Courtney Hunting Club, NRA Life Member, SCI Kansas City Chapter
Hunted
Zimbabwe,Namibia, South Africa, KwaZulu Natal, Kalahari, Northwest, Limpopo, Gauteng, APNR Kruger Area. USA Georgia, South Carolina, Arkansas, New Mexico, North Carolina and Texas
Frick I HATE rats! Therefore I LOVE these dogs!!! Reminds me of a Quonset we stored wheat in one winter when I was a kid. When we opened it up in April, it was crawling with mice. We threw in a half dozen cats, but our little terrier was killing them as fast as he could open his jaws. If the cats killed 10, old Benny killed 500!!!
As a kid growing up on a farm in southern Minnesota, my Dad partnered with someone to start a egg laying operation with about 3000 chickens in a 3 story barn that we had. The raised platforms for the chickens were covered in chicken wire. Thats were they pooped. The rats would tunnel under about 12" of the dry chicken turd, to steal eggs. After we got rid of the chickens, all the poop had tobe shoveled out, and the amount was considerable
As we scooped it out, the rats would be running every which way. My German shepard had a field day killing rats. My uncle also had a .410 shotgun and he was blasting away. It was fun in a weird sort of way. Not sure how many rats were killed.
I did a LOT of this during my youth while growing up on my family's turkey farm with our Weimaraners. Pure fun and better than putting poison out. When a barn full of turkeys was shipped to market, plywood partitions in the barn were often disassembled and laid on the ground for a few days before the barn was cleaned. Rats always liked to dig under those plywood sheets. We'd get the dog to sniff them out, then lift the plywood and watch the fun. When really on his game my dog could pin up to 5 rats in their nest with his forearms and bite them all to death before they got away.
A great way to hone your reflexes and aim is to shoot running rats with a .22. My brother and I often backed up our dogs with .22 or air rifles, one reason why shooting quickly and accurately at moving big game is not quite as challenging a feat for us today as it seems to be for most hunters. Rats are the one animal I don't mind wounding, you can take any safe shot presented and it's all good. Must watch out for the dogs though.
I'm about ready to pull the trigger on another rifle but would love to see your rifle first, any way you could forward a pic or two?
Thanks,
Gary [redacted]
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