You'll never get them all if you're just going to wait for them to show themselves and then dispatch them.

Go to your hardware store and get some of those old fashioned rat traps - that kind that will break your thumb if it goes off on it.

When I live in Alaska, we had those big monster Norway rats and we used those to kill them.

They're great and they work 24 hours a day.

Win.

This is your answer

Peanut butter

Hopefully I will have some kill pics in the morning.

No rats in the traps!

Wtf?

Rats can't escape from something flying at them at 700fps

Either your bait sucks or they stole your bait.

Take some velveeta and put it on the paddle.  Then take a break tie and wrap it around the paddle and velveeta.

Mr Rat will have to tug at the cheese to get it off and BLAM....see ya Mr Rat.

I used peanut butter.

One trap was tripped, no rat.

Another trap had the peanut butter gone but not tripped.

We will see what tonight brings.

ETA. Tomorrow I will do the tug bait thing, thanks.

Adjust the trigger on the traps so its lighter. Just cover the trigger with peanut butter, a glob will be easier for them to lick a bit without bumping it.

Have you looked at any of the .22 pellet rifles ? They pack allot more punch than the .177.

The Gamo whisper quiet is a good one, plus it is quiet.

Try baiting the trap with a gum ball size piece of a snickers bar.

Tag for kill pics.

I kill lots of vermin with a spring piston .177 gamo from 10 to 40 yds,  cheap and fun as hell to shoot.

http://www.amazon.com/Agri-Zap-RZUIR1-Zapper-Ultra/dp/B000BWFESU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361202251&sr=8-1&keywords=rat+zapper






http://www.amazon.com/Driveway-Patrol-Sensor-Receiver-Kit/dp/B0000645RH/ref=sr_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1361202353&sr=1-1&keywords=portable+remote+motion+detector





no personal experience with that motion detector - search the "yellow forum" www.yellowforum.com for specific advice on rat hunting with a motion detector (it is a US based airgun forum).  UK based ones may have better info - as hunting rats with airguns is about all the hunting they have left anymore .



That said, I have not been hunting rats lately.  Neigbor did not spade his cats - and we had about a dozen semi ferals living between his house and mine - not much of a rat problem with that many underfed cats around.  That and there are hundreds of lbs of pecans on the ground - so no chance the rats will come to bait right now anyway.  

this thing works awesome

First trap kill. Guess he was too big for the rat trap
And did not get caught in the spring and got mottled from his injuries.

Dead 1 foot from sprung trap.

3 more to go

Will take new pic with size when I get home. This is a fairly large rat

Wow, cool video.

I'll second the fun/accuracy part of this air-rifle.  I bought one for my son on woot for $39 refurbished.  Currently using it for target practice since .223 is rare and expensive.  Like the Crosman 2100 it has a rifled barrel.    Not sure a .177 at 600 fps will have the energy to bring down a large rat though.  Also, many pellets will tumble as they slow from supersonic (>1000 fps), higher fpe from a somewhat slower but heavier pellet is often better for taking game, especially where the kill zone is the size of a quarter or dime.

I shot one with a Red Rider last night and it didn't do shit.

I have one of these without a scope, that has taken 2 or 3 rabbits and a couple mice. Put 10 pumps and a pellet in it, bye bye rat.

Get a break barrel .17 gun around the $100 mark that is 1,000 fps. These quickly dispatch small rodents like squirrels and rats.

Fiber optic sights are a major plus; scopes are less than worthless on an airgun, since they don't handle the recoil well and always loose zero.

I favor the 22 cal air rifles. The Benjamins aren't horrible at $125.

I've got a Gamo rifle that isn't lying on the FPS.  When I fire the special ammo through it that is a lighter alloy than lead, the thing goes supersonic.

Who wouldn't want to do that is a better question

Get some 22 snake loads.  Quite effective and you don't need to worry about collateral damage in the garage.  Traps work too.
I had a fucking Willard moment years ago.  I lived on a canyon in San Diego and I walked into my detached garage one night, turned on the light
and there were rats, big fucking rats all sitting up on the top plates looking down at me.
I got 5 rat traps..baited them for 3 nights in a row without setting them and the fourth night they were all full.

The 2100 is a good rifle, I like mine. But I've used the Daisy 880 more often just because it's easier to pump. Velocity is less than the 2100, but it's still enough for the big vermin. I've killed some big bruisers with it.

My primary rat-slayer:

Just get glue and spring traps. I cleaned out a nest in the shed and they went under my house. Once they found my dog food all hell broke loose. I killed seven in all but never could line up a shot with the pellet gun. learn their ways, they move along walls. Look for their trails and place spring traps perpendicular to the wall.

I've never had to shoot a rat, but I've taken out possums and even a woodchuck with a wrist rocket slingshot and lead ball .54 cal ammo.  The woodchuck might have just been luck, but the heavy ball caved the side of the last possums head in.

+1

These are amazing. I have killed over 30 squirrels in the last year around my house (in town) and nobody was the wiser. But keep a pellet gun close just in case.

Also, keep in mind that they do not have the power to cycle a semi-auto. No 10/22s. I use a Henry Lever for it, and it is the perfect setup. But a cheap single shot .22 will do fine.

The big Norway rats up in Alaska would sometimes prove to be too big for the traps.  We caught one dragging a trap away while he was still in it.  We had to finish dispatching him by caving in his rat skull.

After that, I modified the traps with nails that poked up underneath the trap.  This makes the rat have to crawl over the nails to get to the bait.  Then when the trap goes off, it tacks him down over the nail.

Dead rats.  

you reload or  know someone that does, Take a primed .223 case and use a .22 caliber pellet for the projectile, no powder

That us all I need is my libtard neighbors to call the coos and they show up with me shooting rats in my garage with an AR.


I had a bunch escape out into the front yard snow.

Bought a $40 Crossman 760 pump master and killed a small one with it.

This is how big they are. That is not a mouse trap, that is a rat trap. A big rat trap.

Absolutely.  Out of a 20" barrel bolt action they are QUIETER than my Crosman 760.

EDIT:  My vote is for an MP-661K.  You'll be able to hit them on the run!

Oh, oh, I want to tell my mouse hunting story.





It was  2-3 years ago. It started as hearing the occasional scratching or finding droppings here and there. I estimated 2-3 mice. We kept forgetting to pick up mousetraps at the store. Over a two week period it got OUT OF CONTROL. Constant never ending scurrying and scratching. Walking from one end of the house to the other you would see, at least, 2-3 mice scurrying around . Sitting on the couch a mouse would go buy along the wall every few minutes. Every morning would start with wiping the kitchen down with droppings. I have no idea how many mice were involved but it was a butt ton.





So, appalled, I made a trip to the store to get that package of traps we had been forgetting. Went back, waited until kids were in bed and everything was quiet. The kitchen was clean but I wiped it down anyway to get rid of anything mice might eat, baited the traps, flipped the lights off, and sat back down. Couldn't have been more than a few minutes when the first one went off. The second followed a moment later. A third popped right after that. I went, emptied the traps, rebaited, and set them back out. Rinse and repeat ALL NIGHT LONG. That first night was something like 15-20, no shit. Woke up to full traps. Waited until I got home from work to reset (Mrs. wouldn't touch them) and started all over.





The traps trickled off somewhere around 30. I don't recall the exact number. Thing was, there were still quite a few mice out there. These had just gotten too smart for the traps. I had to resort to other means. It was the dead of winter right after Christmas. I remember that because I used my boy's brand new Daisy BB gun. After some testing I discovered I couldn't trust the sights for minute of mice so I bought one of those $10 Tasco jobs and a packet of high end pellets (forget the name/brand). Couldn't wait for night.





I swept the floor super clean but left a trail of crumbs leading to a corner you could see from the couch. Then I got a throw blanket we covered up with and set up under it on the corner of the couch. Kids were in bed and I sent the Mrs. to read in the bedroom and waited. Only took a few minutes and the first one scurried over to the corner. I dispatched most with head shots at 9-10 feet. The others got hit right above the front legs, kind of like a deer. All were DRT with the exception of a stray shot that left him hobbled until I walked over to finish it off. So, a off the shelf Daisy with 10 pumps and pellets worked just fine for me.





Can't remember how many total I got like that but think it was well under 10. Something like 5-7? Anyway, a couple more fell to traps over the next week or two and that was it.





Moral of the story is address that mouse problem NOW. Before it becomes an embarrassing epidemic though the mouse hunting was a ton of fun when it started.



 
 

CCI Quiet-22 vs Aguila Colibri
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZf0PkeV_Ik
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZf0PkeV_Ik[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfIFpdbox74
Cricket 22

Well the rats are gone and the garage is empty except for the snow blower and lawn mower and some ladders on the wall that I just put back in and some bikes.


Tomorrow I will put a bleach solution on the floor to clean it and hang the cane and kayaks and bikes

I estimate about 6 rats escaped. I exect them to try and come back.

THIS or some .22 #12 rat shot and some good earplugs

I bought one of those when I was 16. Still have it. I did cut the barrel down and put a crown on it a few years back. With a cheap .22 scope it works great for what it is.

Modern Red Ryders don't seem to have the same velocity of the older ones.  Even guns from the 70s-80s didn't seem as powerful as the ones from the 60s.  My Dad's Red Ryder would easily dispatch a rabbit.  Mine would simply annoy a rabbit.  

Gamo PBA pellets live up to their claims.  Get some and try them out, you won't be disappointed.

Poison is the only thing I've ever had any luck using against rodents.

There's always the natural predator option
Click To View Spoiler
 
 
 

Why aren't there guided night rodent hunts? That looks so fun I'd pay for it!

It really does doesn't it.

That's a tiny oak leaf  

In your next photo post a dollar bill for reference.

The CCI .22 shotshells are not powerful enough to cycle the action of an AR7, but at a range of about 8 feet, the pattern spreads to a hair larger than a mouse.  One shot, one dead mouse.

A KelTec P3AT, loaded with Remington .380 Golden Saber loads is also an effective one shot kill on mice, but I wouldn't recommend it for use in an area where the neighbors might ask why you were shooting a really loud gun in your garage.  Hearing protection is definitely recommended.  One shot, one dead mouse (my ears were ringing for a while).

Not sure I'd recommend 9mm, though.  The squirrel got out of the garage, before I could draw and aim, so the first shot was at roughly 10 yards, and squirrels are quick.  Three shots, no dead squirrel.   I told my daughter that I would have to try 00Buck in the 12 gauge, if I get another chance at the squirrel.

3 kills with the Pumpmaster 760 I bought today for $40 because I needed something not a firearm.

The little one below the big one.





And two medium sized ones

nice....we dont many rats around where I live, mice on the other hand in everything..