Slugs - am I wasting my time hunting in the dark with a torch?

[Voiceoffstage]

I'm in the habit of scrabbling around my garden on warm, wet nights with a bucket of salty hot water and a head-torch to collect slugs and snails.

The other evening I was surprised in my hunt by my neighbour shining a very powerful torch at me & telling me not to move because he'd called the Police. Actually it wasn't quite as polite as that Thankfully he hadn't. But he was most bemused when I explained that I was hunting slugs. I also made a joke about having slug stew on Wednesday evenings lol! It certainly broke the ice with our new neighbour!

It started me thinking - am I merely taking revenge on the few molluscs that happen to be around at the time? Or am I really reducing the population?

Your thoughts please fellow gardeners?

Lol
I do the slug thing by day, then the birds watch me intently and swoop.
No police involved. However I talk to myself and the birds and the neighbours think I am mad. They are, of course, completely mistaken.

Hahahahahaha! Oh dear, your story did make me laugh!!

No, you're not wasting your time. It's a good, environmentally friendly way of dealing with the problem. I think the key to it is that you're not entirely eradicating the population (which would be impossible) - just removing some of the offenders to give your plants a fighting chance.

What plants are your slugs currently eating?

Personally I find it more effective to pull up any mulches and crush the eggs/give them to the ducks to eat.

Somehow, after this wet summer, it will be a small victory to get rid of any. I have just cleaned out my greenhouse, and not only did I find a very fat frog, but a lovely little patch of slug eggs, which I put on the bird table.
I have mentioned this before, but I was once sat quietly on a bench in my garden, when I was pelted with snails being thrown over the hedge by a neighbour!

salt is not good for your soil
I have an old butter knife and then cut them in half
the hedgehog follows me around the garden eating the canapes