Rat shooting has started

[Cyres]

Last week I was after a fox on a small free range egg unit. As expected Basil had a night off but at one stage I could see 10 rats scuttling about. Quick chat with the owner the next day confirmed rat problem was bad.

Next day scope off Daystate and replaced by Photon. Turned up at 9pm and became clear that there were a lot of rats coming out of dry stone walls and from piles of pavers on pallets. My Daystate runs at 1000 fps in .177 and whilst being rather OTT for rats is deadly accurate. Spotting with my thermal a 2 hr session saw 25 dead rats with 2 misses.

Went out again couple days later and shot another 10. By the time I finished they were becoming scarce and quite jittery.

Great fun and some precision shooting aided by a set of quad stcks.

D

 

[Sampo]

Sounds like a fun night and possibly many more similar nights to come.

 

[Triggermortis]

Well done, a very decent bag indeed!
I love ratting with the air rifle, excellent fun, try mousing it certainly teaches you to pick your shots

 

[Cyres]

Love it. .177 at 1,000 fps drills straight through a rat.

D

 

[bullet chucker]

Rat' for Basil perhaps?

BC.

 

[Gunner223]

I shot 87 a few nights ago around some maize clamps , i shoot around 200 a week, but i have noticed more foxes around,
then the other night something caught my eye in the thermal, a fox was following me around picking them up , so now he's on the list .

 

[shakey jake]

what sort of free range units lets it get that bad? why pile pavers on pallets near the shed? im sure you had fun but that farm sounds awful

 

[Cyres]

Just difficult as drystone wall on edge of chicken pen. Lack of storage space and will be used to relay a drive. Actually very clean and tidy compared to some I have shot on.

Rats have the ability to exploit any dry and dark spaces.

D

 

[old keeper]

I live close to a free-range poultry farm and there are thousands of rats there. They live in the hedges and particularly at this time of year are difficult to deal with, that is until kill time comes round for the birds. The night following the kill you can shoot literally hundreds while waiting in the house after dark. After a couple of days what food is left behind is gone, then I bait for a day and the following night have another mass slaughter.
I use an FX Dreamline .22, with its high capacity magazine, high shot count and being amazingly accurate, mated with the PARD it's a deadly rat set-up.

As far as control goes, they poison constantly changing types, but still there are huge numbers there. I love it!

 

[John Gryphon]

I love ratting with the air rifle

I see they are laid out on top of and ready to go into what looks like the chest freezer....yummmmo!

 

[User00053]

a nights ratting with air power and thermal takes some beating !

 

[shakey jake]

rank guys another reason not to eat chicken!

 

[Triggermortis]

a nights ratting with air power and thermal takes some beating !

As I said, you should try shooting mice, sorts the shooters from the shoot at’ers

 

[pj1]

I have a similar sounding farm that I help control the rats on and like old keeper said they can be tricky to keep under control until the flock is changed over. Here’s a couple of pics from the last couple of weeks. 125 shot and 81 picked up and then 60 shot and 50 picked. Very good sport and when the numbers are high far more effective than poison.
couple of potential medal class rats as well

 

[Smelly Yeti]

I have a similar sounding farm that I help control the rats on and like old keeper said they can be tricky to keep under control until the flock is changed over. Here’s a couple of pics from the last couple of weeks. 125 shot and 81 picked up and then 60 shot and 50 picked. Very good sport and when the numbers are high far more effective than poison.
couple of potential medal class rats as well

‘Medal class rats’ - now there’s a thought! The barley is heading in to the barns now so going to be out after the wee $€^^$ myself again in the next few nights. Possible couple of ‘bronze’ contenders from a recent trip?

.

 

[Woodsmoke]

I've watched YouTube videos of rat shooting using night vision and air rifles, and I've always thought it looked seriously good sport, as well as being a damn effective way of reducing numbers. Bloody things bring out the medieval in me. I know they only take a light tap with a length of alkathene to kill, but I always seem to end up flailing about like a bloodthirsty madman after them Hate the damn things

 

[pj1]

‘Medal class rats’ - now there’s a thought! The barley is heading in to the barns now so going to be out after the wee $€^^$ myself again in the next few nights. Possible couple of ‘bronze’ contenders from a recent trip?

. View attachment 219321

Bottom rat has definite medal potential. Solid neck and a good paunch.

 

[pj1]

I've watched YouTube videos of rat shooting using night vision and air rifles, and I've always thought it looked seriously good sport, as well as being a damn effective way of reducing numbers. Bloody things bring out the medieval in me. I know they only take a light tap with a length of alkathene to kill, but I always seem to end up flailing about like a bloodthirsty madman after them Hate the damn things

Know the feeling woodsmoke. Great fun with a stick but the air rifle seems so refined in comparison. If I could work out how to up load videos I recently had 15 from 18 shots. Quite an eye opener when there are that many to shoot at.

 

[foxdropper]

Love it ,can’t get enough of it .One of lifes true pleasures rat shooting with sub 12 .

 

[Triggermortis]