Summer of the Rat
Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2016 4:48 am
OK, no one enjoys to get out in the woods for a fall deer hunt, in the fields to shoot dove, or hunting rabbits with Beagles, more than me. But what about a animal that is as sly as a old buck, quicker than a ray of light, and posses some kind of Bionic Hearing. That creature is the Rat. Many airgun enthusiast make rat hunting a top priority.
One summer we had a large influx of Roof Rats. They would come out at night and raid my Bird Feeders. I became obsessed with shooting them, yep hunted them all summer. Would go out at night, pick a spot about 10 yards from the Bird Feeders and wait. Man, these suckers were fast. One minor noise and they were gone. There was one Rat in Particular that was huge. He was my Nemesis. I never could nail this guy. Saw him many times during the day at such odd times. Saw him take on a squirrel on day over a fight for sun flower seeds I had left out. He kicked butt.
My weapon of choice was a little Crosman 2250 carbine that modified over the years, steel receiver, new trigger, and a "TKO" shroud. The shroud would make the rifle virtually silent. All you can here is the trigger spring when you shoot it.
Well my hunt for the elusive big rat went on all Summer. Just playing around one day, I composed this short story. There is a part 2 which is really weird, much like some insane Stephen King stuff.
Part 1
He is smart, elusive, Equipped with high power instincts. He can hear my most silent whisper. He knows my habits, when I eat, when I sleep. He hides in the cover of darkness. He taunts me daily. Always with that smug smile he is so well known of. He always has a plan before the attack. Always has a new offensive tactic. He may come out of the cover of the jungled Ivy growing along the fence and ground underneath. Do a quick direct hit on the bird feeder.. Or he may circle around the old Elm tree which will obscure my vision. Always, more creative than the previous hit.
He is always there, watching. Occasionally, late at night, with flash light in hand, I will catch a slight glimmer of his beady eyes in the thick Ivy as he studies me. He will use the dark twisted Jungle, that grows along his escape route by the fence. Watching, laughing, and mocking my feeble attempts to quickly grab my weapon before he is long gone. Once again the bird feeder raided.
"To kill, you must know your enemy, and in this case my enemy is a rat. And a rat will never quit - ever. They're like the Viet Cong - RAT Cong. So you have to fall back on superior firepower and superior intelligence. And that's all she wrote" as Carl Spackler said so well.
He is known as the Jackal. I will be waiting for you Jack. If it takes me all summer I will smash your little head, right between your beady eyes with a sizzling pellet. I have been doing a lot of practice. And I have a new weapon. The modified Crosman eqipped with a Bug Buster scope so I can see deep down in camouflaged Ivy cover. And look close Jack. See the barrel? It is silent. I can shoot in the middle of the night and none of the neighbors will ever here a sound. You won’t either. Good bye Jack, you are a dead Rat walking.
Here is the little rifle with shroud-lousy pic
One summer we had a large influx of Roof Rats. They would come out at night and raid my Bird Feeders. I became obsessed with shooting them, yep hunted them all summer. Would go out at night, pick a spot about 10 yards from the Bird Feeders and wait. Man, these suckers were fast. One minor noise and they were gone. There was one Rat in Particular that was huge. He was my Nemesis. I never could nail this guy. Saw him many times during the day at such odd times. Saw him take on a squirrel on day over a fight for sun flower seeds I had left out. He kicked butt.
My weapon of choice was a little Crosman 2250 carbine that modified over the years, steel receiver, new trigger, and a "TKO" shroud. The shroud would make the rifle virtually silent. All you can here is the trigger spring when you shoot it.
Well my hunt for the elusive big rat went on all Summer. Just playing around one day, I composed this short story. There is a part 2 which is really weird, much like some insane Stephen King stuff.
Part 1
He is smart, elusive, Equipped with high power instincts. He can hear my most silent whisper. He knows my habits, when I eat, when I sleep. He hides in the cover of darkness. He taunts me daily. Always with that smug smile he is so well known of. He always has a plan before the attack. Always has a new offensive tactic. He may come out of the cover of the jungled Ivy growing along the fence and ground underneath. Do a quick direct hit on the bird feeder.. Or he may circle around the old Elm tree which will obscure my vision. Always, more creative than the previous hit.
He is always there, watching. Occasionally, late at night, with flash light in hand, I will catch a slight glimmer of his beady eyes in the thick Ivy as he studies me. He will use the dark twisted Jungle, that grows along his escape route by the fence. Watching, laughing, and mocking my feeble attempts to quickly grab my weapon before he is long gone. Once again the bird feeder raided.
"To kill, you must know your enemy, and in this case my enemy is a rat. And a rat will never quit - ever. They're like the Viet Cong - RAT Cong. So you have to fall back on superior firepower and superior intelligence. And that's all she wrote" as Carl Spackler said so well.
He is known as the Jackal. I will be waiting for you Jack. If it takes me all summer I will smash your little head, right between your beady eyes with a sizzling pellet. I have been doing a lot of practice. And I have a new weapon. The modified Crosman eqipped with a Bug Buster scope so I can see deep down in camouflaged Ivy cover. And look close Jack. See the barrel? It is silent. I can shoot in the middle of the night and none of the neighbors will ever here a sound. You won’t either. Good bye Jack, you are a dead Rat walking.
Here is the little rifle with shroud-lousy pic
