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Reader Survey >Summer vermin control: 11 pieces of kit, from PCPs to 4G trap tags
- Last updated: 24/08/2026
Eleven pieces of summer pest control kit, from four compact regulated PCPs and a £349 night-vision scope to approved squirrel traps and a 4G tag that tells you which trap to walk to first.
Summer pest control covers a lot of ground: greys in the wood, rats around the buildings, rabbits at dusk and foxes after dark. The kit that follows spans all of it, from compact regulated air rifles and approved humane traps through to a highly sensitive thermal scope and a 4G tag that reports on a trap while you are somewhere else.
This is not a head-to-head test. The 11 items were picked on editorial judgement and manufacturer specification, and they are not directly comparable in any case: a folding bullpup, a spring trap and a cellular trap tag solve entirely different problems on the same piece of ground. Prices are RRP at the time of publication and may since have changed.
Portability first, reliability second. Summer pest control happens on foot, in cover, and often at the end of a working day, so the kit that actually gets used is the kit that is light enough to carry and quick enough to deploy without a rethink. That is why folding stocks, short barrels and carbon bottles dominate the rifles below, and why the traps chosen are the ones that set quickly and stay set.
Legality and welfare decide the rest. A lethal trap for grey squirrels has to be an approved type, entrance sizes are what keep non-target wildlife out, and a live catch trap must be checked at least once a day from the moment it is deployed. If you intend to shoot after dark, the optic determines how long the session lasts and how confident the identification is, so that is where the money is best spent, not on the rifle.
Four regulated pre-charged pneumatics, all offered in .177 and .22, and all designed around awkward spaces – a loft, a grain store, the corner of a wood – rather than around a bench.
BSA’s first tactical model, with the moderator included in the price.
BSA’s first tactical model, made in the UK and regulated, with a smooth sidelever action and a cold hammer-forged barrel under an adjustable polymer stock system. A 300cc carbon bottle, onboard magazine storage, a direct Foster filling connection, a Picatinny rail and a moderator are all included, and the whole thing carries a five-year manufacturer warranty.
Up to 120 consistent shots per fill, in beech or walnut.
Air Arms has borrowed the best of its older platforms for the S510 Core, a regulated PCP that keeps the performance while trimming the price. It weighs 2.9kg, measures 1,015mm, and pairs a smooth sidelever with a compact 395mm barrel and an upgraded moderator. Beech or walnut, .177 or .22, and up to 120 consistent shots per fill.
Folds from 69.4cm to 44.8cm and weighs 1.6kg, the lightest here.
The Katran SC is the packable one. The folding stock takes it from 69.4cm down to 44.8cm and the whole rifle weighs 1.6kg, with a 100cc cylinder, a sidelever action and a two-stage externally adjustable trigger. In .177 or .22 at sub-12ft/lb it gives up to 90 shots per fill, feeding from magazines holding as many as 18. Several colourways are offered.
Over 200 shots per fill, and 469mm long with the stock collapsed.
Built on the Ranger platform, the Pathfinder XR carries a light 300cc carbon Kevlar bottle that is good for more than 200 shots per fill. It weighs 2.9kg and folds down to 469mm, with a Huma-Air regulator, a short 256mm barrel, a slick sidelever and a removable self-indexing magazine, all aimed at quick handling in tight spaces and consistent accuracy to 30m. Offered in .177 and .22.
One of these costs four times the other, and most of that gap buys you heat rather than a picture. Both are light enough to leave on an air rifle.
Built for airguns and rimfires, with a 1,000m rangefinder on board.
Aimed squarely at airguns and rimfires, the NEOS pairs a sub-18mK NETD detector with AI-powered Image Pro 3.0 processing and a 0.49in AMOLED display. Detection runs to 1,800m, there is a 1,000m laser rangefinder built in and ballistic calculations are handled automatically. It is under 345mm long and 570g, starts in a second, resists 1,000g of recoil, runs for up to 9.5 hours and connects to a phone app over Wi-Fi.
Standard 30mm rings, 455g, and a usable digital picture for £349.
A 455g, 300mm tube that goes straight into standard 30mm rings, which keeps mounting simple. Behind the 35mm lens sits a 2560x1440 CMOS sensor and an 800x800 IPS display at 3.0x magnification, with side focus. Wi-Fi, auto-recording, a gyroscope and HDMI are all included, and the sight picture is clear for the money.
Two approved lethal traps for greys, a live catch box trap for larger vermin, and a tunnel box that takes a Fenn. Whatever you set has to be an approved type for the species and it has to be checked, so the daily round is as much a part of the decision as the price.
Self-resetting up to 18 times per CO2 charge, with a digital strike counter.
An approved, poison-free lethal trap for grey squirrels, legal for the job in England, Wales and Scotland. CO2 power resets it up to 18 times per charge and despatched carcasses drop clear below for natural scavenging. The kit comes with a digital strike counter, mounting hardware and a lure basket, and the entrance is a narrow 5.4cm to keep non-target wildlife away from the strike. Once set, it works without you.
British-designed, and needs no custom tunnel to work properly.
A British-designed spring trap, approved for grey squirrel control across the UK and built around ease of use. It weighs 1,100g and comes as a self-contained mesh cubby with internal baffles, so strike position is right without building a custom tunnel. The powerful killing spring engages only once the trap is set up, and the pendular trigger works whichever way up it is mounted.
The 60mm entry is what keeps larger animals such as stoats out.
A dark green, fishmeal-impregnated box that despatches small vermin humanely, with a 60mm entry sized to keep larger animals such as stoats out. It loads from the side, cleans easily, secures with an Allen key and sits neatly beneath compatible feeders.
A live catch box trap, so it needs checking at least once a day.
A heavy-duty single-entry live catch box trap for keepers and farmers protecting stock. It weighs 19kg, measures 122 x 54 x 57cm, arrives flat-packed for assembly and is finished in durable silver. Baited and set on the ground it is a straightforward and reusable answer, and it must be checked at least daily while deployed.
Walking is the real cost of a trap line, and a cellular tag turns the daily round into a daily notification. It does not remove the legal duty to check, but it does tell you which trap to walk to first.
IP68 rated, and up to four years on three AAA batteries.
A compact, ultra-rugged tag for round-the-clock remote trap management, using 4G LTE-M and NB-IoT so it works where a phone signal is thin. The casing is IP68 and IK06 rated, the size suits smaller traps and discreet setups, and three AAA batteries last up to four years. Tilt or vibration activation, with a choice of subscription packages.
Both of them. The Goodnature A18 is approved for grey squirrel control in England, Wales and Scotland, and the Procull spring trap is approved across the UK. Any lethal trap set for greys must be an approved type for that species.
Daily, as a minimum. The Collins Nets fox trap is a live catch box trap, and its specification is explicit that it needs checking at least once a day in the field. That, rather than the price, is what limits how many you can realistically run at once.
It is the main defence against catching the wrong animal. The Goodnature A18 uses a narrow 5.4cm entrance so that nothing other than a grey squirrel reaches the strike, and the Quill trap box uses a 60mm entry chosen to deter larger animals such as stoats.
The AirMaks Arms Katran SC, on both counts. Folded it measures 44.8cm against 69.4cm extended, and at 1.6kg it is the lightest here. The BRK Brocock Pathfinder XR is shorter again with the stock collapsed, at 469mm, but at 2.9kg it weighs nearly twice as much.
Less than you would think, to start with. The Pard Night Stalker Mini 2K costs £349 and gives a usable digital night-vision picture on standard 30mm rings. Genuine thermal, with 1,800m detection and a rangefinder built in, means the HikMicro NEOS NH35L at £1,499.99.
Pest control special – Bruce Potts on the techniques and the kit that go with them.
Rabbit shooting with an airgun: get out there – the summer fieldcraft side of the job.
5 airguns for rabbit shooting – another way of narrowing down the rifle.
BRK Brocock Ranger XR2 Tactical review – the platform the Pathfinder XR is built on, on test.
Fuego DS-X7: 4K day and night vision for under £300 – the cheapest way into night vision, tested.
ThermTec Wild 650 DL Pro thermal monocular – a spotter to pair with the rifle scope.
QYS .22 domed pellets tested – two heavyweight .22s through the chronograph.
