreet with an airrifle

That depends on who owns the land, if it's the OP then fine otherwise they need the land owners permission or it's a firearms offence.

I would recommend a Kania 2000 trap with tunnel as a solid trap that offers ease and efficient solution

My dad has a cage type trap (which will also catch cats if you don't attach an accessory). He catches quite a few (squirrels) but his method of dispatching is not the most humane as he got rid of his guns several years ago.

) but his method of dispatching is not the most humane as he got rid of his guns several years ago

Does it involve his wife's kimono and a baseball bat?

It would be mounted on our land which should cover the legality side of things.

There is an A24 version for mice and rats which is smaller, this is specifically for squirrels and it bigger.

I will be careful to position it lower on the tree that the woodpeckers tend to be to avoid catching them.

This trap resets its self after each kill so can be triggered 18 times before you replace the CO2 canister. This means you don't need to keep visiting it every day as you do for traps and snares so very easy.

Not particularly interested in rating them and will leave them for the foxes to eat. Crayfish sound nice though.

Because the traps reset you can just leave them in place so as the new population of squirrels move in they will still get killed. It has a counter on the side so you know when to reload the co2 canister.p]

Kania 2000 trap looks good but needs reseting after every kill - this is the bit I want to avoid as getting to the place I am planning on putting the trap is awkward so the fewer times I go there the better.

I did see a YouTu e vid where a guy just mounted 10 snap traps in a row on a 10 foot length of timber and then lean the timber up the side of his barn. The squirrels ran up the timber and hit the first trap which bounced of the timber and dangled on a chain with the dead squirrel trapped. The next squirrel hit the next trap and so on. He said when you get the first invasion you would get 10 squirrels a night, every night, but that's America for you

Looks good - I'd also rig up a wildlife camera with motion sensor to check that you are getting only squirrels. One of the cheap apeman ones off Amazon would do it.

As a retired butcher I'm disgusted with all the calls from people to just shot them with air rifles, or such. Have f&^*& none of you any humanity whatsoever ?.

I've been asked several times to do this is a poaching setting, to kill deer and sheep and have known a couple of butchers over the years engaged in this. I've even been asked a number of times by a best mate. I refuse.

We slaughter in a controlled environment. There are no unconsidered variables and we look to dispatch as quickly and as painlessly as we as humans can devise.

I could never recreate that in the field, to be able to dispatch that animal cleanly and without suffering.

Catch and release or have someone do that for you. If a cull is required, then leave that to professionals. Killing animals is not a diy affair.

Catch and release or have someone do that for you.

This would be illegal.

It isn’t helped by a neighbour 3 doors up who puts out nuts to attract the squirrels despite requests not to.

Probably because their decision to feed their local squirrels is absolutely nothing to do with you.

It seems ironic that you’re willing to feed foxes (which in a semi-urban environment are probably over populated anyway), but are giving your neighbour grief for feeding squirrels.

What evidence have you got that the squirrels are screwing with the bird population? Where do the foxes come into it? Cats? Could mink be stealing the eggs? The reality is that you can’t know, and buying a random trap from the internet that claims to be “humane” is not the way forward.

Incidentally, there is nothing humane about suffocating an animal with carbon dioxide. It’s a miserable way to die.

What you need is a Weihrauch HW100 BPK...

They are not suffocated with CO2. They get a bolt through the head powered by CO2.

There is loads of evidence of squirrels stealing birds eggs and have watch them doing it to black birds from my window but I guess like the link to the trap I shared, you haven't read it. Not to many mink in Southampton.

Yes, cats are a pest too but it is illegal to kill them at present.

I will collect and dispose of any of the corpses not scavenged by other wild life. I am not looking to promote the local foxes but aware they will clean up dead squirrels

stevious – as far as I can see there isn’t. There are also no Pine Martin or Red Squirrels which appear to be to be the only side kill from these devices. Interested to know what Grey Squirrel keep in check as an invasive species which is why I posted this

The whole 'invasive species = bad' thing is a bit of a popular misconception. It's a wild animal that's well established in the ecosystem - changing its population will have an impact on the rest of the ecosystem. These could be changes you want (more nice birdies) or changes you don't want (I dunno - a plague of rats or something).

Do the RSPB have any presence near you? If so they'll likely have some ecologists who can advise - and I expect they'd tell you to crack on.

Could mink be stealing the eggs?

Highly unlikely, mink aren’t, generally, an arboreal species, they tend to stick around watercourses, and I don’t believe mink are a significant issue anymore. Since otter have become much more widespread, and mink share much the same environment, otter won’t tolerate mink and will get rid of them.
Those mink that are still active, where otter haven’t re-colonised, will be going after water birds like duck, moorhen and coot, wagtails, etc.

Catch and release or have someone do that for you. If a cull is required, then leave that to professionals. Killing animals is not a diy affair.

Well, catching and releasing a destructive, invasive species is both illegal, and completely misses the point of catching the bloody things in the first place, which you should realise if you were paying attention.
Plus, people have been killing invasive, destructive pests in a diy fashion for decades, if not centuries - have you not heard of mousetraps or rat traps?
Or are squirrels a different case because they’re cute and fluffy?

As above. Recon if the little bastards were in his loft he would soon want rid. And how did we get from squirrels to killing deer?

And how did we get from squirrels to killing deer?

With a bigger gun?

Quit being all new age and just borrow an air rifle and shoot the blasted things. Practice first if you can't hit them in the head . Catching and releasing is a big no no. Wait until you get the sodding boar!

dyna-ti is way off mark. Comparing the butchery of deer and ovines to gutting and skinning a grey squirrel or rabbit is just ridiculous.

To the OP, if you're not a shooter and don't have a friend who is a competent shot with an air rifle then that trap looks like an option, albeit an indiscriminate one. Think how you'd feel if you found a mangled green woodpecker underneath the thing.

I've shot dozens of greys over the years and have really enjoyed the meat. It's not copious and they're tough to skin but so much tastier than rabbit.

The whole ‘invasive species = bad’ thing is a bit of a popular misconception. It’s a wild animal that’s well established in the ecosystem – changing its population will have an impact on the rest of the ecosystem.

Grey squirrels are not native to uk and carry a disease that kills the red squirrel. I'd be quite content to see the grey population wiped out and replaced with the reds....mon the gingers

Air rifle. Headshot.

BBQ.

I have considered an air rifle as both MrsWCA and I were a reasonable shot last time we tried but don't want to have to sit there waiting for them to get into a safe position. Mostly they run along the top of the fence so if I shoot and miss the pellet flies through the strip of woods and into my neighbours garden/window/child which is less desirable.

These seem relatively easy as it is set and forget with just the occasionally check of the counter to see if it needs a new cartridge.

I am sure the squirrel would taste just fine but having worked part time in a game butchers years ago I am through with skinning animals or plucking birds. There used to be a big cold box with 100 furry rabbits in and I had to turn that into a fridge full of skinned and gutted rabbit carcass. The novelty soon wears off I assure you

I'd also get rid.

Up here we have Red Squirrel Rangers who will perform the task for you, in order to protect our Reds.

So there may be someone happy to come and do it for you - as has been said an experienced shooter with an air rifle (be it FAC or otherwise) can perfectly humanely kill squirrels / rabbits.

If not, that trap looks like good start.

If you are happy to shoot them, why not get a cage trap and shoot them once caught.