First of all I want to apologize for the lack of creativity with the post name, I promise I'll come up with something better next time. As some of you may know from my first hunting gate post, I am fairly new to AG's as well as being fairly new to a big urban city. Being in a big city has forced me to adapt my "pest control" to an appropriate sound and power level, eliminating pest here with my ruger .22 lr would be a definite nono. So enter my new obsession......Air Guns. I'm telling you guys something the majority of you already know, just like squirrels in a previous post, you can't just stop at 1. Which leads me to this post. I received a Crooked Barn "Tomcat" (modified 2240) yesterday, and of course was itching to try her out. I proceeded to punch a ton of paper and was very pleased with everything about the pistol.
In my last post you found out that my neighborhood is ripe with squirrel, but just like any other big city neighborhood, it has its share of rats as well. Well the rats here love doing what rats everywhere do, dig under foundations, scatter trash, and generally make life a little more difficult for everyone. I have a detached garage that they've grown particularly fond of digging under, and where I have taken a few already with my B26-2. I leave the light on in the doorway leading to the garage to acclimate them to the light, and any night I have the time to do pest control, I smear peanut butter on the corner of the step leading to the garage door, and never have to wait very long for a few to show up. Yesterday was a bit different in that family obligations kept me from being at my "sniper window" when the rats usually start their night (10-11). So I set my alarm for 5 when they start finishing up their pillaging. So this mornig I wake up, make my way to the window and after only 15 mins of yawning a huge rat appears to give a go at the peanut butter on the step. The range is a little bit past 20 yds and I have open sights, so I decide to aim at the breadbasket and let the predator do the work. These things don't stay still for long, so I knew I had to act fast. I quickly took aim with an isosceles hold, resting my hands on the window sill, still myself and squeeze the trigger. I hear the the pellet hit its mark and see the rat roll to its side and then get up and run. As I walk out to see if I can retrieve the rat, I'm thinking, "great, that thing is going to run to its hole, die, and stink up the garage". I get to the spot where I shot it, and find him dead, about 2 ft. from where he was hit. Shot placement is right on the shoulder with no exit wound that i can see. And this guy is big. I've been shooting 10"-14" inchers fairly regularly. and this one is pushing 18" with part of his tail missing. He's at least a pound and a half. for referance the pistol is a bit over 18". Hope you all enjoyed this. More to come.
