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Thread: Rat Hunting

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
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    Rat Hunting

    Have any of you guys done much rat hunting at night. Where I live there are many indoor chicken farms. I was thinking about asking
    permission to shoot rats a night & help them out. I wound think they would be more than happy to let me.

    Fly

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
    bdicki's Avatar
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    We used to shoot them at the local dump, they still burned the trash at that time. We would shoot them when they tried to escape the flames. That was a long time ago.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master


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    I found a blue or purple light seems tomeffect them even less than a red light. They never seem to stop moving and are very weary and sneaky. I used to get paid to shoot rats as a kid at a large cattle farm. They do take predictive paths, if you see one rat go a certain way then others will
    As well , there was a two silows and and the rats ran between them if they were going right I’d aim at the hole on the left and vice versa in the poultry /rabbit barn they always ran from under the grain bin up the wall and into a hole in the ceiling, I’d open the door hit the lights and aim at that hole sometimes I could get up to three at a time. And also
    At the old corn crib, they would always run out of a pile of old sheet metal and into the corn crib, I’d just keep the light on the corn crib after dark and with a pellet gun could get four or five in one sit. Discovered the blue light trick cause when I started out with a white light I’d get one and then see no more, so playing around i rubber banded a blue shower cap onto the flashlight, they never reacted to the blue light. Very hard to shoot a rat on the run with a single projectile so just learn the paths they take,sit still and have fun! Also with pellet or 22 rifle or pistol I don’t ever remember a bang flop, DTR they are very animated in death throes. The noises they sometimes make will often draw other rats so be ready. Also in heavily infested settings wear long sleeves and tuck your pant legs into your boots and do not handle them bear handed. And I’d also
    Strongly recommend a club or bludgeon of some type because I have picked a few up that we’re playing “opossum” or they’d flip
    Around some and then get a second wind and scurry off; I’d only get paid for actual dead in the hand ones! In the spring when population was high we’d dump
    Some old desial oil down known rat holes and when the fumes filled the holes and they ran out it was live action time with an old Iver Johnson 410.

  4. #4
    Boolit Buddy
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    Yep, several smaller dairy farms love me and a couple friends. Sitting up with a couple friends drinkin beer, shootin rats is a blast. Some of them will come out to partake in the fun
    Domari Nolo

  5. #5
    Boolit Master
    labradigger1's Avatar
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    I go the the coop every evening after dark with a srh 44 magnum loaded with rat shot. Usually get them under the metal ridge cap. Good fun.
    Life is so much better with dogs!

  6. #6
    Boolit Bub
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    Rat hunting with NVG. Kinda expensive but fun...

  7. #7
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Don’t need a gun here in AZ! All you need is citrus trees and a swimming pool! I found another roof rat (Norwegian rat) in our pool Saturday. Floating on the bottom. Roof rats are very abundant here.....they love citrus fruits. I have 9 trees and see gnawed fruit every so often. Poison usually gets the little bustards. But I LOVE to see one that has suffered and drowned!!!!!!!!

    Bangerjim

  8. #8
    Boolit Master

    TCLouis's Avatar
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    Search youtube for rat hunting.

    Bunch from britain , some from AZ, CA, WA too.
    Might give you some ideas and looks like any place with feed and livestock (precludes poisons) would be who to ask.
    Show a night take if it is many and they are liable to beg ya to come back.
    In one I calculated that they shot 2 rats a minute on their first visit.

    Watch what is behind the target for sure in livestock/poultry operations
    Amendments
    The Second there to protect the First!

  9. #9
    Boolit Master


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    Shooting guns AND drinking beer. Bet the anti-gunners will love reading that ?!
    I HATE auto-correct

    Happiness is a Warm GUN & more ammo to shoot in it.

    My Experience and My Opinion, are just that, Mine.

    SASS #375 Life

  10. #10
    Boolit Grand Master In Remembrance
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    Recently I saw YouTube vids where a guy is doing Minkenry, has a dog and mink chasing rats out of narrow places at a farm and the dog helps chase them down. (Have to train the dog not to hurt the mink of course.) There are folks who use airguns, with suppressors (On airguns they don't have to have a BATFE Tax stamp, as they're not on a firearm, seems, here in the US) - Around some livestock farmers DO prefer quiet work as gunfire can upset milk cows and chickens apparently. Has to be fun, so is 22LR or any other caliber rat shooting I imagine. Part of why I want to move

  11. #11
    Boolit Grand Master jmorris's Avatar
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    I have found and shot a few with a thermal but that’s a pretty expensive way to kill mice.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master

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    I think the term for airguns is "Lead Dust Collectors".

    Kinda like using the term "boolit' here.
    Amendments
    The Second there to protect the First!

  13. #13
    Boolit Bub
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    Under my suburban backyard shed, I had a nest of rats move in. I set up a sheet of plywood as a pellet stop and baited it with cheap peanut butter. I treated it as my game preserve, never got over two shots in one night. It was great until the neighbor put out poison.
    "Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea." --Dr. Johnson

  14. #14
    Boolit Bub
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    " I found a blue or purple light seems tomeffect them even less than a red light. "

    Good tip. I had a Harbor Freight solar power garden light, made them shy. Colored would have been better.
    "Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea." --Dr. Johnson

  15. #15
    Boolit Master

    fiberoptik's Avatar
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    Cold Steel 5’ blowgun with broadheads!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  16. #16
    Boolit Grand Master

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    A friends dad was in the pest control business. I remember as a kid going with them to farm shops and grain bins. He had a bellows that he used to pump some type of powder into the rat holes. After a minute or two, here they come! Whatever he used is probably not available anymore, but it sure ran them out!

  17. #17
    Boolit Master
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    Ah the good old days about 25 years ago I worked with a kid whose grandfather raised hogs so he had a rat problem something almost as bad as willard. The usual plan was to get there just after dark and use the cars headlights to light up the rats outside the barn after they were eliminated we would go inside the hog barn and turn on the lights. The rats would scurry into hiding while we spotted where they went but not being smart after about 5 minutes out they come and the fun would start. We used all kinds of stuff on them air rifles,.22 rifles & pistols with bird shot but nothing bigger cause his grandpa said so. I found that my .177 beeman r7 with crow magnum pellets was ideal outside and for long inside shots but what became the most common tools was a 3' long stick for lifting the feeder lids and my s & w 17 full of shot shells. You would lift the lid with the stick like when the hogs lift them with their nose and if there was a rat BANG no more rat. Many a friday & saturday night we got in a lot of fast shooting, the rats got fewer, and the hogs got fatter and smarter. The hogs started working like bird dogs when we would go inside they would get in one corner of the barn and then go from feeder to feeder lifting lids and chasing the rats down the length of the barn to us. After about 6 months we had eliminated the rat problem and about 2000 cci shot shells.

  18. #18
    Boolit Buddy bpatterson84's Avatar
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    Professional outfits in Britain do it. Here's a most satisfying video gentlemen! A PCP airgun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqII...2EhSenWbbkPUIk

  19. #19
    Boolit Buddy bpatterson84's Avatar
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    BTW, at the 3:00 minute mark there is some pretty epic action!

  20. #20
    Boolit Master

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    Biggest rat I ever saw jumped into my lap in a movie theater in Olongapo, Philippines in a balcony seat near the edge. Was bigger than a fat snauzer. I-think it was looking for popcorn . I launched it off lap, over balcony and heard a blood curdling scream from below. ....Wonder who he landed on? They’re really good with bbq sauce. 6 kabobs for a dollar in ‘84. Tastes like beef 🥩.


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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check