the shotgun works just fine
Woodpile rats
- Thread starter merc_man
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066blaster
Addicted to ArboristSite
I have only seen one rat on our property and that was 20 years ago. When we had steers and had a large amount of corn around. Got him with the 22. Lots of wood chucks every year. .22 mag synthetic and stainless ,heavy barrel , bolt action with an awsome scope makes it easy. I think I would just use a big rat trap and some peanut butter in your situation.
MechanicMatt
Cut Split Stack Burn
My daughters Chihuahua is one nasty little sob to vermin. I love that little dog, his heart is bigger than him. He fights big for such a little thing. And he protects my daughters like he thinks he is a big dog. The wife once asked me why I like him so much, my reply was that in the second it takes mr bad guy to kick the dog, Ill be chambering my 870. hahahahaha
I have a cat I'd like to off-load. She's a great hunter. Mice, rabbits, squirrels, birds - she's great. She also loves to climb on kitchen counters.
WoodTick007
Addicted to ArboristSite
Let me know how those old fashion spring traps work for you. . .
Line the edge of the counters with mouse traps. They usually stop jumping on the counter after the third time lol
Gotta nail em to a 2x4 or they disappear when something bigger finds them.
I like the newer style jawed plastic ones. The others can't eat the bait after you kill the first one. Hard to find in the rat trap size tho.
redheadwoodshed
Freebird
I use a poison called "Just One Bite" they come in bars and I put a bar of it into a short 3' piece of 4" pvc. this keeps away the non-target animals and works very good on rats and mice.
Snakes will follow the rats, so I don't like having them around. Nothing like uncovering a coiled up rattlesnake in your woodpile.
Snakes will follow the rats, so I don't like having them around. Nothing like uncovering a coiled up rattlesnake in your woodpile.
My dad had a huge rat problem. He put out the poison cubes over several nights. Rats went through about 15-20#s of cubes. My dad could not believe how much they would eat at night. Pretty soon the cubes were still there---no more rats.
My woodlot is next to a lawn care shop. The owner lives in his shop. He has 2 cats. they both prowl my wood stacks. They do it while I am there splitting wood like I don't exist. I don't have rats or mice. I love watching cats on the prowl and stalking. They are like mini-lions or tigers.
My woodlot is next to a lawn care shop. The owner lives in his shop. He has 2 cats. they both prowl my wood stacks. They do it while I am there splitting wood like I don't exist. I don't have rats or mice. I love watching cats on the prowl and stalking. They are like mini-lions or tigers.
Jutt
ArboristSite Operative
Sesame "chicken".
Yeah, what's up with your airgun setup? Flashlight? IR or visible? Now you have me thinking...
Jutt
ArboristSite Operative
That's a pretty dang funny zogger! Yeah, we bring the dog inside at night. Even big ones are preyed upon. Heck here in Idledale a few years ago a lion creeped into someone's home and snatched their yellow lab: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_10108069?source=pkg
Incredibly powerful animals and the population has exploded within the last 100 years due to the Elk and deer population rising during that same period.
zogger
Tree Freak
I have only seen one wild once and just briefly. Some friends and I were driving out to cal in the olden daze taking turns. I was riding, happen to look out the back, we were on route 66 in arizona, one jumped across the road and ran up the mountain. big kittys!
Supposedly there are a few out here, but quite rare, and most times, all black color.
They have taken up residence in my woodshed off and on. I have trapped only one packrat and that was in one of those live traps. I caught a lot of mice in the rat traps. My cat is a mouser but won't go after rats. The Used Dog shows no interest. I once had a Golden Retriever who acted like she was a Jack Russell when it came to rodents. But she is gone.
I read up on solutions, and have bought some peppermint oil. I go out into the woodshed and fling it around like holy water. I think it is working.
Shoot them? Well, first you have to see them and the packrats are nocturnal. I only see and smell their nests.
I read up on solutions, and have bought some peppermint oil. I go out into the woodshed and fling it around like holy water. I think it is working.
Shoot them? Well, first you have to see them and the packrats are nocturnal. I only see and smell their nests.
I had trouble with copperheads this year but not rats.
There are many variations on the '5 gallon bucket mouse trap' that might work with rats. Low tech. No poisons or firearms involved. I guess it only works above freezing.
Lots of pictures on Google, and several YouTube videos. One photo says 'leave the water out for 'catch and release'!
Philbert
Lots of pictures on Google, and several YouTube videos. One photo says 'leave the water out for 'catch and release'!
Philbert
When someone says "rat" I think of the brown rat (a.k.a. the sewer rat, Norway rat, common rat), which typically would not be attracted to wood piles. In a natural habitat the brown rat does not "build nests" like a mouse does in a wood pile, rather it digs burrows... so if you had brown rats there would be entrance and exit holes in the earth. Of course, it also thrives in dark, damp, man-made structures such as sewers, cellars, alleys, and such (in which case they do make a sort-of "nest" (but not like a mouse nest, rather than "build they tend to hollow-out an existing substance). Corn cribs, grain bins, barns, and such are not the home of brown rats... rather they make their home in burrows close by and enter those structures to fill their belly.
The woodrat (what slowp refers to as a "packrat") ain't a true rat... more closely related to the hamster than a rat. The wood rat is a "nest builder" and may find a wood pile attractive... But, as far as I know, there are not any woodrats (or packrats) as far north and east as Ontario (I believe southwestern Canada has some).
Is you neighbor 100% sure what he saw was a "rat"??
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The woodrat (what slowp refers to as a "packrat") ain't a true rat... more closely related to the hamster than a rat. The wood rat is a "nest builder" and may find a wood pile attractive... But, as far as I know, there are not any woodrats (or packrats) as far north and east as Ontario (I believe southwestern Canada has some).
Is you neighbor 100% sure what he saw was a "rat"??
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Tip for putting peanut butter on the trap triggers. Get some cotton kite string. Wrap the string around the trigger, enough to make one layer. Tie it off so it won't unravel. Then smear on the peanut butter. The oil will soak into the string and they will try like heck to get it off of the trigger. I've had them clean off the peanut butter and not trip the trap, but that never happens with the string on it. It won't work that well with synthetic string - it doesn't soak up the peanut oil.
bert the turtle
ArboristSite Operative
brenndatomu
Hey you woodchucks, quit chucking my wood!
Tootsie rolls work great for bait in traps. Pinch a piece off, roll it around between fingers to get it warm/soft, then work it into the trigger. Once it re-hardens, you can catch many critters with one loading. I've had many mice with their buck teefers still stuck in the TR with the bar across their necks! 
That just smells fishy to me. Like I said in the previous post, brown rats are not attracted to wood piles like mice and such... and I don't believe Ontario has any sort of "packrat" (really, I believe the only "rat" in Ontario is the brown rat). I'm thinkin' the neighbor don't like the looks of your wood piles (maybe he thinks they're unsightly, ugly or flat tacky) and he's lookin' for any excuse to eliminate them. My bet is he saw a squirrel or chipmunk sitting on top and invented the "rat" for his own purpose... rats do not invade/infest wood piles (a woodrat, or packrat, is not a rat... heck, they don't even look like a rat).
I'm bettin' you can set out all sorts of traps and never catch a single "rat"... a few mice and a chipmunk or two, but no rats.
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