FamilyWiggs
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JoceAndChris said:
It's not true:
- Thread starter JoceAndChris
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It's not true:
Penners
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Unfortunately it is. Go into any country goods store and you'll see a selection of "humane" devices for trapping rodents alive. Preposterous idea.FamilyWiggs said:
Flyfisher
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I don't think a .44 magnum would be that useful for rats - somewhat over-powered! You might get the first one but the others will probably lie low for ages after the explosion. Anyway, handguns are completely illegal in the UK these days.JoceAndChris said:
An old gamekeeper friend used to use an air-rifle with an air-reservoir that could be refilled from a small scuba tank. I can't remember how many pellets were in the magazine (around 10 I think) but he would sit in the woods a fair way from the game feeders and pick off loads of rats in a session. Being almost silent, the surviving rats weren't scared off and, oddly perhaps, seemed fairly oblivious to the rising number of corpses. Otherwise, a .410 shotgun is very effective but the noise can attract unwanted attention, depending on the locale.
But, as long as there is a source of food around, it's only a matter of controling their numbers rather than elimination, which is pretty much impossible.
Schoolmarm
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I always trap them and release them in Grantham on a bit of a hill.
yamin
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Oh I know, that one with that pretty young thing who floats around the garden in her nightie, singing songs to her chickens? 
(and don't we just love her for it!)
(and don't we just love her for it!)FamilyWiggs
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yamin said:Oh I know, that one with that pretty young thing who floats around the garden in her nightie, singing songs to her chickens?
Yes, but have you seen her trying to ride a horse??!! :shock:
JoceAndChris
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Oi! No more rats here, thankyou very much 'marm, we have exceeded our national quota already. And Robin, though I have not yet experienced much of the horse, I'm in no doubt that when I do I'll take to it like a duck to water! Harrumph! You are talking to a person who has played with tigers, who has ridden camels and elephants through jungle and desert. Why should I be trepidatious about a mere horse.
Abi - xxx. And funny you should mention the singing, they got treated to a huge dollop of Evita yesterday, poor things didn't like it much.
Abi - xxx. And funny you should mention the singing, they got treated to a huge dollop of Evita yesterday, poor things didn't like it much.
FamilyWiggs
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JoceAndChris said:
You didn't say your hens were called Marjorie and Tina......
Wait for it.....
Just a bit longer.....
Can you guess the punchline......
Here it comes.....
I presume you were cheering the chooks up by singing "Don't cry for me, 'Marg and Tina" !!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
Way back in the mid-late 60's when handguns were legal and my father was a shooting instructor(NSRA)we had a wooden lean-to at the back of the house,I was only a kid so I don't remember every detail exactly but my Nan said there were rats getting in the shed.
What I do remember is the old man set up some kind of rat run where they were getting in that involved a broomstick.
Then he sat me down on a chair in the shed with a .38 Special loaded with ratshot,this great big fat bugger climbed up the stick in the shed and I shot it.
It disintegrated.
So did part of the shed behind the partially atomised creature :shock:
I think there was part of a head left and the tail I think landed in next doors garden.
I'm not a fan of shooting living creatures,much as I used to enjoy eating rabbit I just can't now,more of that another time.
But I have no problem shooting rats and this one just exploded!
Trouble was the old man loaded his own shot and did dastardly experiments with cordite and black powder.
So did I,his gun cabinet was in my bedroom and I knew where he hid the key :lol:
Air rifles are best for shooting rats,live rounds scare everything off after the first shot.
I'm not as up on it now as I used to be but some air rifles you need a firearms certificate for as the velocity is regulated by PSI(or foot pounds) not FPS.
http://www.airpistol.co.uk/airgun_law.htm
The RAF use silenced air rifles to clear runways or used to,and use the recoiless Theoben gas ram system,they used to use .22 but probably use .25 now.
Air rifles charged from an air reservoir or divers bottle are the most popular among target shooters,you can get 100 shots from a precharged pneumatic but you ain't going to kill 100 rats in one session so many shooters still prefer the old lever or break barrel action.
A good air rifle will cost more than FAC live round rifle.
Me?
I just have a cat :wink:
What I do remember is the old man set up some kind of rat run where they were getting in that involved a broomstick.
Then he sat me down on a chair in the shed with a .38 Special loaded with ratshot,this great big fat bugger climbed up the stick in the shed and I shot it.
It disintegrated.
So did part of the shed behind the partially atomised creature :shock:
I think there was part of a head left and the tail I think landed in next doors garden.
I'm not a fan of shooting living creatures,much as I used to enjoy eating rabbit I just can't now,more of that another time.
But I have no problem shooting rats and this one just exploded!
Trouble was the old man loaded his own shot and did dastardly experiments with cordite and black powder.
So did I,his gun cabinet was in my bedroom and I knew where he hid the key :lol:
Air rifles are best for shooting rats,live rounds scare everything off after the first shot.
I'm not as up on it now as I used to be but some air rifles you need a firearms certificate for as the velocity is regulated by PSI(or foot pounds) not FPS.
http://www.airpistol.co.uk/airgun_law.htm
The RAF use silenced air rifles to clear runways or used to,and use the recoiless Theoben gas ram system,they used to use .22 but probably use .25 now.
Air rifles charged from an air reservoir or divers bottle are the most popular among target shooters,you can get 100 shots from a precharged pneumatic but you ain't going to kill 100 rats in one session so many shooters still prefer the old lever or break barrel action.
A good air rifle will cost more than FAC live round rifle.
Me?
I just have a cat :wink:
yamin
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Golly, you're a bit scary...... :?
yamin
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Just the description that was scary!
Penners
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Top marks, FW! First class humour.FamilyWiggs said:
:roll:
It was over 40 years ago I shot that rat.yamin said:Just the description that was scary!
Uh oh.....sounds like a Jimmy Cagney moment
Shot another in '82 with my then girlfriends little brothers air rifle after it went for kids at a childrens birthday party,I was in my GFs garden teaching her brother how to use the air rifle safely when the screams went up across the road and one of the kids ran in the the house followed by a Mum screaming "Shoot it!"
This is true so don't believe all you hear about rats jumping at you to escape.
When I got there it was me and the rat in a huge garden,everyone else was gone.
That little bugger went straight at me like it was on a mission.
I hit it on the volley with a swift kick from a size 12 boot and it went flying the length of the garden.
Not very sporting I know but then I shot it while it was stunned and buried it.
I'm a great one for live and let live,I didn't like killing that rat but it WAS going for children at the party and apart from a few people I really don't like very much rats are about the only living thing I would happily shoot.
But I don't have a gun now and nor do I want one.
I'm too soft.
I used to love eating rabbit but I can't,as a kid I watched the old man do it,I watched through a telescope as he got the clean kill straight through the heart.
I didn't like it but it didn't put me off eating it.
What did put me off was a mate of mine in London when I was in my early 20's,a big black bloke known to be a total nutter.
We were in a cafe and I ordered the rabbit stew,as I was eating it he said,and I remember his exact words.
"I don't know how you can eat that,it was probably some little girls pet yesterday".
I've never been able to eat rabbit since
londonman
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We used to be plagued with rats in the loft. I blocked up all possible entry holes, nooks and crannies with coarse steel wool (apparently they hate trying to eat through it) and installed two ultrasonic rat repellers in the lofts. Six months rat free so far. Fingers crossed.
Schoolmarm
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When we had rats years ago we found our sewer pipe was broken and they had tunnelled up from it. We replaced all the broken parts AND ONLY THEN did we see the last of the rats.