I think that we all know we like, no, relish hunting feral cats. Now about the other small game as the forum title suggests.

I have a blast for six months of the years shooting sage rats. They look just like a prairie
dog but are only 6 to 8 inches long. They have the same social habits but are too stupid to sound
a warning yelp when danger is near. In a good alpha field I can empty ten 25 round magazines using my
10/22 in a few minutes with non-stop shooting. What a rush.

Rockchucks are for the lazy summer days when you want to set up a shooting bench and wait patiently for them
to come out on a rock to sun. Spectacular explosions with a 6.5x06 Improved. Not bad results with a 350 grain
Hornady hollowpoint from my 458 Win Mag. It is kind of cheating because all I have to do is get close and the
bullet fragments do the job.

Badgers are great fun when you are just walking around the edge of fields. They like to fight back and will
rear up and challenge you if you get close. Or you will find them busy trying to dig out a sage rate hole. Either
way the 85 grain Hornady pistol bullets coming out of my 7.62x39 bolt rifle will rip them a new one.

Coyotes - the best varmint. Available all year everywhere. Tough to call at times, but the pups are just plain
stupid their first year. Requires fast shooting and accuracy except when they come running to a call and run right over you. I set up for calling with an 12 gauge and a 260 Remington. I may go back to an AR in 6.8 REM
SPC.

Deer - in orchards that is. Plenty of farmer friends have deer control permits. Have to keep the sound level down so I use a .22 Magnum and hit them between the ear and eye. Drop like sacks of lead. The only varmint I
eat.

And of course feral cats. When ever, where ever, with what ever, and with a vengenance.

We have few of those creatures down here. Yotes and...crats. We do have other critters to break the monotony. Fox, Bobcrats, squill, 'coons, possum, armoureddillers. Callin' yotes is different down here, hunt them more like deer than you do out west. Get inside the borders where there is sign, or close to where they howl at dusk. Squeakers be the best I think, loud calls just seem to make 'em shy away. Squeakin' in the bottoms...shotguns and large shot. BB or #2. Buck is not necessary. It can get exciting too! Hawks, owls by the gazoogle...they'll come check you out. Odds are you'll have a number of encounters with bobby...they are very good...and they'll be close before you see them. I know it can be done, calling a yote across a field down here, maybe a young one...not likely an oldster though. If you nail a fox or bobby in the woods here in the South, using a call...you be THE man. Helps to have a second shooter watch your six. Different game...small game if you like.

Hogs are varmints down here...kill 'em all! Eat 'em if you like, or leave 'em in a field...watch at night with night vision or a red filtered light...yotes, and everything else.

Well, they are all diversions, take the opportunity when it arises.

Dan

POTYHC

www.DollarsWorkWell.ToLureDemocrats

Actually, I killed a large Coyote last night while driving down to pickup my new crat-blaster. I was driving stop-light to stop-light in Decatur-freaking-Illinois, when a prairie wolf ran out in front of my car from out between parked cars in a parking lot.

Now THAT was strange. I was only going 30 or so, so I stopped, got out and went to look. It expired as I bent over it. I imagine it was feeding on trash from the strip mall.

See, those "squeakers" never fail.

Dan

POTYHC

www.CheckYour.WheelBearings

yeah but; cratblasting is the real reason why all the intelligent, good looking, and charming guys are on this forum

We have the cross between the sage rats and prairie dogs, the western ground squirrel. They are about a foot long and a big female will go about 2-3 Lbs. Like prairie dogs they live in colonies and will whistle alarm calls. I can usually shoot a colony for about an hour then let it rest and come back 3 hours later if it's sunny.

We bust a few ground hawgs every now and then.The longer the shot,the more fun..308 & .220 Swift.
I've found Rat shooting at old dump sites more fun than a guy should have.
On these rodents,my boys and I like to catfish the Kanawha river about 100 yards from my place.We take my ole Benjamin air pistol,pump it up and shoot river rats that hang around the rocks on the bank.
We always take more poles than we need,so we bait up a large treble hook w/whole kernel corn and cast it up into the riverbank rocks.
It don't take long 'til a rat will try to drag the bait off under a rock.Ya miss a few strikes just like fish fishin',but it is a real show to snag a rat in the front paw.Mr. Rat don't seem to appreciate this at all,and he will let you know by tryin' to kick yer ass.
Ya reel em in and cast Mr. Rat out into the river.You wouldn't believe how far ya can cast one.Then ya reel him in and cast him back out just for chuckles.
I wonder what a stringer of these would look like?

poletax--you've done it again. My laugher can't take much more. Maybe I'm gonna have to put your posts off limits.

Reminds me too much of my boyhood--used to fish the river behind the local hospital where their dishwasher drain emptied into the river (no, not into the sewer system). When they would rinse off the plates and all the corn, green beans, peas, etc showed up in the river, I had a free chum line going. We also used to put only a single kernel of corn on a small hook and "fish" for rats--

Then there was the matter of the carp we caught. We would load up on our bicycles and ride to the local Frisco depot and sell them for .25 apiece to the locals. Made lots of money (remember, a coke was only .05).

Why is it every time Fjold posts I feel much better about life in general, but cannot recall anything about what's posted?

Your mind is happily bouncing up and down with a bit of rhythmical motion. Perhaps from to much panzer time?

Rat fishin' huh? Wait'll DL reads that...

Dan

POTKB

www.LostInTheLandOf.Mirth

Hell we did that with sea gulls down at the gulf coast.....

man i need to find another trash dump. Ain't had one to rat shoot since i was a teen(been a while). poletax you need to let a couple of them rats set in the river i hear cratfish love em.

Speaking of beach pigeons (aka seagulls), I used to get a lot of pleasure whacking them. Had to give it up and let things cool off, the local bunnyhuggers put the word out to be on the lookout. Seems some buttknocker classified them as a non-game species. Damn flying rats is all they are, away from the beach.

Not sure if they fall into "small game" but since they are small and I enjoy whacking them with the ol' 22WMR, CROWS are a good one for me!
Also have been known to slow down the ever booming "Timber Rat" population. Those little buggers are destructive.


Smedley

Crows count. I shot one once with a CB short.

Dan

POTYHC

www.ItsNotWhat.ButWhere

The guys at work used to tease me about my hp air rifles,,'till they watched me take a crow out at better than 50 yds,,now they seem to have some respect for them. Saw a chuck walking around it's burrow today,,time to start packing the .22wrm,,having a hard time deciding which one to start out with,,,The winchester lever,,10/22mag.,,or the cute little marlin I just picked up Probably the marlin,,Have fun!!Clay

The last seagull I got was trying to eat my perch off my hook. He didn't last too long.

Only one Dan? Did you kill all the other crows and now none are left?

My good ole' pop had a Winchester model 1890 in .22 short that he was proud as punch of. I was pretty fond of shooting it as well, and one day I walked out the back door of the house and the hired man was sitting, looking at some crows about 200 or so yards away, making noise.

I bet him I could hit one of the crows with the 1890 and he laughed at me, so I pumped a round into the chamber, superelevated the sights, drew a bead and squeezed off a round. The crow fell out of the tree, but by the time we'd got to where he fell, he was gone. Must've stunned him, but I never tried another shot like that again. All KINDS of pure dumb luck on that shot.

quote:

Then there was the matter of the carp we caught. We would load up on our bicycles and ride to the local Frisco depot and sell them for .25 apiece to the locals.

By Gum, those were the days.

We stuck a few bigguns in the pool at the Holiday Inn.It made the paper so we had copy-cats all up and down the Valley.Private backyard pools were getting hit.

I was so proud I couldn't wear my hat.

Ya shoulda seen the increase of bank fishermen.

I'd try it now, but some Lawyer would own my house. (pussies)

quote:

poletax you need to let a couple of them rats set in the river i hear cratfish love em.

As big as some of them rats were, I'd need a surf pole.

Hmmmmmm, but now that ya mentioned it,,,There have been a few hooked that ya couldn't turn,break your line.

I wonder if Mr.DNR(game warden)(pricks) would frown opon you choice of bait?

The pricks won't let ya use Bluegills.I have a friend that got a hell of a ticket.

quote:

We stuck a few bigguns in the pool at the Holiday Inn.

Back in the middle-late '50s there was the Palm Beach Pier. Sorta across the street was the Lido Pool, a public olympic sized salt water pool(big supply across the street). No matter the steps taken by management there was an ever escalating assortment of maritime creatures found in the pool from time to time. Soon tiring of spadefish, look-downs, sheepshead and that sort, the FETP(fish eating tasty people) Brigade began stocking the pool with toothy things. Kingfish, barracuda, and yes, several sharks.

I dunno what the order of battle was for the lifeguards but I assume big rods and large hooks became standard costume...

Dan

POTYHC

www.DontGoInThe.DeepEnd