The Process of Trying Out the Goodnature

A18 Grey Squirrels Trap

By Alan Johnson, Danum Outdoors

“I am now in the process of trying out my newly purchased Goodnature A18 grey squirrels trap. I have selected an area of woodland that has two main sections with a corridor of trees between the two. My theory is that if I place the trap at the end of the tree corridor it will act as a pinch point whereby  concentrating the squirrel activity in to a smaller area and hopefully increasing the chances of the trap catching a squirrel as they travel between the woods.

With the trap in place and a camera set up to see what activity I get, the good nature also comes with its own counter, so if all else fails, I will still be able to tell how many times the trap has been activated. As my cameras that send a photo to an app hadn’t arrived, I placed a basic camera that would at least record any activity. 

I left everything in place for a week then went back to check. And what did I find? Nothing. The counter was still on zero and when I checked the camera the only thing on it was me. This time I had the new cameras. And I also had a baiting station to add next to the trap to make sure that there were definitely squirrels in this part of the wood. I didn’t see why not, as I had seen them elsewhere. I placed another bait station around 150 metres back in to the wood to see if I got more activity there. 

After another week. I still had no squirrels at my original trap site, and I had only seen one, once, at the second bait point. This squirrel had not shown any interest in the bait and just climbed past. This did seem strange and I did wonder why this might be the case. One possibility, which I was made aware of while having my morning brew and watching breakfast TV, was because of the drought at the start of the year. Trees had become stressed, which in turn, forced them to grow more fruiting bodies. So more nuts like beech masts and sweet chestnuts could be readily found throughout the wood leading to an over abundance of food sources. 

But there are still squirrels to catch. The next plan was to move the trap site another 150 metres back into the wood where I know there are plenty of the grey rodents about. 

So using my same theory, I am placing a baiting station next to the trap to draw squirrels to the location and a camera set up to catch the action. Within 24 hours they had found it. The next task is to get them in to the goodnature.

In summary the location of the trap has to be considered. Don’t rely on the fact that squirrels are inherently inquisitive to be able to catch them. If they are not in the area they won’t get caught. Also, when carrying out a wide scale control program, the time of the year may need to be considered. And there is still a level of field craft that is needed to get the best results.

Hopefully the trapping will start to increase but as usual I will keep you informed”.