Grey Squirrel Control In Rural Areas

by Mr. Steve Caple and the
National Pest Technicians Association
Published in Issue Number 49, April 2006 Edition of:
Today's Technician
Used with permission.

With many people now calling for a mass cull of the grey squirrel, it may be a good time to examine the various methods of squirrel control in a rural environment. Like most pest controllers, the majority of calls I get regarding grey squirrels, is to remove them from roof spaces, sometimes only one, but more often than not an entire family. The most I have ever removed from one roof was seven, two adults and five youngsters, all caught in cage traps.

In an urban situation there is a never ending supply of squirrels and, like foxes if you remove one, another quickly takes over the vacant territory, in nature, a vacuum isn't tolerated for very long. I have proved this time and time again, it applies to magpies, foxes, crows, pigeons etc. you remove a few, and in a very short while the area is re-colonised.

Total eradication of the grey squirrel is now virtually impossible, like the rabbit he is here to stay, all we can do is try to keep on top of the situation.

Like a lot of wild animals, the squirrel has quickly adapted to an urban existence, a freshly replenished supply of food from bird tables and bins means he has no need to struggle to find food in his natural environment.

I have a few contracts that require me to remove the greys from woodland areas and, in these, I have waged all out war on them for some time, with varying degrees of success. Now I must stress, the areas I control contain no red squirrels, so I can use all methods of control on the greys. If the areas you work contain red squirrels, then only live catch traps can be used, for obvious reasons.

One of the best traps of the instant kill type for squirrels is the Kania, they are a little costly to buy, but are extremely efficient in effecting a humane kill every time. I use a few Kanias, permanently set high up on the trunks of the squirrels' favourite trees and, have only ever caught squirrels in them, all of which were instantly killed by the very powerful spring mechanism.

I camouflage mine with a little vegetation, and baited with peanut butter, they prove irresistible to the ever-inquisitive squirrel. The squirrels enter from the underside of the trap and I am sure they would catch even without the attraction of bait, they cannot resist inspecting anything new.

Wooden tunnel traps and Mk 4 Fenn traps, placed at the base of a tree is another method I frequently use, a lot of squirrels can be caught in the autumn using this method. As they search out a food source to see them through the coming winter, a tunnel, baited with maize will prove very effective in luring the squirrel onto the trigger plate of the trap. I use a tunnel with only one entrance to allow the squirrel entry, and the maize is placed at the back of the tunnel so the squirrel has to pass over the trap to get at the bait.

Pre-baiting an area prior to setting the tunnel traps can greatly increase your chance of success. It gets all the squirrels in the area used to feeding in exactly the place you want them, and if you leave a few tunnels without traps around the same spot, they will soon accept them as part of the scenery.

One of the most successful culling methods has to be the poking out of the dreys in the early spring. It requires two people to do the job properly, one to poke the dreys with the lofting poles, and the other waiting with the shotgun to shoot any bolting squirrels. Sometimes the dreys are too high in the tree canopy to reach with the lofting poles, so a blast from the choke barrel is needed to get the squirrels moving. If you can sort out the dreys in a period of cold wet weather, you are more likely to find the dreys occupied, squirrels hate getting wet and chilled, indeed, this can and does often prove fatal.

If you take care of the dreys in March or April you are disrupting the main breeding period and this can dramatically reduce the squirrel population.

I regularly walk around the woods every couple of weeks or so from February to May and systematically blast every drey I see, it keeps the squirrels constantly moving and this eventually leads to the dreys being completely abandoned.

Another popular method used to be the use of warfarin mixed with grain and dispensed from a hopper that only allowed access to the grey squirrel.

I was never a fan of this method, as I always try to keep the use of anticoagulants to a bare minimum. I would always worry about what other animals may feed on the squirrel carcases, and so for that reason I never use this method.

Cage traps, be they the multi-catch or single catch types are still one of the best control methods in a woodland situation. Baited with maize or peanuts they are highly visible from up in the tree canopy, and squirrels can seldom refuse a free meal. The only problem with cages is, if they are used where the public has access then they can get damaged or stolen, and, being quite expensive to replace, is not something you want happening very often.

You can disguise them with a little vegetation, but if the public find it hard to spot them, so will the squirrel, which is not what you want. That said, cages are hard to beat for catching squirrels, they seem to enter them with little, if any, hesitation, and any non-target species caught can be released unharmed. When setting cages, it always pays to pin them down with a stick or bar inserted through the wire, this prevents foxes or badgers carrying the cages off. I have had the local blacksmith make me some T bars in stainless steel, these are about 18 inches long, and when fixed firmly through the cage hold it tight to the ground. I use them for my rabbit and mink cages as well, and I have not had one cage moved since I started using them.

For a novel use of a cage trap, I had a client who required me to remove some squirrels that had eaten through the lid of a waste bin to get at the food waste inside. I placed a cage vertically directly beneath the hole, and placed a mouse bait tray full of peanuts at the bottom of the cage. It caught six squirrels in as many days much to the clients delight.

As pest controllers, we have our part to play in trying to keep the grey squirrel numbers down, and we can make a difference, however small, in the areas in which we each work. Remember, it is an offence to release a grey squirrel into the countryside, so all squirrels need to be humanely dispatched, even if a few white lies are needed on occasions to pacify the more sensitive members of the public. For this reason, I never dispatch a squirrel on site, I always cover them in a blanket, and take them away for destruction later. On the subject of humane dispatch, we owe it to whatever species we cull to make sure it is done as quickly and cleanly as possible, with squirrels or mink, a shot to the head with a high-powered air rifle or the .22 rimfire is the most effective. If using the rimfire though, make sure you only use the low powered CB caps and that the cage is standing on soft earth to prevent the possibility of ricochets. On no account should anyone try to drown a squirrel it is both cruel and inhumane, and anyone who carries out such practises, shouldn't be involved in pest control.

On a lighter note, if you are catching any number of squirrels, there is a market out there for the tails. They dye them different colours, and use them for tying flies for fishing, I know how keen you all are to make a few extra bob, so it might be worth your while investigating further.

Happy hunting.

The Countryman