Rat fun at the City dump

[Railbuggy]

How many of you went to the Town dump as a teenager to shoot rats? Living in Northern Kentucky most small citys had there own town dump. Dayton Ky where I lived until I was 13 was no different. The Men who worked the dump would be done for the day about 2:30pm.My friends and I would collect pop bottles to cash in for money to buy 22s & shotgun shells at the local hardware store. Our dump was in a ravine serounded by hills so no homes were in danger of stray shots. Two or more of us would secure weapons and walk to the dump,then the fun began. Most of the trash was burned but not all.A bulldozer would spread the trash out in the field everyday so it was always different. By mid afternoon things were quiet and the rats came out to feast. We would climb the roof of the incinerator building that had a flat roof and set up camp.From there we had the whole dumped covered with the 22 rifles. After we took a few rats out the others would scater and we would have to wait about 15 minutes until they returned to looking for food. No matter how many we killed,there numbers never seem to drop. It use to be common practice in most towns around the country.
Rats are pests and carry disease.
 Therefore, fewer rats is a good thing.
 If people, mainly teenage boys I think, had some fun in the process, that was OK too.


 By the late 60s to late 70s most of these town dumps in Northern Ky shut down.I think the great rat hunt was pretty much done most places.
 Another rite of passage heaved in to the trash heap.

[BenjiHunter]

Yeah, I spent a lot of time at the city dump shooting rats when I was a kid.

[UCChris]

I wish I could've. I'm still a young lad so I've grown up in a different culture I guess.

[Bicycleman]

In the late '50s, there was a fire ant control program.  It didn't completely eliminate the fire ants but did (for a short time) seriously reduce the infestation.  Because there were fewer fire ants, the field rat population exploded.  My best buddy and I spent many hours shooting those little critters.  Slowly the fire ants returned to control the field rats and we were out of business.  Good memories!

[Nod]

Wow, you really brought back memories ! When I was growing up in the 50's we had a town dump that was just a dirt road and people would just  throw the trash on both sides of the road.  We used to save all the chairs and couches that we could find and set them on the road and sit there and   shoot the rats. And we would save up all the cleaning fluids, gas (any liquid that would burn) and in the late Winter when the snow was still around, we would line up bottle bombs along the trash piles and then set them on fire and blow the trash apart and there would be hundreds of rats running everywhere. The more shotguns we had the more we killed. I miss those old days.

[mrb02334]

When I was a kid in the 50's our small town like everybody else had a open dump. It was out where there were no houses. I Used to take my Sheridan Silver Streak and a flash light and go to the dump. I don't know how many rat's I shot over the years, but the total must be in the thousands. Those were the day's when a can of 500 pellets was $2.00.
I used about a can of pellets a week. I would shoot from dusk, after the dump closed, until my arms were so sore from pumping that I had to call it a night.
I really miss doing 4-6 hours of rat shooting 3 or 4 time a week. ..
A different time!
Jon

[robert w]

hay barns and my crosman 400 played death to lots of rats. dad made sure I had lots of co2 and pellets on hand. when folks wanted me they looked in the hay sheds first. rats love twine on straw and hay bales , I love pellets to the rats heads too

[DD789]

Anybody in the San Francisco bay area that knows about the Shoreline Amphitheatre. that used to be the dumps for the city of Sunnyvale.  we used to shoot rats there in the 60's Yea and hwy101 is real close.   when they made it into Shoreline the grassy are where you could bring your own chairs or blanket to relax, well some were more relaxed than others lighting up the funny stuff, which touched off the methane gas seeping from the old dump.  

 With this trip down memory lane I still miss the St James Infirmary aaaha the peanuts and beer    

[Bicycleman]

Railbuggy (Mike), I venture to say that you would not have guesses the direction this thread has taken.  Thank you for starting such a pleasant trip down memory lane.

[Geoff]

when i was in my early 20's the dump used to let you drive to the edge and toss things in.  now you have to dump them at another area nowhere near the big hole.

[uncle paulie]

In the late 50's our cub scout troop(in NJ) went en force to the NJ Meadowlands( Current home of the Jets&Giants) along with about 50 other troops from the tri-state area to help eradicate the rat population there. We spent three weekends there and 20 of us barely dented the population. Our troop went through more than 2,500 rounds; and we were for the most part, pretty good shots!

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