Late autumn is a wonderful season to be out in the woods with an airgun, but it can be a challenging time for shooting grey squirrels. The problem is that the abundance of natural food such as acorns and sweet chestnuts draws the bark-stripping rodents away from bait stations. And it can be even trickier if the leaf fall comes late, leaving squirrels with plenty of cover to keep them hidden in the treetops.
I believe that most pest control problems can be overcome with a bit of thought. So, when the squirrels refuse to come to my peanut feeders in large numbers, I go looking for them rather than spending fruitless hours waiting for them to come to me.
Judging by my recent observations, I felt confident that I would encounter squirrels around oak trees. The acorn crop is diminishing a little now, but there are still enough to keep the bushy-tails interested, so I guessed that’s what they’d be dining on.
My first port of call was a stand of towering oaks where the woodland floor was still littered with a reasonable sprinkling of acorns. The open form of these huge old trees also means there’s quite a clear view up into their boughs, even with lots of leaves still hanging on.
My approach for this sort of hunt is very simple. I place my beanbag seat at the base of a wide tree trunk that offers good cover, put on a head net to keep my face hidden and sit and wait. Moving around the woods when the ground is carpeted with brittle leaf litter will often put squirrels on edge, but sit quietly and it’s surprising what will venture out after peace has returned. Another good thing about this tactic is that it’s easy to move on to another spot if you start in the wrong area.
Thankfully, it appeared that I had chosen a good place as a squirrel emerged about ten minutes after I’d settled in. Rather than being up in the treetops, it was on the ground – no doubt foraging for the remaining acorns.
I raised the FX DRS into my shoulder and soon had my Hawke Sidewinder scope locked on the unsuspecting rodent. The only snag was that the squirrel wouldn’t keep still long enough for me to get a clear aim at its head. A quick click of my tongue soon solved that problem. The squirrel sat bolt upright trying to locate the source of the sudden sound, giving me the perfect opportunity to line up and flip it over with a smack to the head.
Another squirrel made the mistake of venturing into my line of sight about 20 minutes later. This one was way up in the branches, and presumably thought that it was invisible in the shade of the remaining leaves. Unfortunately for that squirrel, my Hawke Sidewinder scope has excellent light transmission, and I could see the bushy-tailed little rodent very clearly in the sight picture. At just over 25 metres, it wasn’t a particularly difficult shot, and I soon made my second addition to the tally.
My decision to choose the sub-12ft/lb FX DRS for this shoot was based largely on the fact that I was expecting to be taking shots up into the treetops. Lower power is a real asset in this scenario – though you still need to ensure there is a safe fallout zone behind your targets – and the super-accurate DRS enables me to place .177 pellets with absolute precision. My DRS is currently cradled in custom handle from Form Rifle Stocks. Apart from looking beautiful, this stock fits me like a glove and its push-button adjustable cheekpiece means I can always achieve perfect eye/scope alignment whatever height scope mounts I’m using.
That second squirrel proved to be my last one from the spot amongst the oaks. I sat it out for another hour but, with no further signs of squirrels feeding on the remaining acorns, I decided it was time to move on.
Although my bait stations aren’t currently getting a lot of attention, that will soon change after we’ve had a few proper frosts. Cold weather puts a real edge on squirrels’ hunger and, as natural food begins to decline, their visits to my feeders will become more and more frequent. With that in mind, I had brought along a bag of peanuts to make sure my bait station was topped up in readiness for the winter binge.
The squirrel feeders I use more often than any other these days come from Keith’s High Seats. They are actually made by Keith Watson – a very practical man who does a heck of a lot of grey squirrel control. Keith’s expertise is very apparent in his feeders; they are incredibly well-made and hold plenty of peanuts, which cuts down on the number of trips you need to make to keep them topped up. They incorporate a handy little lid over their feed tray which prevents small birds from helping themselves to your expensive peanuts.
Although I didn’t see any squirrels around the bait station, they had clearly been visiting as its contents had reduced by about half since my previous visit a week earlier. The ground beneath it was littered with discarded peanut husks – a definite sign that squirrels had been dining. Numbers will no doubt build steadily over the coming days, and I’ll probably shoot it in a week or two.
With my session drawing to a close, I chose a return route that would take me through several stands of mature oak trees, where I hoped to encounter more greedy squirrels on my way back to the car. Sure enough, I hadn’t travelled far from the feeder before I spotted and shot another bushy-tail up in the treetops. I spooked a couple of others – a reminder to move slower and more cautiously and to pause frequently to carefully scan all around me.
Slower progress proved to be the right move when I spotted another squirrel scratching around for wind-blown acorns. It was about 50 metres away when I first spotted it, but it was so distracted in its pursuit of tasty morsels that it failed to notice me drifting ever closer through the trees.
At about 25 metres, I decided not to push my luck any further and settled down for a shot where a tree trunk provided a welcome rest. A supported shot at that range is usually a mere formality, and that was the case with this one. The Hawke Sidewinder’s crosshairs soon settled on the oblivious squirrel’s head, and the FX DRS’s ever-dependable accuracy ensured that my pellet’s journey terminated with a fatal smack to the skull, which snuffed out the squirrel before it knew what had hit it.
With time getting on, and with pressing family commitments awaiting me back home, I had to abandon my stealthy stalking and hurry back to the car. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t get any more shots, though I did send a couple more squirrels scrambling for cover.
I concluded the session by snipping off the shot squirrels’ tails. Although the rodents were destined for a local birds of prey centre, where they would nourish the hawks, owls and falcons, I leave the tails with the owner of the estate as he uses the fibres to tie the fly-hooks he uses to temp trout from the river that winds its way through his woods.
MAT’S KIT
GUN: FX DRS Classic https://fxairguns.com/
SCOPE: Hawke Sidewinder https://www.hawkeoptics.com/
MOUNTS: Sportsmatch two-piece https://www.sportsmatch-uk.com/
STOCK: Form Rifle Stocks https://formriflestocks.co.uk/
BOOTS: Aigle Parcours II Vario https://www.bisley-uk.com/
FEEDER: https://keithshighseats.co.uk/
