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We have a few that come through the garden but in the past few months two particular ones have become a problem. They have attacked pets - cats and dogs, taken to leaving their mess outside doors and even getting threatening towards humans.

I can get to within 5 or 10 metres of them - normally from slightly above on a balcony. There is over 50m of mu garden and about 70m from any highway - the neighbours also want the problem "resolved" and will not complain about a small amount of stray shot (but unlikely to happen).

What should I use?

.410 with 18g of 6
12G with 28g of 6
12G with 35g of BB
16G with 26g of 6

I am tempted by the .410 given that it will be a quieter and fairly close - but will it be enough.

Salut ,
I had a similar problem. The council was not surprisingly absolutly & utterly useless since my MP is a fox'slover who voted agst hunting. My back garden is mainly made of a decking section that I now wash from time to time with pure dettol and it does the trick. I appreciate it just flushes them to my neighbours' gardens so it might not a the solution for you .

We all want rid of the two problem ones and control of the overall number so it may not be the right solution and we would need gallons of it and it would probably kill the plants! Most of the area is either concrete/slabs/blocks or garden. Jeyes Fluid will keep them away but I don't want the smell.

Fortunately, the only near animal lover we have, who complained about me shooting a rat (until her husband sorted her out), has an "expensive" cat and it has had a few scrapes and I believe their dog suffered a couple of time so no anti's here.

Out of your list 12 gauge with BB, 410 with slug would be a good choice.

With good shot placement most would do at 5-10 yrds, not much spread.

Heavier the better to my mind for a good clean kill, one shot and down where it stood is what you want. No need to worry about meat damage.

According to an old ad for my .410, a 2½inch cartridge should give 77 pellets in a circle 30 inches dia, at 40 yards; so according to my calc. 10 yards should put 77 pellets in a 200mm dia. circle if that helps

Polchraine wrote:
Fortunately, the only near animal lover we have, who complained about me shooting a rat (until her husband sorted her out), has an "expensive" cat and it has had a few scrapes and I believe their dog suffered a couple of time so no anti's here.

If she was a responsible, true animal lover her "expensive" cat would be safely tucked up indoors at night when the foxes are out.

bobbob wrote:

Polchraine wrote:
Fortunately, the only near animal lover we have, who complained about me shooting a rat (until her husband sorted her out), has an "expensive" cat and it has had a few scrapes and I believe their dog suffered a couple of time so no anti's here.

If she was a responsible, true animal lover her "expensive" cat would be safely tucked up indoors at night when the foxes are out.

These foxes come through the garden during the day too and sometimes don't worry if we are in the garden - the cat is, I believe, kept in at night. Each morning he comes through a couple of gardens, across a bridges, over a wall, trots down my garden path, round to the back of my house and rattles the cat flap and waits! He is waiting for our cat to go "out to play".

Watch that ice, ooman. It's pretty thin underfoot...

*makes notes*

meles meles wrote:Watch that ice, ooman. It's pretty thin underfoot...

*makes notes*

And making sure I don't do anything to crack it.

dromia wrote:Out of your list 12 gauge with BB, 410 with slug would be a good choice.

With good shot placement most would do at 5-10 yrds, not much spread.

Heavier the better to my mind for a good clean kill, one shot and down where it stood is what you want. No need to worry about meat damage.

+1 from me for the 12 bore.

Please don't be offended by this remark but will this be the first time you've shot a small mammal at close range? The reason I ask is that I'd prefer you to be ready to quickly use the second barrel on instinct if required rather than standing there rendered inert by confusion if anything goes wrong from your first shot.

If you can pick a windy day your bunnyhuggy neighbour might not hear it quite so clearly.