Thread: Bird Predator Control

I am keen to keep this thread going so will post a few reports
Still never managed to get a stoat or ferret into a DOC250 - has anyone got any secrets?
I had a walk around the Park today - couple of rats and bait starting to move again - not a sign of a possum in 15 traps
How plain is that - keep your fingers clear - quite useful to catch rats or possums in a Timms type trap

Something has been trying it out

When you are feeling better - come back - its full again

Seems to have been a lot of rain round the BOP lately - damp conditions in bait stations result in mouldy bait
Mouldy bait sucks! - rats just won’t eat it - change to new bait and they wolf it


Still picking up the odd rat - try to give them an option - toxin or steel - good choice rat - much faster


I often put a rat trap alongside a possum trap - saves time checking


Less predators mean more birds - seems to be a Tui up every tree at present and seeing Kereru every trip often pairs of them - after a year of work - I think the birds are coming back


Saw this big fatty yesterday and he had a smaller mate with him

Good work Time Out

When I was home last Dad was having trouble with the local minor bird population.
Being spring they where eating a load of eggs, new chicks etc.
Shot two off of the front step, then made up some small cradles out of some fencing wire sat them in it.
Placed them out on his front lawn and put up to poles and a bit of camo cloth as a screen. Got a nice seat and a load of 7 shot. Spent the afternoon and ended the day with 48. They decoyed in a treat. Had the good wife supplying me with coffee and calling out when they where coming in from a blind spot off on my left.
Dads place is a long way from the neighbours so no problems with noise or scaring someone who no nothing about guns or pest control.
Dad told me later that the local small bird population was now doing very well.
If you look on some of the pigeon shooting UK sights you can get an idear on how to make your own cradels.
You can do it with magpies as well. Good for getting your eye in before duck shooting

I got this bastard today - same place as the one a couple of weeks back
I hate to think how much damage cats are doing - they should be top of the list for predator control
Nice fresh rabbit for the next ones - Timms and cages

Getting hard to find a possum - one today - still the odd rat around - two in timms today - not sure if they like apple or the possum paste

If you use Victor Pro rat traps - they may need a clean up after the winter as the steel may rust unless coated with some form of protection or lubricant
My traps are two years old and had stopped working - the pivot saddle for the bait/foot plate had rusted and prevented the foot plate from moving smoothly
The foot plate can be easily removed to wire brush the pivot saddle - Prolan is a useful protective coating and lanoline is apparently attractive to rats or stoats
I have also altered my trap boxes by removing the 50mm entry end and replacing it with wire mesh for viewing the bait - I then removed the old wire mesh from the 85mm viewing end and turned this into a larger entry hole
Most of my old boxes had been scratched round the 50mm entry hole - hogs that could not get in - now they have heaps of room with the 85mm hole - yuk - 50mm entry hole is just too small






The changes to the boxes and trap maintenance has made a real difference - 8 kills in 17 traps at the farm yesterday - couple in Snap-E traps

The Timms is a great trap - possums, rats, hedgehogs and cats - this cat is a first for me
I knew she was around and nearly got her in a cage but she backed out - no backing out of a Timms - tempted by some fresh rabbit
Only got one kitten so will be more of them around

Have you enlarged the opening on the timms to fit cats?

Rats, rats and more rats - they keep on coming - cant beat your one for size Dundee - they have worn the mould off the stays






The hogs keep on coming - cage them - Victor them and DOC250 them - got 13 in the last month in the back yard at home - the Lady next door breeds them - they like looking at themselves in the mirror of my magpie trap
Hard to believe how they get in through two sets of mesh in the DOC250 - squeeze - turn left - squeeze again - whack

Back in the day, if one of our ferrets went walk about, we would leave fresh liver out overnight to attract it. Always worked for us

A mate up Kaipara South Head caught this ferret yesterday - he is not on this forum but is happy for me to post it - a nasty little critter
Hope the video works

Looks like a little sweety

There is no end to these bastards coming in from the neighbours - you just have to keep checking the traps - only one rat and a mouse today - looks like he has been into my Pestoff bait - would give you the shits



But the upside of all the trapping is more of these beautiful birds - they have been over in the orchards but are coming back in good numbers - watched this guy today for about five minutes

just bought 5 of those snap-e rat traps to use around our house. caught three on the first night. Baited with peanut butter. Interested what people recommend for bait, cant keep raiding the peanut butter. caught one mouse but a couple traps are getting cleaned out without going off. mice i assume on a trap thats not hairy enough? also one or two traps triggered with no catch, seems like a critter could approach the trap from the safe end and trip the plate and not get caught, could be the mice again too? there are a lot of mice around here at the moment nailed about 15 so far trying to move into our house!! Using the grey "better mouse trap" from the supermarket work really well on the mice.