[blackbob]

why not get a rat trap , bait it up with chocolate , then take your captured squirrel for a long drive into the countryside , a squirrels area is about 1/2 a mile , tale him out 5 miles and he will re-settle and be a pain to someone else

totally illegal though and just widens the problem,air rifle has worked well for us.
wev'e cleaned out large areas of woodland and await the reds return.
well placed bird feeders in trees work well and they cant resist snicker bars by the way.

[CZ Silhouette]

An interesting peculiarity of the law, because they are classed as vermin, is that if you catch one alive, its illegal to release it!! Because its vermin!!!

True but it's not just because it's vermin. It’s due to it being a non native species.
It is illegal to release any non-native & the consequences can be devastating to our native wildlife. The grey squirrel being a good example, also the American signal crayfish. Then you had the animal rights protesters who released the mink from mink farms. That was a smart move wasn’t it?

[lincspoacher]

An interesting peculiarity of the law, because they are classed as vermin, is that if you catch one alive, its illegal to release it!! Because its vermin!!!

True but it's not just because it's vermin. It’s due to it being a non native species.
It is illegal to release any non-native & the consequences can be devastating to our native wildlife. The grey squirrel being a good example, also the American signal crayfish. Then you had the animal rights protesters who released the mink from mink farms. That was a smart move wasn’t it?

Oh yes,. the morons let 1000's of mink loose in the New Forest, thus endangering the entire balance of the local ecology. They spent months trying to catch them all, and in the mean time the minks ran riot killing cats, pet rabbits, small dogs and chickens.

I dont have any time for the 'animal rights' morons. Most of them are city dwellers who have no fricking idea about the countryside.

[lincspoacher]

An interesting peculiarity of the law, because they are classed as vermin, is that if you catch one alive, its illegal to release it!! Because its vermin!!!

"why not get a rat trap , bait it up with chocolate , then take your captured squirrel for a long drive into the countryside , a squirrels area is about 1/2 a mile , tale him out 5 miles and he will re-settle and be a pain to someone else"


Did you not read the previous post. it is illegal to release them once caught  

They are classed as vermin and should be treated as such .22 head shot  

 

  Yes but who would see. And to be quite honest a lot of things are illegal and nobody seems to do a damn thing about it so Im sure they wouldnt bother with a squirrel. Badgers are classed as enemy number one but I doubt youd get many people advocating killing them.  :?

1. its not the point 'who would see'. There a blooming menace and have nearly wiped out the beautiful native reds. Spreading them about doesnt help the problem. Who would see if you shot the blooming thing, by the same token. You would be taking one step closer to saving the red  every time you killed a grey.

Having said that, someone has now managed to release the russian black squirrel into this country, and they will prolly wipe out the grey, but on the downside there even worse. Blacks have been known to flashmob small dogs and kill them.

2. Badgers, on the other hand, are being used a scapegoat. Theres no direct evidence they spread TB in cows, just some MAFF civil servant making an off the cuff guess, as most of government policy seems to be.

[Rampant_Weasel]

Get a "jack russell " and it will despatch squirrels with a headshot from a .22  

Mice are my problem on the veg patch at the moment - i've put down rat poison but still my sprouts are being stripped. If i've lost more leaves tomorrow i will be putting out traps  tomorrow  :evil:

my father just had a mice problem, baited a trap with a peanut and he caught 4 in a day...and counting

[pushrod]

Get a "jack russell " and it will despatch squirrels with a headshot from a .22  

Mice are my problem on the veg patch at the moment - i've put down rat poison but still my sprouts are being stripped. If i've lost more leaves tomorrow i will be putting out traps  tomorrow  :evil:

my father just had a mice problem, baited a trap with a peanut and he caught 4 in a day...and counting

I have a live rat trap somewhere and a deep water barrel might just hunt it out and see what i can catch.

Last summer was paddling along a small river in a kayak and came across a family of mink. They appeared to have almost no fear at all, possibly because they were approached from the water. They were really cute and interesting, but on the other hand seeing some water voles would have been interesting too and i gather they had also decimated the local duck population.

[thebear]

Ive taken about 7 squirrells out with my air rifle.

They come onto my bird feeders which are about 8ft from my kitchen door, so I can get a good headshot kill every time

[tinlizzy]

Thanks for all the suggestions, don't have an air rifle, do you think a pea shooter would have the same effect?   Somehow I don't think so.

[ratman]

Been reading this thread with interest, as a professional pest controller of many years I will first confirm that indeed it is an offence under the wildlife and countryside act 1981 to re-release a grey squirrel. Grey squirrels are also now known to carry a pox virus that affects the red squirrel.
Also reference to dumping the caged squirrel in a deep water butt is again another no no I am afraid. It is not an approved method of killing and constitutes an offence. The air rifle is a good means of despatching a caged squirrel however safety issues and indeed knowing where to best shoot the squirrel is another factor to avoid unecessary suffering.
If the squirrel problem needs to be addressed then how about using a trap that will deliver a fatal blow to the squirrel so as no further actions are needed once the squirrel has entered the trap ?
Have a look at this trap

http://www.kania.net/

I use them all the time and can vouch they are extremely effective. The obvious safety factors would have to be considered to ensure children and non target species are denied access and whilst left outdoors overnight the trap should be covered or sprung to avoid the risk of catching hedgehogs. The trap is baited with bird table peanuts and once the squirrel puts it's head into the trap to remove them a swift blow is delivered to the back of the head/neck from a pre-set sprung loaded arm.
Very effective and saves the need to mess about with air rifles etc. The trap can also be tree mounted to keep it out of reach of children etc.
Hope this helps.

[Rampant_Weasel]

bit steep at 60 quid, are air rifles cheaper?
on the other hand traps dont miss do they?

[ratman]

I did not check the price, my supplier is much cheaper
£42:50 plus vat. SX environmental supplies 0800 0851 451.

Even at 60 quid you have something that is working for you all day every day. An air rifle is only as good as the time you have to spend with it watching and waiting. Also many gardens would not be suitable for discharging a gun in. Other factors also come into the equation such as neighbours being fond of the squirrels and not liking you shooting them etc. The trap can be placed discreetly and like you say, it never misses.