never done ratting

[loveferreting 2]

what the best way to start rating how you go about it at night do you lamp them or shoot them at dusk

[Marksman 934]

Best thing is to get down there before it gets dark and have a look at the lay of the land.... Where the runs are, the holes, toilet areas and maybe lay a little bait.... Depending on how clued up the rats are..(theyre clever!!) Will depend on how you need to go about it.

They may scatter when they see a lamp as they know a lamp means danger, yet again if its not been touched you might find youll be ok.

 

You might need to rezero to a closer range too depending on how much room you have

Use a dim light with a red filter and hope for the best!!!

 

One more thing take something to pick them up with..... Who knows what they carry and you certainly don't wanna catch anything

 

Good luck

 

Darryl

[zini 1,939]

If you can get hold of some NV equipment then try that mate.

 

Really good fun but spooky as hell when you hear rats everywhere but dont see them till you look through the NV scope.

 

Here is a old photo from last year when on a pig farm in Banbury with a friend Owen.

 

Glad ive lost some weight since then (Jesus my face was fat as hell here).

 

Si

Edited September 13, 2011 by zini

[The Duncan 802]

Lol! Looks like you're about to be kneecapped

 

Good haul - well done.

 

D

[zini 1,939]

Lol Owens A1 cool with his rifle mate and at that point none of the rifles were cocked I hope lol.

 

All taken with a .22 r10 and a .22 AA S200 with the 10 shot conversion.

 

Si.

[pointer 543]

all you need is a lamp,i prefer an amber filter but shot hundreds of rats by holding a million cp lazerlite beside my rifle before i invested in a lamp mount,filter and dimmer.Thinking about it i shot more rats when i started shooting eight years ago than i do now.

it can be good fun if your getting into numbers,once theres less rats to be had id rather just mess about getting a few with the dogs.

 

the problem with rat shooting is you need an awfull lot of permission to keep doing it regularly,killing good numbers of them when youve found a good place is easy,often ridiculously easy compared to other hunting pursuits,but they are soon down to low levels.ive been without a car for a month and visited a farm last night that i knew would have a few rats running about,i shot 20 odd in an hour which was a low number due to the wind were getting and the place may appear to have a rat problem but three or four nights of getting amongst them will have numbers down low again.going out at night with a lamp and seeing a hundred rats can fool anyone into thinking they are in airgun heaven but its just a few hours shooting in my experience.

 

sorry for a whining post its just a lack of rats has nearly always been a problem for me.

[rhyss400 0]

i have had exactly the same problem. alot of farmers down where i live are keeping the feed in food buckets instead of leaving it in a big pile, which has reduced the number of rats considerably. lucky for me, my regular permission is a very old old farm and has lots of big open drains. i find curshing up cheese and onion crisps and placing the pile about 5 foot from the drain lures the little suckers out.

 

go get them mate . Rhys