Post by foxfire on May 14, 2005 2:34:28 GMT -6
Rat Shoot by FoxFire
A plentiful supply of grain was always required for our herd of milk cows on the farm and this food attracted the rats. The grain was ground into groundfeed in our old belt driven hammermill for the cattle. There were usually more rats than the barn cats could handle. A few of these rats were large enough to whip our largest barn cat. The rats got into the feedroom, grain bins, troughs and feed manger. They would also come out onto the open barn floor and at times they numbered around fifteen on the the floor. It was past time to get rid of these rats.
My first attempt at rat hunting resulted in dispatching three greys by using a wooden club and a flashlight. Searching for rats by flashlight was an errie business even though I was in familiar surroundings. It soon became clear that these rats had never been bothered by any hunter, other than our barn cats. Bush telegraph among the rats had sent the message back to the remainder and the rats became scarce for awhile.
The following night I sat myself down on an old bucket that I positioned so I had the veiw of most of the barn floor, not far from the feed room. I also brought along my single shot 22rifle along with a flashlight. After approximately 15 minutes in total darkness I could hear the slight sounds of scratching and the high pitch squeaks that seemed to be coming from the feed room. I flipped the flashlight on in the direction of the sounds and immediately I could see pairs of tiny red eyes. Turning the flashlight off I waited until they got nearer, but all seemed to go quiet...had the flashlight frightened them? More time passed as I wondered if I was in the right place in the barn, maybe down by the corn bin...then it happened! A slight scratching sound this time very close, too close, then I felt scratching at the edge of my shoe, then a rat was on top of my foot! I jumped off the bucket noisily and away it went.
The rat had made off in the direction of the feed room...ignoring the cold sweat that had formed on my brow and neck...I made ready for another scan with the flashlight, there at the wall between the corn bin and feed room was a fair sized rat which was sniffing at a hole previously gnawed, the .22 gave hime no time to react, his limp body fell to the floor. I called it a night shortly after that.
Regular shooting sessions were having an inpact on the rats and we were seeing fewer around the barn. Annoyingly I was still getting glimpses of some very large and wary adults, one flash of the flashlight and they were off and gone to the rear of the bins. Most rats caught "full on" in the light beam would sit upright and appear to clean their faces...this is a sign of fright in rats and it usually allows enough time to position the sight and take the shot.
My evening rat hunts were being replaced by other farm duties, but one particular evening I felt that I had left the rats alone for too long and decided to have another late night shoot. My usual bucket was put to use and I began to wait at the entrance to the feed room. Darkness set in and my night vision alone wasn't enough to see the other side of the feed room, taking my favoured flashlight from my pocket I positioned it under the forend of the loaded .22 rifle. Our rats had been feeding well and were helping themselves to the main store of grain.
The usual scratching sounds started, I waited so as to let the rats get nearer. When I was sure a rat was nearby I flashed on the flashlight, nothing had prepared me for what I saw next, there in the beam of light not 6 yards away was the biggest rat I had ever seen...if there is such a thing as a "King" rat, then this was it. Off with the flashlight...what was I to do?, did I really want to be face to face with "that" again?..take a deep breath (hope that it isn't any closer), raise the .22, flashlight on..Fire, the huge rat rolled over as the .22 wadcutter struck it hard and high in the chest. I kept the flashlight on it, with my heart pumping hard beneath my shirt I fumbled one handedly to re-load the .22 rifle, but it wasn't necessary, the rat kicked a few times then expired. Its general scabby appearance suggest it had been around for quite some time. From it's nose to the the tip of it's thick scaly tail measured a total length of 18 inches!...that was some rat and I never saw nore shot a bigger rat in our barn since.
A plentiful supply of grain was always required for our herd of milk cows on the farm and this food attracted the rats. The grain was ground into groundfeed in our old belt driven hammermill for the cattle. There were usually more rats than the barn cats could handle. A few of these rats were large enough to whip our largest barn cat. The rats got into the feedroom, grain bins, troughs and feed manger. They would also come out onto the open barn floor and at times they numbered around fifteen on the the floor. It was past time to get rid of these rats.
My first attempt at rat hunting resulted in dispatching three greys by using a wooden club and a flashlight. Searching for rats by flashlight was an errie business even though I was in familiar surroundings. It soon became clear that these rats had never been bothered by any hunter, other than our barn cats. Bush telegraph among the rats had sent the message back to the remainder and the rats became scarce for awhile.
The following night I sat myself down on an old bucket that I positioned so I had the veiw of most of the barn floor, not far from the feed room. I also brought along my single shot 22rifle along with a flashlight. After approximately 15 minutes in total darkness I could hear the slight sounds of scratching and the high pitch squeaks that seemed to be coming from the feed room. I flipped the flashlight on in the direction of the sounds and immediately I could see pairs of tiny red eyes. Turning the flashlight off I waited until they got nearer, but all seemed to go quiet...had the flashlight frightened them? More time passed as I wondered if I was in the right place in the barn, maybe down by the corn bin...then it happened! A slight scratching sound this time very close, too close, then I felt scratching at the edge of my shoe, then a rat was on top of my foot! I jumped off the bucket noisily and away it went.
The rat had made off in the direction of the feed room...ignoring the cold sweat that had formed on my brow and neck...I made ready for another scan with the flashlight, there at the wall between the corn bin and feed room was a fair sized rat which was sniffing at a hole previously gnawed, the .22 gave hime no time to react, his limp body fell to the floor. I called it a night shortly after that.
Regular shooting sessions were having an inpact on the rats and we were seeing fewer around the barn. Annoyingly I was still getting glimpses of some very large and wary adults, one flash of the flashlight and they were off and gone to the rear of the bins. Most rats caught "full on" in the light beam would sit upright and appear to clean their faces...this is a sign of fright in rats and it usually allows enough time to position the sight and take the shot.
My evening rat hunts were being replaced by other farm duties, but one particular evening I felt that I had left the rats alone for too long and decided to have another late night shoot. My usual bucket was put to use and I began to wait at the entrance to the feed room. Darkness set in and my night vision alone wasn't enough to see the other side of the feed room, taking my favoured flashlight from my pocket I positioned it under the forend of the loaded .22 rifle. Our rats had been feeding well and were helping themselves to the main store of grain.
The usual scratching sounds started, I waited so as to let the rats get nearer. When I was sure a rat was nearby I flashed on the flashlight, nothing had prepared me for what I saw next, there in the beam of light not 6 yards away was the biggest rat I had ever seen...if there is such a thing as a "King" rat, then this was it. Off with the flashlight...what was I to do?, did I really want to be face to face with "that" again?..take a deep breath (hope that it isn't any closer), raise the .22, flashlight on..Fire, the huge rat rolled over as the .22 wadcutter struck it hard and high in the chest. I kept the flashlight on it, with my heart pumping hard beneath my shirt I fumbled one handedly to re-load the .22 rifle, but it wasn't necessary, the rat kicked a few times then expired. Its general scabby appearance suggest it had been around for quite some time. From it's nose to the the tip of it's thick scaly tail measured a total length of 18 inches!...that was some rat and I never saw nore shot a bigger rat in our barn since.