Show me yours and I'll show you mine,... BAIT STATION ! (Pic heavy)

[Loki_762]

All that work and the little evil one didnt show up!! Trying again tonight.

I have noticed that on full moon nights, they seem to be less active if it is clear and bright.  It's been mighty full the last few nights, and when there are no clouds, I can see my whole yard at 10 o'clock at night.  If it's the same there, you may not get many customers.  Just a thought.
Chris

[Gertrude]

All that work and the little evil one didnt show up!! Trying again tonight.

Yep,... same score here last night.
 
Was the beer supposed to just be left out  for the rats ?

Ding donger did sound off at around 4am,... but you know how California is,... we were apparently having one of our earthquakes, cuz the room was spinnin' something crazy ! I couldn't even reach over to turn the dang thing off !

 That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it ! 

[Gtownjake]

OK, SO I decided to make my bait station 'official' so to speak.  As a previous post on this thread showed a wood pile I had been using. The problem is that I use that wood for my fire pit. So, on this incredibly beautiful Sunday, I decided to make a bait station/pellet trap.

So, here is my view of it from my perch. I sit on the porch right by the house.  Laser ranger has it at exactly 62.4 feet. So...a smidge over 30 yards. Look for the little green box nailed to the tree about three feet up.  I have a target inside the box on the back wall.  I have a green light mounted on the tree to the right that sits about 10 - 12 feet in front of it.



A closer look of the box



A shot of the green "Holiday Decorative Light" from Home Depot. $8 That hangs on the tree 10 to 12 feet in front of the box.



Another front view.



It measures 10" wide by 10" deep (walls and roof only). Roughly 15" high in the back and about 12" in the front. The floor is 10" wide but only about 6.5" deep.  I left about 3.5" x 10" open in the back against the tree open to make it easier for the spawn of satan to access the bait.

Side shot.....Olive green Krylon paint with black streaking for some kind of effect, I dunno what I was doing.


\

You can see here that I did not take the back wall all the way up to the roof line. Again, I wanted to give access from above.
 

Here you can see that the floor does not extend to the back wall.  The target is hung low on the back wall, why I did that, I have no idea.



I had a left over old piece of plywood laying around and used it.  It took me all of 30 minutes to cut the pieces, glue and nail it, paint it and hang it.

I'm trying some different for bait tonight.  Bacon grease on a paper towel.  I've tried PB but nothing....Nutella, nothing, Chocolate syrup, nothing.....bird seed....a little action but mostly from the squirrels.  I don't shoot them, just around them to scare them off.

What bait has worked for you?
Gonna try the stale beer thing tomorrow night.
What else can I try?

[nervoustrigger]

Jake,

Do you have a population of rats around your house?  Rats are opportunistic feeders so attracting them can be difficult if there are plenty of food sources around.  If that is the case where you live, it can be surprisingly difficult to entice them in.  The back of my property is wooded and I had been putting out scraps for nearly a year before I had any rats hitting it.  Possums, raccoons, and foxes?  Yes, lots of them.  But no rats.

Then a few weeks back I started seeing a couple.  Killed them and haven't seen any more for a couple of weeks.  Guess I should have left them alone to breed so I could have more targets   I just figured they were like chipmunks.  What I've learned about chipmunks is that there is always one more!

[ronbeaux]

Gtown built a rat condo!

Try dog food

[Gtownjake]

Same here as far as wooded area behind my house.  There are two rats that live/roam around that shed you see in the photo above. I saw them for a few nights but never could get a shot off. They kept running on top of the wood pile back and forth to/from the shed to somewhere right of the pile. It wasn't lit so I couldn't tell if they were staying in the pile or scurrying off to the field beyond.  We did have some problems with them up by the house then realized it was the dog food. Some days the dogs would not eat and leave the food out overnight thus attracting them. Stopped leaving the food out and never saw the rats again....so...maybe there's my answer as far as bait goes.
We get our fair share of possums but between a 12 lb Jack Russel Terrier, a 70 lb Boxer and an 180 lb. American Mastiff....possums don't usually last that long in our backyard....nor coons or Armadillos for that matter......come to think of it now as I write this....."dang" dogs are taking all my fun!!!! 

I'm just gonna have to bait, bait and bait until I see something.  I guess I could set up a wildlife camera but there's something about sitting outside with a pipe and a glass of bourbon 'glassin' for some vermin.

[nervoustrigger]

Good luck to all you fellas tonight!

As for me, I'm on [what feels like] a long dry spell.     It was good while it lasted though.

[Gertrude]

Tonight I added some dry dog food kibble and some crumbled Bacon from this mornings Bit's and Ends gravy makin's.
re-filled the beer troughs, and am going to try to spill some Rat Juices with Cameron's Mrod. I've got it set up on bipod and sand bag across mommys computer desk in the family room, patio slider door is open, we're zeroed dead nuts on the crosshairs at 33 yds.
 If I do get a shot, there is almost zero chance of a miss.
 Come on and sing me a song from the ding dong(er).

Good luck wishes to all the I.F.A.R.T. Brotherhood !
 May we all see some "Grey Matter Splatter " tonight !

[nervoustrigger]

Tonight I added some dry dog food kibble and some crumbled Bacon...

Mmm, bacon!  I don't know how it works on rats but apparently it is irresistable to an otherwise cagey red fox.  He has been visiting several nights in a row.  Each time he would get close to the scraps but then chicken out and dart away.  Last night, with the aroma of bacon in the air, he finally came in for a snack.  And not just the grab-n-go.  He woke me up at 4:30am and I watched as he casually ate for 5 solid minutes, never once leaving the glow of the red light.  It was so funny! 

[ronbeaux]

SCORE!!!
i.F.A.R.T guidebook classified as a Boone and Crocket trophy. Scored in two categories. First for speed of shot and trigger squeeze, less than 1 second for acquisition, and size of rat, with extra points awarded for hammering beers and being on Skype wearing headphones....

Damaged and real dead rat.


Size



Weapon of choice. Evanix Rainstorm II in 3D .25 cal



It wasn't black rat but it will do!

[BenjiHunter]

Nice shooting!

[Gertrude]

Woo- HOOooooo ! - I.F.A.R.T. Score #2 for the night !
Well I can report with 100% certainty that bacon and dog food kibble is working well.
We had a little lead stopper show up a few minutes ago, and I got so excited I didn't/couldn't (?) wait for the head shot !
Buck fever was going crazy, and I just couldn't contain myself.




It was certainly a full pass thru, as I heard the pellet hit the backstop as he did a backflip.
Fell to the ground and never even twitched.
drilled him, dead on impact

[BenjiHunter]

Guys, great shooting!! (cartwheeling)
It's up to me this evening to pop one.

[nervoustrigger]

Good luck to all you fellas tonight!

You are all very welcome! 

It's a good night to be a Ron, eh?

[ronbeaux]

I moon walked in the man cave! It has been over a week since a rat slowed up to below 100 mph!

[cactusrat]

Nice shooting I.F.A.R.T. members.

I have only got one rat so far this year. Darn drought.

Can one of you I.F.A.R.T. brother’s send me a dead rat so I can shoot it. I am really getting hard up here. Been thinking of going to the pet store and buying….. oh never mine.

[Gertrude]

SCORE!!!
i.F.A.R.T guidebook classified as a Boone and Crocket trophy. Scored in two categories. First for speed of shot and trigger squeeze, less than 1 second for acquisition, and size of rat, with extra points awarded for hammering beers and being on Skype wearing headphones....

It wasn't black rat but it will do!

Right On!
That's what it's about ! he is just getting you warmed up for "Moby Black" to show up later tonight !



Come on Stefan,...
 It's your turn now,...

 The planets are in proper alignment, and the gods are smiling upon us.
 you gotta get yours for an I.F.A.R.T. "Three-Peat"    

Nice shooting I.F.A.R.T. members.

I have only got one rat so far this year. Darn drought.

Can one of you I.F.A.R.T. brother’s send me a dead rat so I can shoot it. I am really getting hard up here. Been thinking of going to the pet store and buying….. oh never mine.

Brother Glenn,
 We're on a roll, if I get another one tonight, I'll shoot it an extra time just for you,  hahaha.

[Gertrude]

Good luck to all you fellas tonight!

You are all very welcome! 

It's a good night to be a Ron, eh?

LMBO !

I moon walked in the man cave! It has been over a week since a rat slowed up to below 100 mph!

ROTFLMBO !

[cactusrat]

Good deal bother Ron. Can you put the gun on your should, barrel pointing behind you, and use a mirror to aim with. That’s how I would do it. Oh yea, don’t spill the beer in your left hand while you are shooting.

[OleTomCat]

Yall are too funny....

Great shooting guys...