Help with gray squirrel control

[Reloader708]

Hello, i wonder if anyone can take the time to look over this questionnaire regarding the various methods of gray squirrel control.
It's focusing on the suitability of gene editing which if implemented (and effective) will effect every aspect of wildlife management, most certainly deer control.
It's not mine, I'm sharing on behalf of someone else.

there-s-more-than-one-way-to-kill-a-squirrel-exploring-gene-e-7

Online surveys is a powerful, easy to use tool for creating online surveys. Run by Jisc, online surveys is used by over 300 different organisations in the UK...

app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk

 

[Bo Diddley]

Grey.

 

[steve sxs]

Hello, i wonder if anyone can take the time to look over this questionnaire regarding the various methods of gray squirrel control.
It's focusing on the suitability of gene editing which if implemented (and effective) will effect every aspect of wildlife management, most certainly deer control.
It's not mine, I'm sharing on behalf of someone else.

there-s-more-than-one-way-to-kill-a-squirrel-exploring-gene-e-7

Online surveys is a powerful, easy to use tool for creating online surveys. Run by Jisc, online surveys is used by over 300 different organisations in the UK...

app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk

Put it in Mc Donald's and let us shoot and trap the greys jmho

 

[AlexD]

Hello, i wonder if anyone can take the time to look over this questionnaire regarding the various methods of gray squirrel control.
It's focusing on the suitability of gene editing which if implemented (and effective) will effect every aspect of wildlife management, most certainly deer control.

Shooting them works pretty well, if one does it consistently/relentlessly. Trouble is in most areas, there are not enough people with guns, or those with guns have no incentive e.g. no crop affected by them.

I removed a few thousand between 2022 and 2024, and have not seen one for months now around where I live.

 

[Tony Morgan]

Shooting them works pretty well, if one does it consistently/relentlessly. Trouble is in most areas, there are not enough people with guns, or those with guns have no incentive e.g. no crop affected by them.

I removed a few thousand between 2022 and 2024, and have not seen one for months now around where I live.

Really? You went from thousands to none, just like that!

 

[AlexD]

Really? You went from thousands to none, just like that!

Over the course of 2 to 3 years, yes.

As the numbers were trailing off, you could see new families arriving, always 4 to 6 at a time, get rid of all of them, and now there are no squirrels within 1/2 mile of my house and noticeably fewer squirrels even a mile away. I have not seen even a single squirrel here in the past 2 to 3 months.

My house was a magnet for them, due to the cherry trees, sweet chestnut trees and a bird table, as well as apples which they would nick and drop. I live on the edge of mixed woodland covering over 1000 acres, so the population was pretty high to start with.

I tried half a dozen different types of trap, wasting around £800 in the process, and got perhaps 10 squirrels in total in them - peanut butter, nuttela, etc nothing was working very well as bait as there was just too much natural food around. The .17 HMR on the other hand, just wipes them out in their droves, plus a couple of dozen taken down with a shotgun because they were in the trees. I was doing 10 to 15 a day, day after day, month after month, initially, then one would have hot days like that with lots of 2 or 3 a day in between, eventually it got down to 1 or 2, plus the family groups. 90% were shot straight from my kitchen window. I posted some pics of the body lineup on the squirrel thread, from time to time, not wanting to hog it.

I would open them up to see what they were eating. Spring is a lot of birds, and eggs, moves to cherries in the summer, some apples, finishes on sweet chestnut in the autumn and in the winter. The wild bird population was hit by bird flu as well, but with the squirrels gone I now have some of the northern nuthatches in my garden, often tree creepers, a wide variety of tits, some jays etc. I removed the magpies as well, as they were stripping cherries and dominated the bird table. The birds of prey loved the squirrel carcasses, both owls at night and a variety of hawks + buzzards during the day.

 

[jall55]

Over the course of 2 to 3 years, yes.

As the numbers were trailing off, you could see new families arriving, always 4 to 6 at a time, get rid of all of them, and now there are no squirrels within 1/2 mile of my house and noticeably fewer squirrels even a mile away. I have not seen even a single squirrel here in the past 2 to 3 months.

My house was a magnet for them, due to the cherry trees, sweet chestnut trees and a bird table, as well as apples which they would nick and drop. I live on the edge of mixed woodland covering over 1000 acres, so the population was pretty high to start with.

I tried half a dozen different types of trap, wasting around £800 in the process, and got perhaps 10 squirrels in total in them - peanut butter, nuttela, etc nothing was working very well as bait as there was just too much natural food around. The .17 HMR on the other hand, just wipes them out in their droves, plus a couple of dozen taken down with a shotgun because they were in the trees. I was doing 10 to 15 a day, day after day, month after month, initially, then one would have hot days like that with lots of 2 or 3 a day in between, eventually it got down to 1 or 2, plus the family groups. 90% were shot straight from my kitchen window. I posted some pics of the body lineup on the squirrel thread, from time to time, not wanting to hog it.

I would open them up to see what they were eating. Spring is a lot of birds, and eggs, moves to cherries in the summer, some apples, finishes on sweet chestnut in the autumn and in the winter. The wild bird population was hit by bird flu as well, but with the squirrels gone I now have some of the northern nuthatches in my garden, often tree creepers, a wide variety of tits, some jays etc. I removed the magpies as well, as they were stripping cherries and dominated the bird table. The birds of prey loved the squirrel carcasses, both owls at night and a variety of hawks + buzzards during the day.

You shot 900 from your kitchen window ?

Copy BASC in to this - with over 1000 squirrels shot and you feeding the owls its a wonder all the lead has not killed them all

There must still be lots in the wood ?

They are obviously not as active in winter so see what the next few weeks bring ?

 

[Bo Diddley]

You cant beat a trap line for removing Greys, wooden boxes to take the trap, with a sprinkle of wheat inside, works for you all day long.

 

[AlexD]

You shot 900 from your kitchen window ?

Copy BASC in to this - with over 1000 squirrels shot and you feeding the owls its a wonder all the lead has not killed them all

There must still be lots in the wood ?

They are obviously not as active in winter so see what the next few weeks bring ?

Over 2000 from the window alone. The window covers a view of 45 yard by 100 yards, which the squirrels have to cross on the grass to get to the cherry trees or the sweet chestnuts. It is a killing zone. There is another zone in front of my house,, and have taken 826 of them there.

There are none in the woods around me. Of course, it is not the best time of year to see them, but it has been warm here and the squirrels are out and very visible when I go onto my permissions.

What started this was one year I got zero cherries, when they were laden with the green unripe ones earlier. Squirrels ate the lot, and also stripped all apples from a tree my wife likes most. The numbers of squirrels were absurd, dropping out of the trees, and one could not walk anywhere in the woods without seeing them in front, on the side, everywhere. Now there are none at all. I often use thermals to spot them, as in a tree they are near invisible, and none at all are showing up on the thermals.

The gamekeeper on the Estate, and the on-site security the Estate has with lots of cameras and patrols 24/7, confirm zero squirrels at this end.

 

[jall55]

Over 2000 from the window alone. The window covers a view of 45 yard by 100 yards, which the squirrels have to cross on the grass to get to the cherry trees or the sweet chestnuts. It is a killing zone. There is another zone in front of my house,, and have taken 826 of them there.

There are none in the woods around me. Of course, it is not the best time of year to see them, but it has been warm here and the squirrels are out and very visible when I go onto my permissions.

What started this was one year I got zero cherries, when they were laden with the green unripe ones earlier. Squirrels ate the lot, and also stripped all apples from a tree my wife likes most. The numbers of squirrels were absurd, dropping out of the trees, and one could not walk anywhere in the woods without seeing them in front, on the side, everywhere. Now there are none at all. I often use thermals to spot them, as in a tree they are near invisible, and none at all are showing up on the thermals.

The gamekeeper on the Estate, and the on-site security the Estate has with lots of cameras and patrols 24/7, confirm zero squirrels at this end.

Are you really saying your garden has acted as a magnet to clear a 1000 acre wood of grey squirrels ?

 

[Bo Diddley]

Over 2000 from the window alone. The window covers a view of 45 yard by 100 yards, which the squirrels have to cross on the grass to get to the cherry trees or the sweet chestnuts. It is a killing zone. There is another zone in front of my house,, and have taken 826 of them there.

There are none in the woods around me. Of course, it is not the best time of year to see them, but it has been warm here and the squirrels are out and very visible when I go onto my permissions.

What started this was one year I got zero cherries, when they were laden with the green unripe ones earlier. Squirrels ate the lot, and also stripped all apples from a tree my wife likes most. The numbers of squirrels were absurd, dropping out of the trees, and one could not walk anywhere in the woods without seeing them in front, on the side, everywhere. Now there are none at all. I often use thermals to spot them, as in a tree they are near invisible, and none at all are showing up on the thermals.

The gamekeeper on the Estate, and the on-site security the Estate has with lots of cameras and patrols 24/7, confirm zero squirrels at this end.

Sounds like you have done a grand job, and had some enjoyment along the way. Well done.

 

[AlexD]

Are you really saying your garden has acted as a magnet to clear a 1000 acre wood of grey squirrels ?

Over 2 to 3 years, yes, they are quite mobile. The sweet chestnut trees are like magnets, as are cherries, and just them migrating into the void left when one takes them out relentlessly.

The garden is 2.5 acres.

Just checked my diary to get precise numbers, total of 2540 from the kitchen window since August 2021. Plus 826 from an acre area down a bank in front of the house. 14 from traps, not 10: repurposed them for rats, until I got fed up and gassed them all one Saturday. 415 shot from woods behind the house, part of the garden but just wood. Total 3,795. On top of that the gamekeeper says he has shot between 1000 and 2000 in a piece of ancient oak woodland about a mile away during the same period. The most in one day was 53, but long periods of 10 to 15 a day, every day, then the gaps started. Anyone in my family who saw a squirrel from the kitchen window would call me, so I could slide the window open, zap them. Leaving the dead ones out for a few hours is like shooting pigeons, attracting their mates - they seem to have no concern about walking between their former family members that have got half a head or half a chest.

 

[jall55]

Over 2 to 3 years, yes, they are quite mobile. The sweet chestnut trees are like magnets, as are cherries, and just them migrating into the void left when one takes them out relentlessly.

The garden is 2.5 acres.

Just checked my diary to get precise numbers, total of 2540 from the kitchen window since August 2021. Plus 826 from an acre area down a bank in front of the house. 14 from traps, not 10: repurposed them for rats, until I got fed up and gassed them all one Saturday. 415 shot from woods behind the house, part of the garden but just wood. Total 3,795. On top of that the gamekeeper says he has shot between 1000 and 2000 in a piece of ancient oak woodland about a mile away during the same period. The most in one day was 53, but long periods of 10 to 15 a day, every day, then the gaps started. Anyone in my family who saw a squirrel from the kitchen window would call me, so I could slide the window open, zap them. Leaving the dead ones out for a few hours is like shooting pigeons, attracting their mates - they seem to have no concern about walking between their former family members that have got half a head or half a chest.

You have done an bloody amazing / brilliant job and no doubt enhanced your environment 10 /20/30 fold
But respectfully to think you have cleared a 1000 acre wood this way is just not doable

 

[JockStalk]

I went from thousands of greys every damn year, including the really socialised ones that nicked your chips off you to zero, in fact the only tree rats I see now are the red variety and there’s plenty of them.

It was a lot of work but eventually you get settled into the new house.

 

[AlexD]

You have done an bloody amazing / brilliant job and no doubt enhanced your environment 10 /20/30 fold
But respectfully to think you have cleared a 1000 acre wood this way is just not doable

You are welcome to visit and see by yourself. Just PM me.

One just has to be relentless, so you shoot far more than can possibly breed, eventually there are no more Greys.

 

[jall55]

You are welcome to visit and see by yourself. Just PM me.

One just has to be relentless, so you shoot far more than can possibly breed, eventually there are no more Greys.

Much appreciated !
Thank you