Rats

[stuckinthemud]

Hi guys,
I have rats living in my garden wall. My garden is 15 foot square. I do have a dog but he aint no terrier but it does make me worry about poison and traps. Was thinking if a catapult would be useful, 15 feet is too short a range for my air rifle and the things are really fast on their feet. What would you do?

[Del the cat]

I don't understand why 15' is too short. Can't you sight it up for that range?
Del

[stuckinthemud]

I got teles on it, and Im just too slow to get a shot off.  I cant fit open sights cos of the silencer

[Del the cat]

I got teles on it, and Im just too slow to get a shot off.  I cant fit open sights cos of the silencer

Flamethrower ...
sorted 
Del

[stuckinthemud]

Rats and weeds in one swift treatment, nice !

[Mesophilic]

Cold Steel Big Bore Blowgun with the broadhead darts is a fun way to learn a new skill and set back the population.

Shawn Woods on youtube has been doing mouse and rat chatching vids for a few years.  A lot of interesting traps and methods.  The simplest is a ramp, bucket of water, and an empry  can on an axle.  Baited with peanut butter, rat goes up ramp, steps on can, can spins and drops rat in bucket of water. 

[Hummingbird Point]

Quickest, easiest way is poison.  In that setting, it would need to go into "tamper resistant bait stations" to keep it away from kids, pets, and (most) non-target wildlife.  With a decent station and a little common sense, your dog will be perfectly safe.

Believe it or not I have found time and again the best traps for them are the same live (cage) traps used for squirrels and chipmunks.  Any non-target animals can be released.  When a rat is caught, pop it in the head with the pellet gun through the mesh.  The oil type sunflower seeds and/or dry dog food are best baits.

If you try to hunt them, they will figure that out very quickly.  They really are very smart animals.

Good luck!

[bjrogg]

I tend to agree with hummingbird point. They are pretty smart and unless you dig em out they will probably catch on to your hunting quickly.

Just gotta look up a YouTube video I watched though. I forget the kids name and haven't watched it in years but something like mink that Hunts rats. The kid trained a mink to hunt rats and Muskrats. It's very entertaining. They have a video of the mink and a couple small dogs if I remember correctly. A small rabbit coup is loaded with rats. They get something like thirty rats. Pretty cool. Kid is crazy. Has a video about how he trained and picked him out. He went to a mink farm and told the owner he wanted the meanest, nastiest buck mink the guy had.
Bjrogg
PS it's worth a look for the entertainment. I might have to watch it again. Might even have some new ones

[jeffhalfrack]

Mix dry plaster of Paris and peanut butter to a paste rats eat it shut their kidneys down ( I think ) but they die off after a while JeffW

[Marc St Louis]

There is such a thing as rat traps, they're like an oversize mouse trap

[Mesophilic]

There is such a thing as rat traps, they're like an oversize mouse trap

Hey, here on PA there's 3 things we don't talk about...wheel bows, $!#@&glass, and commercial rat traps 

[Chief RID]

Clean up is the first step. There is a reason for the rats. Figure out the food source and eliminate it. Start with pet food. This time of year if you plant a lot of annuals, especially if you have some that reseed often, those seeds could be the source. If you grow potatoes or other root vegetables then that could be your source.

[Eric Krewson]

Put you a target ot at 15ft, take a shot and see how high you hit then shoot that much lower on your shot at a rat.

[bjrogg]

I watched a couple more of the mink hunting rats videos. I really think you should get a mink and train it.lol. Pretty effective at getting them out of their holes. I'm sure it wouldn't take long for any that did survive the assault to move to safer territory.
Bjrogg

[JW_Halverson]

I tend to agree with hummingbird point. They are pretty smart and unless you dig em out they will probably catch on to your hunting quickly.

Just gotta look up a YouTube video I watched though. I forget the kids name and haven't watched it in years but something like mink that Hunts rats. The kid trained a mink to hunt rats and Muskrats. It's very entertaining. They have a video of the mink and a couple small dogs if I remember correctly. A small rabbit coup is loaded with rats. They get something like thirty rats. Pretty cool. Kid is crazy. Has a video about how he trained and picked him out. He went to a mink farm and told the owner he wanted the meanest, nastiest buck mink the guy had.
Bjrogg
PS it's worth a look for the entertainment. I might have to watch it again. Might even have some new ones

I know someone that has met him. The guy is strange, to say the least, very difficult to get along with.  He has had some luck with training mink, but he returns ten or more mink to fur farms as untrainable for every one he trains.

If you wanna see some rats getting whacked, check out Jordan Reed and the Mongrel Hoard. He is a professional ratter, emphasis on professional.  His crew often racks up triple digit scores on rats.