Shoot it or watch it??????

[monkey_pork]

I voted to watch it, there is not a single question in my mind.

As has been already posted here, for lots and lots of people, this is one of the only wild animals that they see, and however much of a problem to reds, and commercial logging as they might be, you can't ignore that lots of people love them, and find that they charm and enrich their lives. Maybe that love goes no further than that, but maybe it changes some of those people forever - who knows.

Not getting into the ethics at all, but I'd expect that too rapid a decline in numbers would unsettle the balance, so any predatory species that depend on them will also suffer a decline in the short term, plus you'd only defer the problem, as any gaps will be filled a generation or two later as migrant animals found their way into new territory (as was proved by the DEFRA test badger cull in the SW a year of two ago).

I killed one on the road a few months back and I have to say I was beside myself. Over anthropomorphising I'm sure, but I'd invented this little life for her, that really centred on her just crossing the road to climb up and sit in the hedge eating the ripening hazel nuts as the first rays of the morning sun hit that side of the road.

:sad6:

 

[Graham_S]

tree rats. but very tasty.
i voted shoot.

 

[Toots]

Watch then shoot, every time. They need controlling somehow and I like to do what little I can to help (Sorry to squirrel lovers, it's just an opinion).

 

[fast but dim]

they're vermin. I live in lancs on the "front line", and would hate to lose the red squirrell. up close they' re scabrous rat like creatures, and deserve no quarter in proximity to reds.

 

[daveymonkey]

hmmm, thought bushcraft was living in harmony with nature not blowing it to bits

 

[Pablo]

davemonkey ... :You_Rock_

All the other comments are excellent...no matter what you voted...


Pablo

 

[Laurence Dell]

Saw a great bumper sticker once....

Preserve Wildlife ​

Pickle a squirrel

Shoot, skin, joint and eat.

Hi again Chris

I have got a T-shirt with the slogan "Save a Tree - Eat a Beaver"

 

[tomtom]

hmmm, thought bushcraft was living in harmony with nature not blowing it to bits

It may well be, but can you sit in a wood where the reds have been driven out by the greys and feel in harmony?
Granted watching the creatures has made me chuckle when I have seen them in the trees, while I can appreciate their adaptation to the environment every grey I see fills me with sadness that the native species are on the brink of extinction living in the far north and an island off the Dorset coast and that the nature your talking about isn’t 'natural' at all because of the species we introduced. So many of our native species are already beyond saviour, it just doesn’t seem at all harmonious to me.

 

[Laurence Dell]

As far as I am aware Red squirrels live in coniferous woodland... partly why there are more in Scotland than anywhere else in the UK.

The only reason that Red Squirrels are restricted to coniferous woodland is that they cannot compete with the greys in mixed or deciduous woodland. mainly due to them not being able to digest acorns efficiently like the greys can.

The reds would happily live in mixed deciduous woodlands if greys were not present, albeit at lower densities than in coniferous forest.

They survive on the Isle of Wight and Brownsea Island okay.
BTW did anyone see the program 2nite at 20:50hrs about the Red Squirrels on Brownsea?

 

[tomtom]

I saw it, a really good program.. made me all the sadder at what has happened to them!

 

[directdrive]

It's like everything else. If it has no natural predators, it will over populate and become a nuisance. I got my first gun when I was four years old. It was a Remingtion pump rifle in
.22 caliber. I learned to use it and use it safely. One thing I learned from the get-go was that if I shot it, I ate it. I never shoot an animal just to shoot it. This past sunday, I had a lovely 4 point whitetail buck in my crosshairs at 75 yards. I could easily have killed it. Instead, I watched it for more than 15 minutes as it browsed the bushes in a dry wash. My freezer is full already......If an animal over populates (as whitetails do), special quota hunts are arranged and a specific number of animals are harvested. All the meat is used to feed the homeless in shelters in our area. I lost my taste for squirrel years ago. Once I shot an old boar squirrel whose balls where near as big as mine. I cooked him for two hours in a stew. I couldn't eat him he was so tough. I gave him to the dogs and they chewed on him for about 8 hours before he was gone......also, don't eat their brains. There were some guys near here who did that and they all went mad and died.....never heard what disease they'd gotten though it sounds frighteningly like mad cow disease.....Take what you need or have to kill but kill nothing just to kill it......Bruce

 

[Tony]

I've only read the first post on this and for me it's a case of, watch it, enjoy it and leave it alone, unless I need to eat it, then it's a case of get on with it.

 

[gregorach]

Yeah, that's my view Tony. I've got no objections to other people hunting 'em, but personally I don't kill anything without a very good reason. I appreciate what others have said with respect to the reds, but I think the unfortunate fact is that that battle has already been lost. Even if it hasn't, trying to redress the balance by shooting seems a little like trying to bail out the sea with a teacup...

We should always remember that nature is dynamic, not static. New species displace established ones all the time, with or without human help. It's sad, but it's the way of things.

 

[JoshG]

Yeah, that's my view Tony. I've got no objections to other people hunting 'em, but personally I don't kill anything without a very good reason. I appreciate what others have said with respect to the reds, but I think the unfortunate fact is that that battle has already been lost. Even if it hasn't, trying to redress the balance by shooting seems a little like trying to bail out the sea with a teacup...

We should always remember that nature is dynamic, not static. New species displace established ones all the time, with or without human help. It's sad, but it's the way of things.

Bingo.

 

[daveymonkey]

Valid point gregorach, the fact is that the gray squirrel lives in over 90% of the uk thats an enormous population, its also become the food source for birds of prey, stoats,foxes,wildcats and also pinemartins which are incidently the main predator of the reds the others arnt. Instead of seeing what we can kill why dont we try to reintroduce native animals back into the uk like wolves and wild boar which were actually hunted out of the uk for sport ? Incidently if my biology lessons were correct(it was a long time ago ) the domestic cat is also a non native species and as they kill 275 million animals and birds per year shouldnt they be shot and trapped aswell!? (for arguements sake of course)

 

[daveymonkey]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/features/175index.shtml

 

[stevo]

Here here on the cat thing....another one of mankind's anthropocentric un-nescessary introductions!!

 

[pierre girard]

Does the Grey Squirrel cause more harm than good. It has ousted the Red and shredds the bark off trees, but it also plants a lot of trees, and is fun to watch, so would you rather shoot it or do you get more pleasure watching it................Jon

Not sure what kind of "reds" you have, but it is just the opposite here. Our reds (pine squirrels) chase the grey squirrels and castrate them - even though the reds are half the size.

Grey squirrel are very good eating, though any type of squirrel is in trouble when he shows up in my yard - as they have a tendency to get in my attic and make a terrible mess.

I've had quite a problem with them as a transplanted Brit (from London) has moved in next door and seems to think the local fauna can not get by with out him feeding them. He has 48 bird feeders and can't figure out why he has bear problems. He buys a 55 gallon drum of nuts every other week and sets them out in a trough for the deer. It attracts every deer in the area and they eat the tops off my young trees and apple trees. The squirrels are attracted and are a corresponding nuisance. I've tried to talk to him about this, but he has a city person's point of view.

PG

 

[bloodline]

I saw an albino one about a month ago in my local public bit of wood I know theres supposed to be a lot around but it was the first pure white one Ive seen and it was quite moving to see one. What I call a real Earth Mother type of experience. The little beasty hung on an oak looking at me for a good while.

 

[TheViking]

shoot it, then eat it.
but in truth I had a red one in the scope the other day and didnt shoot.
He and his brother where playing so fine in the sun than I felt bad to shoot one away so I left it as that and moved happily on.

cheers
Abbe

Being a hunter i know how you think. I think it was wise to do, we arent killer machines and I don't think anyone should shoot just because we can.