Air Arms Owners Club

Long time no post!

Right, a question, We have part of our land infesting with the critters, causing so much damage now we need them gone. Gassing didn't do it last time, the warren is over an acre or so at least, through 3 lots of mature hedges & in open fields. Any suggestion as to the best way to get rid. Shooting is an issue, we are next to a main road so rimfire is out, plus the field is fairly open so difficult to put a hide in or sneak up on them. I reckon we are well past 50 actual holes now in the corner field & increasing fast.

If it can be done legally and safely, taking them from a vehicle would be thebest option.

Ferrets and shotgun. Knock them over when they bolt

BBF

Knowing which way to look would be the issue, there are so many holes now. Wondering if running through the warren with a sub soil mole plough would start putting them off a bit?

ferrets purse and long nets plus couple of whippets.
or night vision is good .
i clear large garden roads on two sides and inch high grass ,i use shooting mat and find safe
shots like compost heap or tree trunks as back stops.

If it can be done safely and eradication is the aim I'd suggest a combination of snaring and cage traps, mature hedges are ideal for snares and hopefully will be enough to hide the cages (if they're visible from the road they get trashed ). Ideally that will do the bulk of the job and you can clean up with a bit of subtle sniping with the airgun

james79 wrote:If it can be done safely and eradication is the aim I'd suggest a combination of snaring and cage traps, mature hedges are ideal for snares and hopefully will be enough to hide the cages (if they're visible from the road they get trashed ). Ideally that will do the bulk of the job and you can clean up with a bit of subtle sniping with the airgun

Just as a PostScript Im assuming if you're gassing its phostoxin or something similar that you're using? If so the ground needs to be at least damp as its water activated otherwise you're chucking rather expensive pellets down the drain, I personally don't rate phostoxin purely because in my opinion you're unlikely to get enough moisture down a rabbit hole with the current climate (I dare say I'll get shot down for saying bring back cymag but at least it did the trick )

Didn't do the gassing personally, local farmer did it for us as he has the pellets, not sure what type they were. Biggest problem is the only neighbour we have is a bunny hugger, they have a patch of garden which is 10m x 20m which is all warren, it looks like the Somme! 10 years ago it was flat garden, now its raised about 4 feet & full of holes. Luckily the bunnies haven't got to the other end of our land yet as I have planted a 400 tree apple orchard down there and want to expand, the moment they get down that end I am getting the nukes out LOL

Airgun with night vision set up then no one will see u including the bunnies

could you post your location, could this be a night outing for the the club? properlly organised (of course) this could be a real treat for some,
what do you think guys?