GTA
General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Hunting Gate => : longislandhunter July 15, 2008, 12:52:16 PM
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For the past few weeks I've had the landscaping crew at my house working on my yard. One of the things I've had done is have some larege sections of sod layed. I've been watering it and taking care of it like one would a newborn infant and it's been thriving :)
I haven't shot a squirrel in my yard in a long time. They haven't been bothering the bird feeders, they have finally left my shed alone and in general they've been behaving very politely. As a result I have done the honorable thing and left them alone. Well,,,,, today that all changed !!!
For some reason, all of a sudden, the tree rats have started an assault on my new sod. For some reason they are suddenly digging deep holes in it. I have no idea what they are "harvesting" during their excavations, but they are really ticking me off. They've also apparently discovered my squash and cucumber plants that I have growing in large planters on my deck. They are surgically biting off any flower that blooms and eating them. :(
Tomorrow morning my assault on the the little raiders officially begins.... Gonna get up nice and early and be out in my yard in full camo nicely tucked away among the bushes waiting for the sun to come up. Sounds like a job for one of my home tuned B-3's :)
I'll post the results of my campaign as it progresses......
Jeff
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Well Jeff, I guess Ill have to come home for "Brunch" tommorow,, Im guessing by about 10 am. new pics. will be here for all to enjoy!! Oh, No preasure Buddy!!LOL!! Im taking my 34 with me in the morning to "work" (1/4 mi. away) Home owner wants me to "eliminate" some pesky bird feeder raiding "rodents",, HMMMMM,, May the best man win Jeff!!LOL!! Tim.
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I'll be lookin forward to your pics Tim :)
Jeff
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Good luck in the mornin Jeff, lookin forward to the pics and the hunt.
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Hmmm....looks like we have a little "Tree rat elimination" contest going on. Can't wait for photos... I've a family of squirrels living in the trees on my property.....they haven't caused damage to the house or anything else so I leave them alone.
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Haha this post had me in stitches, Esp. "Save The Sod"
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Jeff, as you enter the battlefield in your noble campaign I pray for your safe return and glorious VICTORY. May your shots be frequent and accurate.Godspeed.
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Varment's! where?.......I'll get my shooter hehehe good luck buddy and I'm sure you'll drag something back to camp for supper.:0 Ed
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It's 0800 !!! Report any movment and engage..Deny the enemy rest and food.This tactic combined with the percision removal of any enemy troop will certainly lower their morale..
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Campaign update: My enemies intelligence network is obviously far more efficient than I gave them credit for !! This mornings search and destroy patrol resulted in no enemy targets sighted despite exhaustive patrol efforts. Unfortunately I will be away from home for the rest of the day, but when I return later this afternoon the campaign continues. I will not underestimate them again........
Jeff
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Oh thier smarter than we think! Thus far today Im batting zero!! Today I saw something a little strange, next to 3 Squirrel nests,I noticed what appeared to be small perfectly round objects next to thier nests about the size of an American Quarter. Upon closer examination (6X Power thru a scope) I saw,,,,,,, Tiny little satilite dishes!! Thats right Folks, they are ON LINE!! That explains all the bills Im getting from Comcast addressed to "Mr. Squirrely One",, I thought they were my bills,, (Comcast maybe knew of my distain for Squirrels?) Gotta tell Ya Folks they get, unlimmited long distance Ph.,, 476 TV Chnls.,, Internet sevice for,, $1.95 a month!! (I have seen the bill) Next time we plan a hunt Jeff,, lets just talk about it on PM. or E-Mail!! SHHHH!! Tim.
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Sound like a plan Tim :)
We're gonna have to go "covert" :)
Jeff
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Jeff, you've got a spy in the camp. You need to switch to a different code. Find the spy and eliminate them.
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Jeff, you have undertaken a huge task. You are alone and they have the advantage of #'s and as well as the high point. You are going up against a formiddable opponent with the best intelligence network around. They were probably made aware of your war declaration and are keeping a low profile.
I say put some peanuts down or other favorite food of theirs to set up an ambush. I normally don't do that, but in war time, drastic measures must be taken. If any of them walk by the peanuts and stuff, and go straight for your planters or sod, you would have identfied your enemy, and take action to eliminate them. If they all raid the peanuts then you must take out a couple of them to reduce the moral among their troops.
[BTW, they dig up all around like that and put small holes into the ground or lawn, to either hide food, or trying to find food that they 've hidden/burried in the past. They don't have good memory so they 'll dig anywhere looking for it a month or two later. Could it be you laid sod on top of where they used to hide nuts or food several mos ago, or last summer? I fed them peanuts for several weeks in April & May, but they didn't eat them. I watched them burry 99% of it. Only on rare occasion one of them took a bite or ate one. I watched one through my binaculars eat 1 peanut in the shell, and burry the other that was still in the shell. I had those little holes all over my property but have not seen any this month or too many in June.
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You may have hit on something Harry,,,,, perhaps they are indeed trying to get to what they previously buried where the new sod is. I hadn't thought of that......
I'm still gonna whackem,,, but at least now I know why they're doing it.. :)
Jeff
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Its called,, "Squirreling Away" My Mom & a few of my rich relatives do it,, cept they dont dig up my yard. Of course I only dig in thier yard at night!!LOL!! Tim.
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Obviously these tree rats don't know who's yard they are in... I think you are going to have to refresh their memory. Maybe they are new to the neighborhood or something?? get a gun setup in every room with pellets waiting to make an example of these lawn wreckers. Go get them Jeff!!! I am sure it is only a matter of time.
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I saw him !!!!!
I was leaving for work this afternoon and as I walked to my truck I glanced over at my newly laid sod lawn and there he was,,,,,, a fat tree rat diggin for gold :(
I was a split second away from pulling my 9mm Glock out of the holster and letting lead fly, but then of course common sense and reality kicked in and the thought was gone,,, but I have to admit I was tempted :)
I chased him off the sod and watched him scamper to safety up the nearest maple tree, but at least now I know what the little raider looks like and his days are numbered :)
Jeff
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Almost pulled the Glock out lol, Jeff was it high noon in Tombstone hehehe. There wouldn't have been much left to cook up maby a chunk of meat and the tail attached to it.:) You'll get em buddy. Ed
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Thanks buddy,,,, I have the next 3 days off so I think I'm gonna spend some time in the backyard with my newly sighted in and ready to hunt .177 "fast deer" waitin for the little sod raider to make another appearance :)
Would make a nice first kill for the "deer" :)
Jeff
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Hey Jeff,, Been there myself Buddy,, just was held back by that "Lil Ole" "Thin Blue Line" He He!! Of course my varmints were looking at Mr. G. 40 LOL!! 3 Days off Jeff?? Man Im NEVER gonna catch up!! GEEZZZEEEEE!! Tim.
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My best friend did just that. You guys mentioning glocks and shooting at "rats" reminded me of a story that I always bring up after a few drinks with my old friends I used to be on the job with. He came over one summer evening just as the sun was going down and asked to see my Glock then walked outside and emtpied the entire magazine on a couple of rats that were running around a huge mount of logs (like 10+cords) at the yard of a tree-cutting service about 60ft behind the house I was renting at the time. I was shocked and speechless. I thought he just wanted to see my new Glock. There was a house about 40yds on one side and some other commerical building that was closed about 50yds away on the other. I was living with my g-friend at the time and we were actually renting a small house that used be the office of that tree-cutting business. A couple of secs later when he realized what he did he got in his cruiser (!), said "I like the Glock" and took off. Yes he was working and assigned to that area. He missed all the rats of course.. It then occured to me he didn't want to use his service revolver just in case - so he couldn't get in trouble.. That was back in '87-88 when we were not allowed to carry semi-automatics except when we were off-duty. He just stopped by to say hi like he usually did and I did the same during my shift. Yes we were young and stupid but we were peace officers and we (well he..) had no excuse. Needless to say the "perpetrator" got the call over the radio to investiage (himself) a report of 'shots fired'. I 'll stop there before I say anything more incriminating :-)
That was 20yrs ago and he 's retired now. The town probably feels a little safer :)
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That's a great story Harry :)
No doubt he wrote up the report as "unfounded" :)
Jeff
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did anything like that when I was "on the job" He He!!ROFL!!!!! No,, but,, If I did,,,, it would have been a Rabbit,,& I hit it first shot with my trusty Glock!! Of course,, that NEVER happened!! Times change. Tim.
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Sure "you didn't" do that Tim! I can see you stopping every time you saw a critter on the side of the road to take a shot at it! hehehe
Yes, times have definitely changed.
The funny thing was, the next day I went to work, the sergeant told us there were some complaints about a lot of fireworks in the vicinity of my house. I called him from on a pay phone later that day and he aid he reported to Central hearing some firecrackers coming from the woods and told them it had to be kids playing with fireworks! hehe
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This has got to be one of the funniest posts I have ever read!!!! You guys crack me up.God I wish I would have stayed in the ARMY!!! I really miss it!
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Since we are sharing fictional stories,,,,,,,, there was this one story that I heard about a guy "on the job" who brought a Crosman 1377 (with a shoulder stock and red dot sight) to work and during his meal period,,, usually around 3 am,,, would park the cruiser under a certain highway bridge and "pop pigeons" :)
It is of course an UNCONFIRMED story and I have never been able to substantiate it,,,, but if it was true I'll bet it was ALOT of fun :)
Jeff
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Now THATS FUNNY!! I am literally,,LOL!! Very good "story" Jeff!! Tim.
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Now that's having fun during work!
Just curious Jeff.. don't you own a 1377 pistol? :-)
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Ok I 'll tell you guys a 'true' story since we are talking about shooting birds.
One day in the Fall of '89 myself and 3 cop friends of mine were in upstate NY hunting deer. We split up in 2 pairs and agreed to meet back at the truck at 4pm. At the end of the day my buddy and I were approaching the truck when we heard repeated shots that sounded like handguns. We ducked and approached the truck carefully at which time we saw the other 2 guys shooting at a sparrow no more than 20ft away from them with their pistols. We asked them what they are doing and jokingly they said they didn't see a deer all day so they just had to shoot at something. My friend joins them and all they did was empty out their pistols while the sparrow kept jumping from branch to branch on a small tree probably too shocked to fly away. While they were reloading, I went back to the truck and grabbed my 12ga shotgun that I had brought with me because we saw turkeys the day before when scouting the area for signs of deer. I loaded a couple #7 1/2 bird shells, walked up next to them and shot the sparrow. All I could see were feathers going every which direction and slowly coming down to the ground. They all jumped up from the loud report of the shotgun (pistols sounded like firecrackers compared to the shotgun) and were like "holy crap".. I guess I took them by surprise. One of my friends (who happened to be NYPD at the time), turns around and says "no wonder they call you DIRTY HARRY!" hehehe
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"Dirty Harry",,,, LOL,,,,,, that's great. Are you gonna be changin your GTA logon name ???? :)
Jeff
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Whack`em Jeff!! :emoticon:
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I don't know Jeff, but if I do you 'll be the first to know :)
That was a long time ago. Some of the other guys called me that because I used to shoot 357 & 44 Mag revolvers at the indoor range of our station, while they just shot their 38's and 9mm. I was also the only one shooting a couple of the 45 autos we had available at the range. I liked the way they kicked and thought if I could master those I could shoot anything.. I didn't own any of those. They were just available for our use (most were confiscated I believe) at the range only. I think most guys avoided them because they were scratched up, with faded blueing, etc. and probably thought the guns didn't shoot right or were old & abused (they certainly looked like it) but they worked fine with a little cleaning. Some guys were just plain chicken_sh*ts and thought the 45's would blow up in their face because one was estimated to be 30yrs old. So what? as long as the rifling in the barrel was still good.. They were clueless and liked shiny new ones.