Problem with leaving the rats there is that the rest of the rats will use that protein to manufacture more rats. They're profoundly cannibalistic. Nothing wasted. So I make sure every single rat gets into the trash bin. Of course the city dump, wherever that is these days, probably has rats to take advantage of that deposit... but that's not my local population at least. They've been scarce this year so far. Same last year. Couple of years back there were droves of the things. Some press reports are suggesting with the shutdown, lack of restaurant garbage to live from, there may be waves of migrating rats expanding out into housing areas. Scary, but I'll be waiting.
Rats
- Thread starter 870P
- Start date
antiqueguy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- windsor ontario
they got to eat something as long as their not ripping my garbage up or getting in my house I don't care. my problem is the city run building behind me don't close the compactor doors on the side of their dumpsters inviting all sorts of critters to a buffet not to mention the meth heads/homeless that end up going through them. I trapped 4 raccoons last summer that were becoming a problem set them free in a conservation area theirs still at least 3 running around that just won't go into the trap. you would think with the number of street cats running around rats and sparrows would not be an issue.
Well there you're running into another problem; relocating wildlife is illegal in many municipalities. Certainly is in Vancouver. I used to live-trap the invasive Eastern Grey Squirrels many years ago, using a Hav-a-Hart trap. I'd catch one with some peanut butter, strap the cage to my bicycle, ride to Stanley Park through downtown Vancouver and release them to go and play with tourists and other squirrels. The 4th time I did this I was stopped midway by a VPD officer who challenged what I was doing. I explained that these animals were basically destroying my little food garden, so I was relocating them to a better habitat. Nope. He told me he would turn the other way this one time, but if he caught me again there would be a minimum $200 fine and potentially charges for wildlife abuse. Okay... Wish I had a time machine so I could go back and slap the silly bugger around a while, the man who thought that what Stanley Park really needed were some squirrels. Apparently there were two of these silly buggers, something around a century ago and one more recent. Same happened in Victoria and Calgary. It mystifies me that someone can be so stupid. But hey, Australia has cane toads, Central America has Africanized bees, Western North America has probably the most destructive of all invasive species, the eucalyptus tree...
The rifle isn't ideal but I can make it work, my main problem is that the shooting circumstances are poor, with me typically having to hastily shoot through a chain link fence offhand at some distance.
I did finally manage to achor one though, this shot had to pass through both a regular and a tight chain link at an angle and it moved its head aside at the last instant but was still DRT.
antiqueguy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- windsor ontario
the city here don't do nothing about problem wildlife so if they want to tell me I am doing something wrong I will tell them to pound sand. almost had one of them little buggers claw through one of my window screens not going to put up with that.
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Dude, people bring injured squirrels to the SPCA. Putting that kind of mentality together with the general apathy (there are so far only 20 of us gathered for the anti gun ban protest, 37 minutes after the appointed time) and soon our cities will be overrun with rodents because nobody has the heart to shoot them.
148 for me so far, in five years.
224 squirrels in the same timeframe. I'm experimenting this year with territoriality. There's a female who seems to have claimed our end of the block as her territory and she's very comfortable looking for old butternuts in our yard so far, for maybe a month. So far not a single other squirrel is showing up on our block. I work at home and would notice more. She hasn't done any damage in the garden so far. The moment she does, she's done. But perhaps my work over the past few years has resulted in enough of a cull that a single squirrel can claim the territory and I can relax for a bit, before chaos starts taking over and I have to get back to work on population control.
Of course any grey squirrel is one too many according to ornithologists. I know one grad student who actually got his firearms license this year specifically to help deal with invasive grey squirrels in the Fraser Valley, as they're decimating local songbird populations. A few years back I watched in horror as a squirrel ate 3 chickadees which had hatched out that week, the parents frantically circling and diving at it to no avail. No shot opportunity arose as there was a neighbour's car right behind the nest, so all I could do was watch. Got the squirrel about an hour later though, so no more chicks snacked upon that week.
224 squirrels in the same timeframe. I'm experimenting this year with territoriality. There's a female who seems to have claimed our end of the block as her territory and she's very comfortable looking for old butternuts in our yard so far, for maybe a month. So far not a single other squirrel is showing up on our block. I work at home and would notice more. She hasn't done any damage in the garden so far. The moment she does, she's done. But perhaps my work over the past few years has resulted in enough of a cull that a single squirrel can claim the territory and I can relax for a bit, before chaos starts taking over and I have to get back to work on population control.
Of course any grey squirrel is one too many according to ornithologists. I know one grad student who actually got his firearms license this year specifically to help deal with invasive grey squirrels in the Fraser Valley, as they're decimating local songbird populations. A few years back I watched in horror as a squirrel ate 3 chickadees which had hatched out that week, the parents frantically circling and diving at it to no avail. No shot opportunity arose as there was a neighbour's car right behind the nest, so all I could do was watch. Got the squirrel about an hour later though, so no more chicks snacked upon that week.
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antiqueguy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- windsor ontario
I don't have the heart to tech a charged raccoon to swim in the wild its a different matter. rats on the other hand get no sympathy and will die by lead/fire and water. as to the other wild rodent the wondering meth head I still need to find a bear trap or 2 for the next time they try to get into the shed
.Raccoons come and go in our yard. They're mildly annoying, but so long as we remember to put a heavy weight on the compost lid and lock the cat door, they're not much of a problem. No garden damage ever. They're looking for easy treats, not wrecking every last piece of produce in the garden like grey squirrels do. I've seen a squirrel take a single bite out of each in a string of kabocha squash, and the same with ripe tomatoes. They don't want to eat it, just want to try it, which results in ruined gardens because it's unsafe to eat after a squirrel. I had one leap right at my face once. I was holding a fencing foil and slashed at him, but missed. Luckily I was quick enough that I simultaneously leapt to one side and he missed me, then proceeded to scream at me from the stucco house wall where he clung. I had come at him because he had just chewed a mango seedling off right at ground level. As if that served any purpose other than to annoy me!
antiqueguy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- windsor ontario
raccoons are the problem around here we have enough neighbors feeding the squirrels that their not a problem. early last year I had a whole pack of baby raccoons run across my feet after the neighbors chased them and mama running across the bottom of the stairs. few months lather their fully grown and are tearing up the neighborhood I drew the line when they were trying to claw the upstairs screen open to get at my cats food.
the city does nothing anymore they send out guys for rats but they just throw poison around in the packet where anything can get at it including my dog. for bigger stuff they will give you the number of a pest control guy who charges $200 for placing the trap and then $200 per animal caught.
so I went and got a double pack of live traps last year at crappy tire for $50 so did another neighbor we got 4 raccoons a few rats and a couple of squirrels(native in Ontario) I released the raccoons in the conservation area as well as the rats figured that the hawks and the one eagle I seen in there need some food. the squirrels beat the s*** out of my smaller live trap.
I'm in Old Walkerville in Windsor...Our problem is squirrels...My neighbours on either side feed the squirrels every day at least twice a day. I counted 28 squirrels on my front lawn today all them being there at once ...its like a moving living carpet of squirrels...They dig in the flower beds...destroy the lawn and eat everything that gets planted plus rip up every screen whether on a window or door....Live traps are coming soon....
antiqueguy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- windsor ontario
black oak heritage park(Morton terminals the old off road area before they shut it down) is a good place for them BTW the predators need something to eat or they will come into the city as well. I don't live that far from you I'm downtown not far from the hospital. the squirrels are quite thin around here my beagle may have had something to do with that prior to her passing there's a few more now through and I may end up moving them as well.
Maybe in Bowser the rats are tougher? Down here in the Lower Mainland they drop 100% of the time with an 8.43gr round nose at well under 500fps to the noggin. No exceptions if I hit my mark, and hey, no point in missing. As a bonus, if I happen to shoot one on my neighbour's porch there's no risk of a pass-through, where an 800fps pellet would pretty definitely damage her house siding. She likes that I'm on rat patrol a few times each week, keeps them away from her traditional Japanese pickles and other goodies which unfortunately need to live on the porch while fermenting. Preserves her herbs and salad greens too - those guys can make short work of a lettuce patch.
pete dobinson
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Courtenay BC.
I agree. 177 at 500 or less fps isn't enough. Get a rifle with 900 fps and see what happens.
I think they'd be succumbing much more quickly if had wadcutters or hollowpoints, the pointed pellets just seem to poke a pin sized hole unless they hit something on the way in that causes them to yaw, as I think was the case for the rat in post 24.
Anyway, I've gotten at least 46 of them so far, despite the crappy ammo and cheap rifle.
Anyway, I've gotten at least 46 of them so far, despite the crappy ammo and cheap rifle.
pete dobinson
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Courtenay BC.
Sounds like your doing well despite of the 495 fps. When I was a kid back in the late 60's I had a Czechoslovakian made pellet rifle, I can't remember the make. It was accurate and was faster than the anemic non pal rifles they sell nowadays. No problem killing rats with it, lol. 200 fps faster doesn't sound like much but 40% more power is a lot in an air rifle and that's what it amounts to. 900 fps will almost double the power. I shot a pellet rifle the other day, 495fps, it wouldn't penetrate a 1/4" sheet of plywood.
