Does this count?

[okiecruffler]

Took the 32-20 Contender out yesterday to see if I couldn't come up with some squirrel soup. Didn't see a single tree rat, rain had them holed up, but saw lots of wood rats. Let the first 3 be, worried I'd shoo off any squirrels with a shot, but the next 2 didn't get so lucky. The first poked his nose out from under a brush pile at about 5 yrds and lost his head for his curiousity. The second was running back and forth on a fallen dead tree at about 50 yrds, which interestingly enough is the range the 32-20 is sighted in at. Found a tree branch that made a good rest and waited for the little bugger to hold still (I ain't as young as I used to be :mrgreen:). That was all she wrote. Load is a 115gr lee soupcan charged with 4.2gr of unique. Only runs a mild 1100fps but patterns just under an inch at 50yrds.
Got me to thinking, I was only out for about an hour and a half and saw 5, they must be thick. I bet they're playing hell on the ground nesting birds. Maybe I can even up the score some.:twisted:

[trickyasafox]

are wood rats chipmunks?

[okiecruffler]

Nope, big greyish brown rats, just like you'd expect a rat to look like. Tend to make nest of twigs and such under piles of brush. The ones I killed yesterday were a good 8 inches long, but I've seen them bigger. Once apon a time I may have been able to hit a chipmunk at 50yrds with iron sights. Now I doubt if I could even see one.

[threett1]

Yea John, you are a real oldster.:mrgreen: Good shooting anyways, It counts in my book. Mark

[DanWalker]

Rat shooting is the BEST! I used to stand on my inlaws back porch with my shotgun and plug the big nasty field rats that would come running through the yard, trying to get away from the tractor when My father in law would cut in the old soybean stalks. After my mother in law saw what I was doing, she'd always ask me if I needed her to pick me up some more shells whenever she went to town.

[DLCTEX]

I suspect that the rats in question are packrats. JFYI they are different than common barn rats, cotton rats, warf rats, etc. They are related to chinchilla and do not foul their nest. Native Americans ate them like squirrel. Personally I just can't get set for that. Their fur is soft and thick. They like to decorate their nests with all kinds of articles, such as my wife's shower shoes, shotgun shells, shiny bits of aluminum, caps off WD 40 cans, etc. I know because this is what we found today when we tore off the old floor on our deck today. He had it made, feeding on bird seed, dog food and scraps put out for the dog. Dale:Fire:

[floodgate]

dale:

Packrats? Yep, we've got 'em. Got to the bottom tier of the winter hay bale stack the other day and found out where all my tarp bungees, hose fittings, and my favorite pair of side-cutters had gotten to. And a nice clean nest, too, except for one mummified young rat carcass.

A friend from the old days out on the range had put up in a line shack overnight. Was woke up by repeated "scrabble, clang, clunk; scrabble, clang, clunk..." Turned on his flash and spotted a "trade rat", which grabbed up his dinner knife by the middle, ran for his hole with the knife cross-ways in his mouth - "clang!, clunk!" Picked itself off the floor grabbed the knife again - cross-ways, ran for the hole - "scrabble, clang!, clunk!..." while Sammy laughed himself into a prime case of hiccups, watching the show...

floodgate

[Slowpoke]

Pack Rats in the Desert SW make their nests out of cholla and jumping cactus, no four footed critter is going to dig them out.

A good way to get pinon nut's easy is to rob pack rat nests.

Pack rats makes excellent fox and bobcat bait.

I remember one very lucky Pack Rat, one evening several of us were blasting at a dirt tank we were useing the dike around the tank for a back stop, we all had semi auto rifles, between us and the dike at around the 75 yrd line this pack rat comes strolling along, the ground is all bear except for one small prickly pear cactus about three feet tall and wide with a bunch of tall yellow grass growing around the base, the rat goes in under this cactus but don't come out, we all seen it and were all reaching for full magazines at the count of three we all cut loose when the dust settled there wasn't a blade of grass left standing, yet that shell shocked rat came stumbling out.

The first time I ventured East I ended up in a little town called Poqouson, VA. The town dump at night was a shooters paradise for wharf rats The trash pile's were all moving with rats you would shoot one and three or four would jump on it and start eating it, the best shooting gallery I ever experienced.

In Hampton Va there was/is a old dairy farm called the Sheldon farm that the city had closed in all around and the owners turned it into a riding stable. Lots of old out buildings and one huge barn that you could drive a semi into the loft, this farm/stable was over run with rats I had a old Sears mod 200 that I had ringed the barrel so I cut it off to 18 1/4", I taped a flashlight under the barrel and used # 9 shot carried it at the hip and when a rat was in the beam of the light he was dead, one or two nights a week for over two years I filled a 30 gallon trash can with dead rats each night.
good luck

[okiecruffler]

Wood rats, pack rats, barn rats, I've heard them called a buncha things. My grand dad tells stories of trapping them during the depression and giving them to my greatgranmomma. He never asked, she never told.

[KCSO]

Some of my fondest memories are of going to the local dump with my uncle and shooting rats. So far my best shot on a rat was a twilight shot with my 54 flinter on a BIG rattus rattus and 35 yards. Took his head clean off and didn't ruin a bit of the meat. Now someday when I am starving to death ....

[FISH4BUGS]

........until you have tasted the pleasures of shooting rats at the dump with a 22 handgun. It is a shame we can't still do that. It really was more fun than a human being should be allowed to have!
I recall one place that the rats would run. It was an open spot just about a foot or two long. They would run like it was the Ho Chi Minh trail. Set up, rest the gun, cock it and just wait for them to run through. BLAM! .....another one bites the dust! I'll bet we shot a hundred a day when we went out.
But that was some 30+ years ago.......boy do I miss that ........

[Crash_Corrigan]

On a boring late tour my partner and I took our crossman .22 air pistols and went to a garbage transfer yard @ 0330 hrs. We climbed onto the roof of our RMP (Radio Motor Patrol) and commenced havoc on the rats. Once we killed one the remainder would cannabilize the victim. We wiped out hundreds of these vermin with single shot .22's until our arms were wore out and daylight started. These pistols are quiet and accurate and cheap to feed. That was back in the late 70's and I still have the pistola but she is all dried out and won't work up any pressure. Too bad as we have a mite more flying rats (Pidgeons) than I care to see around here now. How noisy are those .22 caps that Aquila makes? I wouldn't want to ruffle the tailfeathers of the locals hereabouts.

[Duckiller]

Crash, Wallyworld (I think) has pellet gun oil. Reinvigorates the leather or whatever let pressure build up. Have used it to reenergiz3e a couple of pellet guns. Duckiller

[Mallard57]

Crossman will rebuild them also.
Jeff

[fourarmed]

Pack rats can be extremely destructive to vehicles that sit for extended periods. My farm pickup cost $700 to repair a few years ago. They had moved in and chewed all the wires and vacuum lines. All because I got complacent and stopped putting bags of moth crystals under the hood.

Another time, my late mother drove her car to town and noticed it was overheating. She stopped and asked the station attendant to look under the hood. He said "Mary, you better come look at this." The entire contents of a 50 lb bag of dogfood were piled up all over the engine.

[waksupi]

A tip if you live in pack rat country. In the fall in particular, they seem to be problems in vehicles. Open the hood when at home, if you are in an area where you can. They don't like the light.

[medic44]

When I was in high school I worked in a grain elevator. One week we took down a grain bin. I brought a 22 ruger w/ bird shot. I we shot a wheel barrow full of rats. When I turned in a bill for a brick of 22 bird shot the boss came down to yell. In the summer of 1980 soybeans were going for 9.99/bu. I showed the boss about 250 dead rats worth about 10 bu per rat. His only comment was "Don't ever run out of ammo."

[ebner glocken]

Crossman will rebuild their pellet pistols? Is the price reasonable? Contact them online or snailmail?

[45nut]

http://www.pyramydair.com/
for airgun repair.

"On our premises we have a complete repair facility to handle all factory authorized repair/warranties. Our gunsmiths will work on any air gun. They have repaired hundreds of family heirlooms and modern day disasters. All at a reasonable price; just give us a call (888) 262-4867 before you send us your air rifle or air pistol."

[carpetman]

If looking for Crosman online--that is the correct spelling it's not Crossman.

[32 20 Mike]

On a boring late tour my partner and I took our crossman .22 air pistols and went to a garbage transfer yard @ 0330 hrs. We climbed onto the roof of our RMP (Radio Motor Patrol) and commenced havoc on the rats. Once we killed one the remainder would cannabilize the victim. We wiped out hundreds of these vermin with single shot .22's until our arms were wore out and daylight started. These pistols are quiet and accurate and cheap to feed. That was back in the late 70's and I still have the pistola but she is all dried out and won't work up any pressure. Too bad as we have a mite more flying rats (Pidgeons) than I care to see around here now. How noisy are those .22 caps that Aquila makes? I wouldn't want to ruffle the tailfeathers of the locals hereabouts.

I had a dream the other night that this may have happened
My neighbor across the st. has a Spanish style clay tile roof that pidgeons love to nest in/ around. Its about 50 yds to the top of the roof and about max for a .177 P-gun. I was told that powder less Aquila 22 rds lack accuracy and punch at that distance. They make a super sub-sonic that looks like a 22 short with as long as blt of about 60 grs that has powder, sorta quiet, that drops like a brick over distance. Plus is too dangerous for town, even if it falls in the vineyard a block away. So I stay with my 15 yr old, Consaco, China SKS 800 fps spring piston trainer. They were about $20.00 with 2M's of pellets, when you bought a case of five, in the early 1990's. This rifle has provided hours of enjoyment in the side yard with a steel back stopped 50 ft range.

Its about max for the flying-rats, but I do provide training for my German Short Hair Pointer about every 8 to 10 shots, on a windless day. Little noise, and a lot safer. ( Discharging any "firearm" at an occupied dwelling is a felony in Ca.) So I must be telling a story, as this would not happen in real life.