Squirrels

[darrren 414]

So I set squirrel snares for the first time yesterday, two on a leaning branch, two on a natural runway over a fallen Birch. I checked today, one had a small loop and was pulled down, the other two pulled down and looked broken off. My own observation tells me the log needs to be higher off the ground as I think they may have got a foot on the ground, I also made the noose smaller. Any advice guys? Not had any luck with my fenns in the last week and place is crawling with them hence the snares. 

[darrren 414]

[darrren 414]

[darrren 414]

Finally got one, I have made the nooses larger and tomorrow will be adding tealers to them all like in the photo, I put this caught squirrels head to my other snares and it barely fitted through so I think this has had some bearing on me not catching. 

[darrren 414]

[Born Hunter 17,783]

Well done on the snares. Never snared squirrel myself.

But what's the crack with the Fenns? I'd typically expect to be murdering them with Fenns, so I'm surprised you haven't had any luck on that front. They're probably the most effective way to trap squirrels. Rats can take a little while but squirrels are usually pretty confident around a new tunnel.

Edited September 26, 2018 by Born Hunter

[Deker 3,478]

Never snared squirrel myself, livetrap or Fenn usually does enough for me.  Shoot a few of course as well!

[forest of dean redneck 11,674]

Not tried it myself always wanted to, 

ive seen a pic of a survival /bushcraft squirrel setup and there was several snares set around a branch so the squirrel had to go through one to get to the bait? 

[Welsh_red 4,660]

Fair bit of snaring squirells on darcys trapping dvd

[Greyman 28,740]

Nice one Darren and FairPlay for perseverance, I,ve been out for a quick hour round the woods with the dogs and they treed 5 in an hour first time in an age I never had a catty in my pocket gutted, keep up the good work and keep the pics coming   

[Greyman 28,740]

On 19 September 2018 at 16:07, darrren said:

Think you need to set them higher off the ground so when the squirrel drops it's off the floor, I,d say you had one in there but it was able to stand on its hind legs and chew the wire

[FENN 24]

one thing to remember all the squirrel works on sight not smell so what ever you do be it snare them or trap them the make the bait visible . i hang a mesh bird feeder full of maize on the center of the pole so they can see it .also i i use the maize behind the fenn and outside the set to attract there  

 

[Welsh_red 4,660]

12 minutes ago, FENN said:

one thing to remember all the squirrel works on sight not smell so what ever you do be it snare them or trap them the make the bait visible . i hang a mesh bird feeder full of maize on the center of the pole so they can see it .also i i use the maize behind the fenn and outside the set to attract there  

 

someone said they can see the colour yellow more than anything . might be a good attractant colour

[darrren 414]

I moved a fenn into a big tree opening I found and had a young squirrel yesterday evening checking them the second time of the day. I also had my second snared squirrel on a log I put up about a week ago. I checked again this morning and the same snare was chewed off so either it was pulled off by a fox or he chewed off, but I'm getting there. I've made the loop alot bigger, one thing I did was on my first catch, held the squirrel to my other snares and the noose was way too small. I have my dads funeral today but hopefully I'll have a catch later this evening. Two weeks of missed catches but I'm learning from my mistakes and snares definitely work. The other fenns I've not had a thing. The fenn had this one by the legs so not clean but as I was checking traps I heard sudden distress calls so maybe it caught while I was there. I'll get some photos of my fenn set ups later. 

[Born Hunter 17,783]

Are the natural tunnels you're putting the Fenns in tight to the top of the closed trap? It might be throwing the squirrel up on firing. Some simple ply or weldmesh tunnels might be better for you...

Seems like you're getting to grips with the snaring though.

Edited September 27, 2018 by Born Hunter