My rats are getting too smart....

[cwlongshot]

I have been seeing them, but cannot get to shoot them before they disappear...  Best chance I have had is at night, but lighting is a issue. So tonight I tried something new... I have a timer and electricity in the coup. so I put in a flexible clamp light with a black bulb. Its in a corner shinning away form my shooting position illuminating the food and water and one escape route.


May be too soon to see any benifits tonight... but I will try!!

CW

[nervoustrigger]

Good luck!  I hope you get some instant gratification.  If the blacklight doesn't work, try a little red LED flashlight hanging upside down.  It works like a charm on the larger backyard critters.

[BenjiHunter]

Good luck.
I have a similar problem.
I see the rats on the phone wires and in the trees, but none at my bait ladder.
They are feeding on the figs and that's easy food to get.
I also changed the light, to red. Interesting to see if it works.

[Tater]

Good luck to both of you. I hope to see some pics!

[cwlongshot]

Checked it about 4-5 times thru the night...nuttin! Momma said she saw a small grinner at about 4am OUTSIDE the coup, but said she did not want to wake me. After her last run in knew that her 4-5 pumps with the 1377 was not ''strong enough''.

I also noticed that the feed troth is still full... I filled it when putting in the light and usually they will put quite a dent in it. So maybe the light scared them off last night...

I changed to the RWS34 last week too putting the longbow in the safe. I have had too many run off with what I felt was good body shots. We will see what a 18g, 22cal at 680fps can do. But even tho this one cocks easier then the Longbow, momma still cannot cock it.

Im off to work shortly so they get a reprieve today but I'll be back tonight!!!

CW

[cwlongshot]

Still nothing...  Not even seen one until tonight... The wife let our Lhasa out when she went out to put ''up'' the chickens...  She hears a high pitched squealing and sees our little girl with a foot long rat in her mouth!!! 

She yells, Roxanne drops the rat and starts chasing it... In under around back under another lap around and she gets it again... Now this dog has never shown any kind of hunting skills so I think she is playing... hard but playing.  The rat is up against a cinder block and block of wood. Momma screams at her again as I get out there . Just in time to see the rat squirm under the fence.

That was 30 minutes ago... I just finished her bath and check out for bites. She is fine, not a scratch I can see. She has allot of hair.

SO long story short.. I think the light is keeping the rats away but they are still there...

CW

[nervoustrigger]

Good story, I could really picture it!

My advice is don't give up on the light just yet.  Unless there is an absolute abundance of food, they will acclimate to it and start coming in.  I even have foxes coming in and feeding under a red light.  I watched them for a while and could tell they were skittish about it at first, but over a period of a few weeks they became more and more relaxed. 

[BenjiHunter]

I don't think the light is the problem unless it's too bright.
I have had lights on my hunting spot for a long time and they still show up.
The reason I can't get any rats, is that they are feeding on my fig tree.
 When those fruit are gone it's shooting time.

[Shoot Straight]

     Good luck! Hope it works out well for you.

[nced]

Checked it about 4-5 times thru the night...nuttin! Momma said she saw a small grinner at about 4am OUTSIDE the coup, but said she did not want to wake me. After her last run in knew that her 4-5 pumps with the 1377 was not ''strong enough''.

I also noticed that the feed troth is still full... I filled it when putting in the light and usually they will put quite a dent in it. So maybe the light scared them off last night...

I changed to the RWS34 last week too putting the longbow in the safe. I have had too many run off with what I felt was good body shots. We will see what a 18g, 22cal at 680fps can do. But even tho this one cocks easier then the Longbow, momma still cannot cock it.

Im off to work shortly so they get a reprieve today but I'll be back tonight!!!

CW

My brother shoots rats at my uncles sheep ranch outside Harrisonburg, VA and my brother claims that rats are very tough and his 14.5fpe .177 R9 won't stop them with a rib shot. He concentrates on head shots only and a brain shot will anchor them on the spot. I went on one rat shoot with my brother in one of the barns that held the feed and water troughs for the sheep. After sitting still a while I was able to brain one in the noggin with a CPL and it didn't move more than a couple inches from where it was hit.

As you probably already know, rats are extremely smart and do get wise to shooters after a few "close calls" and are harder to shoot.

By the way, I learned that the black dirt on the floor of a sheep barn ISN'T dirt but a goopy sticky mixture of mostly sheep poop and dirt! When I went rat hunting with my brother I wore shoes with cogged soles and after a while the soles of the shoes were "slicks" and it was a pain to scrape the poop mixture from the cogs!!!! 

[cwlongshot]

We got TWO of the dirty buggers last night!!!  Momma shot one early on with the 1377 and a Gamo Rocket, thru and thru on the brain bucket!  Lil one maybe 4''... then about 2AM I got up for a nature call and saw a BIG BUGGER!!

I waited almost 15 minutes, crouched at the window with the 34... When he ran to the feed troth it was a blur.. he paused a second and ran back... "dang"! I had to wait for him to finish that mouth full and the end of the troth he was using was farthest from the black light. Next trip out I was ready, as soon as he entered the X hairs I squeezed the trigger. I shot him right in the middle, he squealed so loud even I herd him!!

When I got outside he was crawling toward the fence, I introduced him to my boot heel and went back to bed.  This AM when I got up, both where gone!

CW

[nervoustrigger]

Nice shooting!  But you know the rules...no picture, didn't happen.

[BenjiHunter]

Good shooting.

[cwlongshot]

Nice shooting!  But you know the rules...no picture, didn't happen.

I do know it... I should have brought the phone out to check, at 2AM... but I didn't... I looked a couple places last night and did nto see them. Something carried them off. BUT I see a 1/4'' deep 22cal dent in the feed troth... That pellet went right thru the bugger and left a healthy dent in the steel!

I am on the watch...

CW

[palonej]

I am loving this Brian!!! Keep it coming!!! Not sure what would have been better.....a pic of the puppy with a rat in her mouth......or a pic of mamma's face when she saw it!!!
Great thread bro!

[cwlongshot]

I am loving this Brian!!! Keep it coming!!! Not sure what would have been better.....a pic of the puppy with a rat in her mouth......or a pic of mamma's face when she saw it!!!
Great thread bro!

LOL. Momma is a trooper with the rats! She won't go pick one up.. Well with a shovel she will. But she is t afraid of them just thinks they are dirty. (They are!)

Our Lhasa falls off the bed and the couch rolling on he back while sleeping. Momma calls her a dumb blonde. She is adorable, I have always been a big macho tough male dog kinda guy. This one is daddy's lil girl! She loves everyone and she has my heart!

Ill be better with the camera moving forward!

CW