not for the pot, dear rat

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not for the pot, dear rat
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Downsizer Forum Index -> Shooting and Trapping for the Pot

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sgt.colon

Joined: 27 Jul 2009
Posts: 7380
Location: Just south of north.

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 20 8:24 am Post subject:
Maybe word has got out about you DPack. They are probably calling you a dirty rat.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 20 10:41 pm Post subject:
still quiet but is bin day in the morning once there is less food in the area something might seek cheese and bacon and seeds i will give it a week and try bird feeding ad lib again

sgt.colon

Joined: 27 Jul 2009
Posts: 7380
Location: Just south of north.

Posted: Mon Sep 28, 20 8:47 am Post subject:
So I'm trying to get a squirrel and this is the trap I have set up. DPack, please could you let me know what I'm best baiting it with and should I do it top, middle or bottom of the trap? Thank you.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes

Posted: Mon Sep 28, 20 1:38 pm Post subject:

gulp that is a scary looking thing

nuts and maybe a bit of peanut butter once it has weathered for a bit

squizzers stole my cheese, they are fond of rope and plastic, sausage rolls and mushrooms i would not eat, ice creams are popular in museum gardens

nutty stuff is a good bet and it lasts well, a few fresh off the tree hazel nuts might be an assassins tool, hit one with a hammer and pop that in with a few more, leaves on etc.

a rub of sesame oil will remove your scent and provide an attractive one

a bit like rats with a leaning to high calorie vegan/veggie but ok about the odd bit of meat etc when available

see what works

ps solid bait in the bottom of the cone, smelly bait spread on the cone

pps setting the post at a steep 60 degrees against the trunk of a favoured tree might be a good position, trap on upside of the post, it works for squizzer snares ,tangle and dangle is too brutal for my sensitive nature, never tried deadfalls or spring in a cone with them but treat em like rats, fun as pets bad as vermin.

positioning works wonders for the success rate when trapping

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes

Posted: Mon Sep 28, 20 2:17 pm Post subject:
and a rat update, no rats at the mo i recon getting them in the first couple of months is vital, once they have babies tis worse than tribbles in the ducts captain

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16004

Posted: Tue Sep 29, 20 7:18 am Post subject:
Glad you seem to be rat free now Dpack. Are the Sammisons back? Sgt. Colon, squirrels are tree rats with PR as our son says. I don't go for their PR myself, so regard them as rats. They are edible btw.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes

Posted: Tue Sep 29, 20 8:54 am Post subject:

sammison, singular, youngi the one who had his tail stroked

now i am feeding again the full bird crew are back, including new dik who has learnt that pick on one sparrow they all retaliate, so he is now polite

young bracket is becoming a lady and could do with a wig at the mo while she grows adult plumage

re butterfly count, the data folk think they might have been early and gone before counting, my invertebrate numbers have been low since june but the sparrows might be involved in that

how have your minibeasts done this year so far?

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8962
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Tue Sep 29, 20 8:58 am Post subject:
Apart from the ones on the cabbages we have had a dearth of insects. Even midgies

sgt.colon

Joined: 27 Jul 2009
Posts: 7380
Location: Just south of north.

Posted: Tue Sep 29, 20 12:40 pm Post subject:
Thanks for all that DPack. I'll get some stuff together and have a play. True that MR and if I can notice one soon enough hanging from the trap, then I think I'll give it a go.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16004

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 20 6:57 am Post subject:
Have seen the odd hornet, including one that was hawking around the bee hive in the wood, beetles, thought to be oil beetles of some sort are frequenting the yard, and presumably the grubs are in the sawdust as the badgers have been digging there. Had quite a few butterflies in the woods, and a reasonable number in the garden, although not as many as some years.

sgt.colon

Joined: 27 Jul 2009
Posts: 7380
Location: Just south of north.

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 20 8:10 am Post subject:

Mistress Rose wrote:

the grubs are in the sawdust as the badgers have been digging there.

Ahhhhh, is that why the badgers that get in down the allotment keep attacking my covered raised beds? I bet they have eaten my little ant colony.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16004

Posted: Thu Oct 01, 20 6:53 am Post subject:
Could well be. Ours in the woods often go for bumble bees nests and once went for a hornets nest that was low down. Not sure who won that encounter though.

sgt.colon

Joined: 27 Jul 2009
Posts: 7380
Location: Just south of north.

Posted: Thu Oct 01, 20 7:48 am Post subject:
Well I wouldn't be backing the badgers.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Oct 01, 20 12:48 pm Post subject:

im not sure about that, they are mostly very hairy with only a few bits like noses poking out of the armour.

they are pretty hard un all.

having seen a naked chap up a cliff, with no ropes, stealing from african bees i recon badger versus hornets could be a badger win on a knockout with a few lumps as penance

badgers are fun if a bit edgy up close, i would not want to upset one

my first close encounter was in a very dark place even though my eyes had adjusted, i was comfy on a slope in cover with my mouth open to hear better...

then the rummaging got closer, then the shuffling and snuffling got louder, then something sounded like a pickled onion eating contest within reach

i did not move or make a sound above relaxed heartbeat and slow breathing
i was a tad concerned that "something" was very close, it was not what i was hunting (they are easy)but it did sound capable of being a problem

after a while it stopped and moved on, when i checked the ground later i had been a couple of feet from quite a big un that had been eating bluebell bulbs and it either ignored me or did not know i was there.

another time a young one stole my bacon butty that i had saved for breakfast for me and princess ki el bahara, we were snoozing and wakened to a black and white face with a bacon sarnie in it inches away from my face, i tried not to giggle and ki tried to be invisible under her sleeping bag as she knew when to be discrete

that one was a downsizer badger who decided i was probably safe especially as i had decided to not pitch up in the sett so as not to disturb them

watching them from a distance with a decent night vis rig is ace.

i like badgers and am fairly convinced by the evidence that they are not the vector to target regarding bovine tb

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16004

Posted: Fri Oct 02, 20 7:32 am Post subject:

My first attempt at badger watching ended up with me falling down a badger hole. It was when I was a teenager and had been taken out badger watching by a so called 'expert' from a Guide camp. There were several of us, and she insisted on no torches, even though we were walking through a wood. We had given up as no sight not sound of badgers, and we were walking back, still with no lights, when suddenly the ground wasn't there any more and I was down a badger hole. Luckily any badgers decided that retreat was in order with stray humans coming from above, so apart from bruises, I was all right.

We very rarely see the badgers, but do see evidence of their presence both in the digging, badger trails and latrines. In fact we had to divert a deer fence to avoid the track between an outlier sett, usually used in spring/summer, and their latrine. Our theory is that when the cubs are in the main sett, some of the older males are either thrown out or leave because the kids are too noisy, and that is when they use the outliers.

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