Pro-hunter Mat Manning reports on his first hunting trip with the Daystate Huntsman Revere
Pest control of squirrels in the thick foliage of summer
First hunt
My first pest control outing with the Daystate Huntsman Revere was on summer squirrels. It’s a tough challenge and many shooters give up on grey squirrel control during the warmer months. They consider it a waste of time when the trees are in full leaf and quarry is hard to spot.
However, this gives squirrels an easy opportunity to bounce back. They reproduce litters of young in the spring and at the end of the summer. So, leave squirrels unchecked for just a few months at this time of year and all your hard work will quickly be undone.
Notorious pests
And squirrels are notorious pests in the UK. They cause tree damage with their bark-stripping. They predate on songbird eggs and chicks. Additionally, their impact on native mammals is immense. They spread disease and outcompete other species for food. Before you know it, the surrounding habitat will quickly spiral back to where it was before your pest control efforts got underway.
Squirrel feeding stations
Fortunately, there is a very easy way to keep the squirrel cull rolling even when it is impossible to see anything up in the dense summer canopy. The solution is to set up feeding stations. This draws squirrels out into the open where you can get clear shots.
Load a hopper (either homemade or shop bought) with peanuts and keep it topped up for a couple of weeks. This lets the squirrels home in and gain confidence. Then, you can snipe them from a hide, ideally set up about 20 metres away.
My latest outing after grey squirrels was based at a feeder that I’d shot twice before in the past couple of weeks. It had already produced good bags, which is always encouraging. However, this session was particularly exciting as it was my first trip into the field with the new Daystate Huntsman Revere.
Daystate’s Huntsman is a great PCP air rifle, with an enviable reputation. However, this new Revere iteration adds neat new features. It now sports a sidelever action and a new magazine. This latest Daystate magazine holds 13 shots in .177 caliber, 11 in .22 and 10 in .25.
Coupled with a 3-12×42 MTC Mamba Lite scope and Rangemaster Sovereign pellets, it had already given a great account of itself on the range. So, I was now eager to put it to work on some pest control.
Dawn hunting
It was set to be a hot day, so I arrived in the woods just after daybreak. I hoped I could snatch a few hours before the heat became unbearable. The feeder had been topped up the previous day, so I could head straight to the hide without disturbing the feeding station.
My hiding place comprised two camouflage nets; one set up to create a screen in front of me and the other behind to make a backdrop to obscure my outline. I chose a site in deep shade about 20 metres from the feeder, to boost my concealment. Also, this kept me out of the heat of the sun.
First Squirrels
The squirrels were certainly eager to get back to the peanuts, and the first once actually showed up while I was still settling in. I glanced up after putting my shooting sticks in place and the greedy little rodent was sat on top of the feeding station. It was proof that my arrival had caused minimal disturbance.
The oblivious squirrel was soon framed in the Mamba Lite’s sight picture and the crosshairs came to rest on its skull. I applied a touch of hold-under to compensate for the relatively close-range shot and squeezed the trigger… My pellet connected with a loud smack and the squirrel dropped with barely a twitch.
If I had needed a rapid follow-up shot, it would have been right on hand. The biathlon type dropdown handle of the Revere’s new sidelever already comes to hand very instinctively. It cocks the rifle, indexes that slick new magazine and probes the next pellet into the breech ready for action. It’s a pleasure to use and is very fast and smooth.
More squirrels
Only a few minutes passed before another squirrel turned up at the feeding station. Shooting from the support of sticks over such a modest range, pellet placement was a mere formality for the Revere. So, another unlucky bushy-tail was soon added to the morning’s tally. And that’s the pattern that the session followed for the next couple of hours.
As the sun climbed up over the treetops, the action gradually slowed down. The combination of heat and hunger soon had me heading for home, but it had been a productive morning. I’d managed to account for nine squirrels in just over two hours. That’s another nine tree-rats that won’t see the late-summer breeding season.
It’s also clear proof of the importance of keeping the cull running right through the summer.
REVERE TEST
Apart from bringing more destructive squirrels to book, the morning had also been an excellent opportunity for the Huntsman Revere to prove itself. And it passed the test with flying colours. Not only is it an excellent airgun in terms of its performance, it is also a real looker. Daystate may have equipped this rifle with some neat new features, but I am also delighted that it has maintained the appearance of a classic sporting rifle.