New Rat Bait = Success

[X78 7]

Yesterday I had a stroke of genius (well, sort of). I was fed up with squirrels cleaning my rat bait during the day, so I decided to create a bait that squirrels may not like.

It had to have the right consistency and a strong smell. I decided that something animal based might work, as opposed to something nut based, and suddenly it downed on me. One of the cheapest fat one can buy is lard!!! It's smelly, its consistency is almost right and I needed some anyway to cook some lentils (with bacon, carrots and onions, yum).

I mixed it with a quarter of a tin of tuna chunks in oil, added all the oil and spread it in the usual place (it really is easy to spread quite thinly).

I usually wait two hours before I go and have a look, so I did the same today, and lo and behold, I quickly saw a rat licking the spread (they look incredibly big at 20 yards with x 10 magnification - I thought it was a cat at one point).

 

I took a standing supported shot (rifle over the supporting arm) with my HW77 .177 loaded with a AA diabolo field pellet. I was immediately sure it was a good hit as the noise in the leaves stopped quickly, so I just waited a bit more to see if more would come. After 30 minutes, I decided to go and have a look.

 

I followed the short trail of blood and found this quite beautiful specimen.

 

 

Not the best shot placement. As expected, the AA field went right through it (from the back near the spine towards the exit in the chest area) and still smacked the backstop quite violently. However, the wound resulted in quite significant blood loss, so the AA diabolo fields will stay on my list of efficient hunting pellets.

 

I also saw that there was no more spread! It had been licked completely clean, so I was quite lucky to "bag" this one. 5 more minutes and I would have been too late.

 

I think this bait works very well. I've just got to check tomorrow whether squirrels like it. I'm sure all the cats from the neighbourhood will come into my garden now, but by timing the baiting cleverly, I think I finally have a chance to get rid of the rats in my garden.

 

X

[stealthy1 3,964]

Looks like it ate a lot of your bait the fat git

[Outlaw Pete 2,224]

X78; Save yourself the effort and expense (Tuna Chunks?!) Ask ye local kebab shop for a pint of their run off fat

[j j m 6,555]

well done bud

[The one 8,504]

keep at them mate , theres too many about

[big napper 3,619]

well done mate good shooting, i use peanut butter and they love it, but i don't have to worry about any squirrels getting it in my garden.