Kiddies, don't try this at home.. shot a mouse with .22 shot shell!

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dfaugh

New member
Had a "pidgeon problem"

in my barn...Tried some .22 shotshells someone gave me at a gun show...Pretty much ineffective, at the usual 25-30 ft range (Me on floor, them in the rafters)...So I broke out the CCI stingers...much more effective, however, a couple of those SOBs flopped around for quite a while after taking one through the chest (obviously didn't hit anything vital?) otheres dropped like rocks...Downside is a few .22 size holes in the barn, when I missed (which wasn't very often, luckily) Bought some CB caps for next time, but word seems to have spread thoughout the local pidgeon community...haven't seen one for many months...Wish I had a supply of rats to shoot...need practice, and I HATE rats
 
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gryphon

New member
Drjones,

Sometimes the traps snap their necks, if they go after the bait at the proper angle. I've seen one that got it's skull cracked, strangled, back broken, you name it.

Mouse traps, unless they are designed to take the animal alive, are just nasty.
 
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Hand_Rifle_Guy

New member
It is neccessary to tie down rat traps, a piece of wire works well. Otherwise, it's snaps, screams, and no trap where you left one. Rats can be pretty tough. And it's nasty when they run off and die someplace in the walls, and then you have to get some more traps.

Lessons learned the hard way wth traps in the attic. Poisons make 'em leave the house in search of water, but that results in dead housepets that find the corpses. I like the idea of CB caps, you could actually shoot those without losing your hearing using a handgun in a cramped attic.
 
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redneck

New member
CCI shells aren't nearly as loud, and are only loaded with #12. I've killed a bunch of sparrows that were nesting in my barn, tearing the liner out of the roof and stuff...bastards. Its really pretty fun. I shot most of them in the winter so I got to wear my tactical black carharts and stalk through the barn SWAT style with a pump .22. Unfortunately you can't scream "DON't MOVE M***********! ON THE GROUND NOW" cause the sumbitches just fly off . No respect.

They dive bomb, set diversions and fly around like crazy, and NO you don't have much luck trying to shotgun them in midair. You gotta be friggin wired for that. Best to stalk them and pop them just as they light on a rafter. Then finish them with a pellet gun when their floppin around on the ground. .177 hollow points at 1000 FPS make a nifty POOF :D

The only crimped shells I found were Federal and they were loaded HOT with #10. Patterned them on a scrap peice of sheet metal siding before using them inside. CRACK followed by the crinkle of the damn siding folding in 2. Big dimples and holes all over it.

I want to get a good black powder wheel gun to shoot blanks, then I can go at it Eastwood style. Was that 6 shots .....or only 5, you gotta ask yourself one question....Do I feel Lucky? Well...do ya? punk?
 
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yankytrash

New member
Daisy Red Ryder fer me. Not so messy, leaves plenty of meat for after-supper snacking.

Needs hot sauce though. Good on crackers.
 
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coonan357

New member
I found that the x-ring rubber bullets dispatch them really good and leave no mess . ( but sometimes it only knocks them out ! ) then there was the time at the reloading bench when I saw one of the critters make a beeline down the hall So I grabbed what I though where the rubber loaded cases and loaded them into my 66 and spotted the little escapee at the end of the hall and aimed squeezed and instad of pop there was a bang and the critter vaporized and I nice hole appeared in my floor OPPS!! I grabbed my box of HBWC .38's instead well now theres a nice pergo floor covering up that spot . I wonder why ??? :eek: :eek: :D
 
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4V50 Gary

Staff
This is one fine thread. I've learned a lot of useless but fun things from you guys. Thanks! :D

(Was tempted to move this thread to the Hunting forum).
 
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NIGHTWATCH

New member
BB rifles are great for mice and rats. I remember my cousin and I staying up late to greet some rats that were climbing up from a vacant lot and destroying his plants. We made it into a military style operation(the kids come out of us when we are together :p ). Anyway, we layed out a glue trap just beneath where they dropped from and had a flashlight with a red lens cap at the ready. They cant see red light.
The moment the first rat dropped (he was huge:eek: ) I spotted him with the light and my cousin shot him in the belly. Taking 1 1/2 seconds at the most. Click, pop, drop. Man that was fun. :D
 
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SW9M

New member
Several years ago, my dad had a rat, mouse and misl. bird problem.

We had an old hanger w/dirt floor next to the new hanger. The old hanger wasn't much more than a large shed with a big door on the front. Since new hanger was used for the airplanes, the old hanger was used for storage. Sometimes that storage included a grain truck filled with bagged milo seed.

One day when we began planting milo, we went to the old hanger, opened the door and found hundreds and hundreds of varmits. They had eaten almost half the seed. The four legged critters seemed to be reluctant to scare away. (bravery in numbers?)

My dad was pissed to say the least. So he closed the hanger door, dug a shallow pass for a hose to fit under the door. Then he placed the hose under the door and walked over to the anhydrase(sp) ammonia tank and turned on the valve. He let it run for a few minutes before turning it off.

After allowing some time for the old hanger to air out, we opened up the hanger door and started pitching dead critters out of the way so we could get to the good seed bags.

Would that be classified as a "weapon of mass destruction"? (Well as it relates to four legged rodents.):D
 
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K80Geoff

New member
Weapon of mass destruction...no ....a fumigation!

Pros used to use cyanide for this, but it has been banned:( Chloropicrin, which is basically tear gas, is used today in it's place.

Snap traps break the rodent's back if properly set and placed.

Rodent bait does not make them"go outside and look for water". Most baits make them bleed to death slowly and relatively painlessly. The same stuff is given to people with heart conditions to thin their blood, and it definitely doesn't hurt. Rodents will die where they expire, hopefully in their burrow. Secondary poisoning (dogs and cats) is rare because the bait has a bittering agent that pets can't stand. Most secondary poisoning comes from undigested rodent bait in the rodents stomach, not from what is in their blood.

I use the 22 shotshell to get rid of sparrows in warehouses. works just fine and doesn't make a mess. Have a special 22 made for shotshells, no rifling.

Several years ago, a couple of exterminators in Chicago, calling themselves "Hitman" Exterminating were controlling rats in an abandoned building. One partner pulled out his 38 and shot at a rat, missed, hit a pipe, and hit his partner in the leg!
 
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pawcatch

New member
As someone who has done mass reasearch on the subject of humane trap testing I would have to say that a quick killing trap is always more humane than any live-capture trap.
Most box traps for rodents are multiple catch,so the mice are going to chew on each other when caught,which is far from humane.
Human error is to blame for most poor hit location with snap traps,but properly set kill traps are as humane as a good shooter.

Testing in Canada with large Victor rat traps has shown they will kill over 80% of the weasels in 90 seconds www.fur.ca/research/pdfs/trapsjuly2002-e.pdf
The koro and Kania traps reduce human error.
They also pass international humane trapping standards.
 
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pawcatch

New member
Here's a link to the Kania trap whick is approved for taking pests up to squirrels and mink in the UK. www.kania.net/

BTW,tests have shown that animals killed quickly in traps like the Kania show far less signs of stress than cage or box traps.
 
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mini14jac

New member
Daisy Red Ryder BB gun, $29.95 at Walmart.
Tube of BBs $1.95.
Knowing your wife isn't worried about you shooting holes in the wall...... Priceless! ;)
 
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spacemanspiff

New member
the last place i lived in developed a rodent problem, not all that unlikely because the tenants failed to secure food in the shelves, but thats besides the point. i was killing at least one a day with the trap, and not all of them died instantly or were even trapped by their necks. sometimes just one little paw or a tail, and would then grow wings when flung across the yard.
it got so bad that i was literally able to stomp some of them to, uhh, well i stopped them from living. except for this one, that was blind in one eye. how do i know it was blind? well i caught the little bugger by hand on his blind side. couldnt bring myself to end his life, as he already had his own troubles to live with. turned him loose when we moved out.

but now, i head off the rodent problem at the source: the babies. i feed them to my tarantulas. my thai black just ate 3 of them this weekend. yum yum.
 
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K80Geoff

New member
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pawcatch

New member
The Kania is Canadian,not British.I prefer conibears too,but the kania is better in a suburban setting.Conibear is just a brand name for bodygrippers associated with Woodstream.BMI is the brand I use most.Their #55 is very effective on large rats and weasels.
 
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Johnny Guest

Moderator in Memoriam
I'm too impatient for traps - - -

- - - Lived semi-rural for some years and occasionally the field mice would sneak into the house. I began carrying a S&W .22/32 Kit gun loaded with Win rat shot. My personal best was a running shot as he zipped along the baseboard in the kitchen. Easy clean up--tiny holes barely visible in the wood.

I found the two-inch barrel distorted the shot patterns less than a longer rifled tube.

Best,
Johnny
 
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pawcatch

New member
K80Geoff,I hope you're not inferring that I'm the commie peta terrorst type.I didn't think anything I wrote came off as being anti-conibear or anti-trapping.In other threads I've always defended the conibear and foothold traps.
 
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redneck

New member
Traps just aren't the same as blasting the little bastards :)

Make me a trap thats charged with wolfpack firecrackers and we'll talk :D
 
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