Ratting + No Pics

[RemyBolt 420]

Just read that a few people enjoyed my last write up and my clear inability to use a camera. Thanks for the cool input lads. Wish I had taken pics of this session, but at the same time...glad I didn't. Well, pictures wouldn't really have worked out anyway. I'll explain why later. A camcorder maybe. But not pics.

For those checking the time, it's currently around 4am. Today's ratting started...late.

I was meant to go around with the farmer as usual, but he was in the local pub. Handed over the keys to the barns (the farmer call them houses) and he bought me a lemonade (I don't drink). Next thing I know it's 11:30pm and we were still in the pub. So I excused myself and vanished around the corner towards the farm. My mission, if I chose to undertake it, work houses 1, 2 and 9. The farmer said he already had the best year for rats (I am easily sweet talked), but these places needed extra attention. Mission accepted!

Straight to house 1. In the pit (the area full of chicken poo) I manage a good clean head shot on a rat. Bowled it straight over. Then just missed one scurrying toward "the hole room". The hole room is a small area with a hole in the wall that makes for brilliant hidden shooting. Unfortunately I had hurt my leg running on Thursday, so couldn't get comfortable to see out the whole night in this position; the scratch area shooting through the hole into the hole-room. However, I did manage to slam another rat when I got to the scratch-area. But it disappeared down a hole. I would bet money it was a kill shot, but not retrievable, so it's just a 90 (90% certain it's dead).

 

You know when you're somewhere dark, all alone, and you literally cannot see your hand in front of your face? It was like that. Well, now and again your mind starts to play tricks on you. This massive man sized rat shadow appeared before me, as I moved further back. No joke, this thing was HUGE! Then I hear a massive metal scraping sound, like another giant rat person thing walking down the back wall, behind me, scraping it's claws against the metal. Light on, gun in hand, ready to grab my knife. My heart was racing! Turns out it was just one of the fly boards they use to catch flies swinging in the breeze, that caused the moving monster shadow. The scraping was the rear door dragging on the concrete floor, in the same breeze. I seriously need my imagination to shut down sometimes.

After checking upstairs and looking down the egg belt, pretty quiet, but I got one on the top belt, I flitter between the hole room and pit. But not much going on. I finish round 1 with a total of 4 kills and a few 90's.

Down to house 2, with a quick stop at house 6. Turns out house 6 is all closed up. Shame. My last couple of sessions in there were really good fun, see Ratting + Pics post. So I scootched over to house 2.

Nothing.

The whole place has lights on, full of chickens, no clear shot lines, and no rats. Not even a dark corner for me to hide and wait in, or even for a rat to hide in. One hour later I come to the conclusion that the farmer was probably a bit drunk when suggesting I work house 2. Either that or he'll have to show me where they are in there. So onward to house 9...at the far end of the farm.

House 9 started a weird trend. The session became the night of the long shot. Like a freak session where my pellets were half air rifle pellet and half homing missile! Usually I'm not this good, so please don't think I'm either an amazing shot, nor big headed. I was in the zone and have never managed ranged shots with this gun this often. First shot at house 9 was as I turned the corner at the bottom of the barn. The back end was open and 4 rats scattered up the left hand wall. I took a shot on one half way down the barn. For ratting you typically shoot meters in the single digits. So a long range shot ratting, when you're based inside would max out around 9-10 meters. This shot was at least 13-15 meters. Not a long shot really, but when your gun is set up for close range, it would be the equivalent of reaching out and tagging a 50+ yarder (note, my ratting gun is set around 8lbs, so it's a pretty quick drop. Stunning headshot. I honestly impressed myself. But then I reload and top that shot with another rat just behind that one with an equally good shot at a slightly further range.

I look over to the opposite wall and see a rat scurry down the wall away from me. I squeek quickly imitating a rat sound to try and stop it in it's tracks. For the second or 2 it pauses, I get off a shot...spot on! What is going on?!?! Another long range shot! I really wish someone was there to see these shots. Problem is, there's no damn way I was going through all that poop to get a photo of the dead rats. I could have just taken a picture of the area, but it would have been a picture of a load of chicken poo, around a meter high, and with the odd red arrow pointing where the shots were. Those pictures are too easily faked...plus back to my original point, I'm not wading through waist deep chicken poo!

I play with my night vision and find a rat a few meters off. I missed. Follow up and see the rat run down the outside of the house. I shoot. The shot hits the rat, but it gets down a hole. If it was a kill shot then it wouldn't be retrievable anyway. I'm not even going to call it a 90. It was more like a 50 :-( I hate it when I don't get a clean kill.

Trotted outside and looked down the far outer wall. Low and behold 2 rats really close. Loaded back up, but they had gone. I set up on some concrete blocks, by set up I actually mean, sat my bum on these concrete blocks and looked down the side of the wall. My next few shots were also not to my liking. Missed my a tiny margin, clipped a tail too. Nothing good. Best shot outside the house was lined up on a black rat. There were 2. I went for the bigger one on the left. I saw the eyes, lined back a little, and squeezed the trigger. I see the pellet fly. Perfect heart and lung shot...if it was a rat. I had shot the rat box that a rat was using as a hiding place. It had poked it's head out of the hole and I had taken it for a rat. After wasting 5 minutes being outwitted by rats, I decide round 2 is over. Cautiously I head back over behind the open doors. I get off another shot down the left. Another rat bagged.

 

This house was being mucked out, and I had considered sitting in the mini-scoop truck and waiting them out, but I checked the seat and it was minging. I would have sat it out and had a great session otherwise.

As I head over to house 1 again I check my zero. How had I gone from super accurate marine sniper to my normal self so quickly?! Scope slip. Must have nudged it by accident, then nudged it back. Sounds off, but RatCatcher's really are easily de-zeroed.

 

Just before I get to house 1, this massive rat, no joke it was the size of a house cat, shoots out of the pit door and stops. I can feel it's staring right at me. I know I'm loaded, so am ready for this. I pop on my light and my cross hairs is spot on between the eyes of this beast. Just before I pull the trigger out of panic, I recognise this beast is actually a farm cat! I love cats, so I'm glad I didn't shoot first. I'm also glad it wasn't a giant rat monster! I think my little Crosman might have failed to do anything other than aggravate it, if it was a giant rat creature.

Back inside house 1 I line up a shot through the hole into the hole room. Click, pop, squeek. Another rat down...literally. Down a hole. Blood splatter was good, I saw the pellet hit the head, so I am happy with it as a clean kill, but because it was not retrievable, I'll call it a 90.

Quickly pop up to the egg belt. Manage to pop one, shoot over the head of another, then readjust for 2 more good clean kills. I missed a brilliant shot opportunity (you know when a rat is doing something stupid and you just want to take it out, like when a rat is half way up a ladder and you get to shoot it off the ladder, that kind of thing) when a rat was standing tall on it's back legs trying to reach up and get to the top frame of the egg belt. My plan was to spin it over. It's little white belly was towards me, so the plan was to take it out through the underside of it's skull, and make it flip over with the impact. When I pulled the trigger, silence! I hadn't loaded a new pellet after my last shot! By the time I was ready, the rat had changed position. I still shot it though, just no back flip. Then a quick trip downstairs again. Night vision bagged me a rat coming up the right hand side of the pit. Then 2 others dart up the wall away from me. One does a forward flip as a .22 pellet pierces it's head. The second got away. At least I got a flip from a rat.

I head properly under the house, instead of just scanning with night vision, I climb down into the cleared section. Mountains of poop everywhere except this 2 meter strip that ran along the front of the house. A beast of a rat, dubbed Rat-zilla comes bounding towards me. What the hell?!?! There is no chance to use the scope, time is of the essences. He it going to take revenge! Straight up, this thing bounded straight for me! I point my little Crosman in the general direction and shoot. Dropped the rat like a stone. The pellet must have broken it's spine. My beast shots were back. Shot out another 3 retrievable rats and a couple of 90's. Then started alternating between hole room, egg belt, and the pit. A few more kills added to the list for the farmer.

All in all I had a total of between 14-18 rats to my kill quota. There were a lot of shots fired, and I cannot 100% recount every shot, which is why I think I only described around 10 shots in the write-up. 14 confirmed kills and 4x 90's (I believe were more like 100's, but if it's unretrievable, it becomes a 90).

 

 

 

p.s. If you've already read this you'll notice that I have added a quick edit. Simple reason it was 4am when I started writing this, not all details were accurate asI was so tired I have to admit I was really drifting to sleep half way through. So if it didn't make sense first time round, sorry. I've updated the rest of the thread and added a few embarrassing but funny bits in. Enjoy.

Edited August 30, 2014 by RemyBolt

[j j m 6,481]

Nice write up mate

[sprockerjay 74]

Excellent writeup could almost smell the chicken shit and the amoni stinging my eyes atb aidy

[shep41 31]

Good writeup give us more like this mate.