Oh, Rats!

[ChinaVoodoo]

Works for me. lol

Actually I really don't like shooting anything now days that I don't plan on inviting to dinner. Sure would like to come do some duck hunting with you and that lab someday. Mine is gone now, but he was the best damn duck dog you ever saw in his day!


I've gotten males that were 40 lbs and females that went 35 lbs. I chased a yearling off the porch last night. He got the cat dish once last spring and has come back almost every night since to see if I left it out again. There is plenty for them to eat around here. They just find things belonging to humans easier to get and tasty. Sometimes they get really defensive. Usually it's a mama with kids. The kids will scamper up a tree like squirrels and mama will stand there on her hind legs and snarl and growl at you. Those mama coons mean business too and they let you know it! When they do that you can really see that they are in the bear family. Two of my dogs tangled with one once. They both looked like they lost a fight with a chainsaw. Racoons really aren't the cute Disney creatures they are made out to be.

It was illegal to pick up road kill here until a few years ago. Although a couple deer did manage to bounce all the way into my garage somehow before they changed the law. Now they disappear from the roadside quick if they aren't mangled to badly. It always seemed such a waste of good meat to me just leaving them there until the road people finally came along and hauled them to the dump.

I never tried eating a Racoon. They are known to carry rabies here on occasion so that put me off. And they are hard to skin and were worth about $5 back in the 80's and early 90's when I was trapping. So I never went after them on purpose. Usually caught them in a set intended for mink. Minks were worth $25 and up and are easy to skin. Beavers would get me $25 to $40 depending on the size. And you get some really good meat off them. I've eaten lots of beaver. (insert your own joke here) Muskrats were easy to catch through the ice on the frozen lakes in winter and really easy to skin. I'd get $4-5 for them and they are as plentiful as perch. They look like a rabbit when skinned but I never did eat one. Something about the "rat" in the name I guess. Coyotes are extremely difficult to trap because they are freekin' smart. I caught a few but got more with my .243. $30-40 was average but the market varied wildly from year to year. One season they were going as high as $150 for a large prime winter coyote. Some guys would blast them with their 30.06 or .308 and then wonder why they didn't get much from the fur buyers for a coyote pelt with a 6" hole in it. lol They have amazingly thick and beautiful fur in Dec and Jan here. Not like those skinny scruffy looking dogs you see during summer.

Coyotes are beautiful animals. We see them in the city frequently, and now that I live in the river valley, it's even more common. Smart, highly aware, fast. Some of them when I'm hunting in the winter have been very impressively fluffy.

 

[Ruffseas]

Actually I really don't like shooting anything now days that I don't plan on inviting to dinner.

Yeah, me neither. Basically I don't kill anything unless I'm going to eat it, or it is eating what I am growing to feed my family. No herbacides, pesticides, rodenticides. Went all manual. The cides have too many unintended consequences.
Those Racoons are one of those quandaries, they have a job to do that frequently conflicts with ours, they can help us as long as we don't let our guard down, let em out smart us. Man, you bet those mommas are all business when it comes to those Kits! Smart, far beyond our recognition. Every time I wrestle with Raccoon conflicts my mind goes back to a very intersting encounter with a momma and kit. Was an avid scuba diver who collected marine specimens for a local marine science center, had just tied the boat off at the center's pier and after the Evinrude coughed and went quiet, heard the most mournful wail coming from the quay. Looked in the direction of the ruckus and saw a very large racoon pacing back and forth chittering like I never heard, the wail was from a kit tangled in derelict fishing net snagged in the pier's fasteners. There was a single onlooker, the director of the center, she was there to meet the boat... she asked if I could help, I said, mam, that momma would tear me to shreds. Then she said please in that way, you fellas know. My mind went to calculatin... still in my kevlar dry suit, got a pair of leather gloves in the truck, worst that could happen is momma gets all hissy and I abandon the quest. Sooo I clambered onto one of those flat plastic kyak things tied to the dock, who knows who it belonged to and kicked off toward the drama... My ah was securely lodged in my throat. Craziest thing happened, that momma racoon chittered a bit spritely and moved about ten feet away from the kit, and started dancing very slightly paw to paw. The kit quit bawling, the silence of it all really freaked me out, but caused calm in me too. Dang, that babe was tangled up tight, pulled my net cutting ems scissors out of the right thigh pocket and made short work of freeing the little one. Kits purr! Sort of... No struggle what so ever, just a quiet, cooing kit craded in the palms of my gloved hands. Not wanting to test Darwin any further I crawled back to the kayak with the kit, set it down on shore while simultaneously rolling back aboard and kicking off. No sooner did the nose of the craft leave shore did momma run over and snatch the little one up by the nape and chitter a very profound happy sound. Stood at the shore on hind legs checking that kit from head to toe then stole off into the shadows of the quay. Sooo yeah, it's gotta taste damn good before I'll kill it.
Ruff

 

[plantdude]

Life is a bitchy thing sometimes, see a rat kill it, see a coon kill it. Oh! it's endanger save it! Look how cute the the little rat is dad! You want cheese on your Big Mac. So many questions

 

[Ruffseas]

Life is a bitchy thing sometimes, see a rat kill it, see a coon kill it. Oh! it's endanger save it! Look how cute the the little rat is dad! You want cheese on your Big Mac. So many questions

I think we can all agree its ok to kill cheese. Just make sure to lube before milking so as not to chafe the teats...

 

[Ruffseas]

 

[tullius]

a curious skunk or possum

Watch out: both of those will eat into your stock.

Skunks generally go after the eggs but will kill chickens too. If a possum gets into the coop, you'll find one or more chickens in each corner eaten up from the ass end. Don't know if they're caught sleeping, or if they think if they hide their head in the corner you can't see them (chickens are notoriously stupid), but they'll end up dead and ate up nonetheless. I hate possums just about as much as I hate rats.

 

[Ruffseas]

I hate possums just about as much as I hate rats.

Do tell. [Aside] whispers this is going to be good...

 

[tullius]

The possum is one of the ugliest creatures alive on this earth today, and that's probably the main reason it's still around.

What person or animal ever thought upon seeing a possum: dang it, that just looks delicious.

They're repulsive, tremendously stupid, and ridiculously easy to kill.

apologies for the lack of fireworks

 

[plantdude]

Works for me. lol

Actually I really don't like shooting anything now days that I don't plan on inviting to dinner. Sure would like to come do some duck hunting with you and that lab someday. Mine is gone now, but he was the best damn duck dog you ever saw in his day!


I've gotten males that were 40 lbs and females that went 35 lbs. I chased a yearling off the porch last night. He got the cat dish once last spring and has come back almost every night since to see if I left it out again. There is plenty for them to eat around here. They just find things belonging to humans easier to get and tasty. Sometimes they get really defensive. Usually it's a mama with kids. The kids will scamper up a tree like squirrels and mama will stand there on her hind legs and snarl and growl at you. Those mama coons mean business too and they let you know it! When they do that you can really see that they are in the bear family. Two of my dogs tangled with one once. They both looked like they lost a fight with a chainsaw. Racoons really aren't the cute Disney creatures they are made out to be.

It was illegal to pick up road kill here until a few years ago. Although a couple deer did manage to bounce all the way into my garage somehow before they changed the law. Now they disappear from the roadside quick if they aren't mangled to badly. It always seemed such a waste of good meat to me just leaving them there until the road people finally came along and hauled them to the dump.

I never tried eating a Racoon. They are known to carry rabies here on occasion so that put me off. And they are hard to skin and were worth about $5 back in the 80's and early 90's when I was trapping. So I never went after them on purpose. Usually caught them in a set intended for mink. Minks were worth $25 and up and are easy to skin. Beavers would get me $25 to $40 depending on the size. And you get some really good meat off them. I've eaten lots of beaver. (insert your own joke here) Muskrats were easy to catch through the ice on the frozen lakes in winter and really easy to skin. I'd get $4-5 for them and they are as plentiful as perch. They look like a rabbit when skinned but I never did eat one. Something about the "rat" in the name I guess. Coyotes are extremely difficult to trap because they are freekin' smart. I caught a few but got more with my .243. $30-40 was average but the market varied wildly from year to year. One season they were going as high as $150 for a large prime winter coyote. Some guys would blast them with their 30.06 or .308 and then wonder why they didn't get much from the fur buyers for a coyote pelt with a 6" hole in it. lol They have amazingly thick and beautiful fur in Dec and Jan here. Not like those skinny scruffy looking dogs you see during summer.

My lab died about 3 years 8 months ago. Most loyal dog I ever had. He taught me how to fetch ducks. Trained him myself, which was probably most of the problem. He'd do double retrieves, pluck wounded ducks out of the air. He was beautiful when on form. Trouble was I hunted flooded timber mostly. About waist deep water with a mild but steady current. If I'd shoot a duck across a deep canal or somewhere I couldn't get to 99% of the time he would bring it back with a flawless retrieve. shooting a duck where I could walk to was a different story though. I would down one and send him and he would be out there in a flash. Catch duck, crunch, kill duck, ptooey as he would purse his lips and spit the duck out. I kid you not, "ptooey" he would actually spit them out like that then look at me like come get him, it's dead, right over here stupid, your welcome! The race would then be on to get the duck 30+ yards across the flooded timber before it drifted off. Sometimes he would swim out next to them like "here they are, they're floatin away, you gonna get this" but no help whatsoever otherwise. If I would shoot them and they would land on the levy he would run over and sit next to them. I would holler and yell for him to bring them and he would just look away. "Here they are I got you covered, fetch dumbass"... So he taught me how to fetch.
Took a year off duck hunting after he died. Got cancer at the age of ten and it hit him fast and hard. My little shadow that taught me how to fetch and followed me everywhere since he was a pup was no more.

My son is old enough now, he can go with me and point and say it's drifting that way, fetch...

Got a cane corso puppy a little over a year after my lab died. He's grown up now and not the same but different in his own "beautiful"? way. His sorry mug is pictured laying upside down with gravity controlling his lips as my icon. He can't fetch for shit but no one has ever broken into the house so I guess he has his uses.

 

[karam]

We had a rat problem in our summer house, in the middle of a field. They'd gotten between the floors and under the roof but thankfully not in the actual house. We called a professional who surveyed the whole property, advised which branches to cut and how to deter them from getting to the roof, and placed around 50 of the bait stations shown below around the field perimeter and the house.

It took about a month but now we don't hear them under the roof. We do know they're still around, my wife saw one the other day, and I keep checking the bait stations and see they are still eating it. The poison is supposed to need only a nibble to kill a rat, and cause them to feel exhausted so they crawl back to their nests to die. Apparently the theory is that them dying should make the rest of the nest go away. Surely any sort of animal feed is an issue as they don't need to nibble the poison, so not sure what else can be done, but I'd still get a professional to look into it.

 

[skychaser]

Great stories guys. @Ruffseas Where abouts are you on the coast? I'm really hoping to make it over to Forks at the end of the month for some salmon fishing. I love fishing the rivers there. I usually go here: https://www.threeriversresortandguideservice.com/ I've heard the chattering and cooing sounds raccoons make too. They have quite a vocabulary and are very intelligent animals. Smarter than a lot of people I've met. I don't have any birds now so my war with them has ended. Aside from playing the game of hide the cat food. I've heard that they like corn and can really devastate it too. But thankfully the ones here have never discovered mine yet. Once they learn something they seem to pass that knowledge on to generation after generation. There is a big fir tree about 30 yards behind my house that is the pooping tree. There is always a small mountain of raccoon poop there every year. I guess it has been designated the local raccoon outhouse or they use it to mark who has been around lately. ??

There are no possums here. I've seen them and man are they fugly. I'd have to be near starving to eat one. We have pack rats in the forests but no norway rats. If I ever saw one it would be total war on those beasts. Probably the only thing I would consider using poison on. No foxes here either. They seem to be everywhere in north america except the inland northwest. Too much competition from coyotes I guess. And we have wolves again now after nearly 100 years of extinction. Very controversial subject here. Cattle men and Elk hunters hate them but I figure they have a right to live too like everything else. And they have a roll to play in nature.

We were heading to town one hot summer day a few years ago and smelled Skunk. About 20 feet in front of the truck under a Maple tree was a dead baby skunk with flies buzzing around. It looked to be about 8 weeks old. When we got home I grabbed a shovel to go bury it. I Iooked it over to see what might have killed it but didn't see any thing. I wasn't going to touch it because they also sometimes carry rabies. I went to scoop it onto the shovel when suddenly it moved and tried to raise its head up but fell back down. I thought, damn its still alive and went in and got the 22. For some reason I just couldn't shoot it. Dunno why. After a bit I went back out to do what I had to do and put the poor thing out of its misery. Then it managed to raise its head and tried to crawl off but didn't get far. We felt really sorry for it and got up our nerve and tied to help it. My wife got a turkey baster filled with water and I stuck it in the corner of its mouth and gave it some water. It could hardly move but still managed to gulp it down. So she went in and got some milk and it really gulped that down. After a couple hours it got up and made it over by the truck where it collapsed again. It was nearly dark by then so we put an old laundry basket over it so nothing would bother it and it could die in peace. Next morning I fully expect to see it was dead. Lifted the basket and it didn't move. Thought it was dead. But nope, wrong again. It got up and tried to follow me but was very weak. So we gave it a bowl of milk and some canned cat food which it happily ate. Then it had a nap and an hour later it managed to get up and wandered off into the tall grass by the barn. The next morning it came back, still weak but looking better. It drank more milk and gulped down more cat food and wandered off again. This went of for 3 more days. Never once tried to spray us. I guess it knew we were trying to help. Last time we saw it he was a happy looking little skunk full of life.

@plantdude You said a few week ago that you where you lived was surrounded by swamp land a rice paddies and the first thing I thought of was duck hunting! Didn't you post a pict of a lab who had shredded your cardboard box you planned to cure leaves in? Maybe it was someone else. Made me laugh though. That guilty look it had on its face was very familiar to me. All my dogs have been labs or lab crosses. One was a black lab Rottweiler cross. She was all black but looked like a rott. She was my 90 lb lap dog. Sweet girl but one of the best guard dogs ever. She tangled with a porcupine in late March one year. About the first week of May I noticed her face was swollen on one side. Figured it was a quill I missed so I took her to the vet. It wasn't. She had bone cancer. They cut out a big lump and took out a couple teeth which made here more comfortable but by July she was gone. She was 9. I still miss that girl. My best duck dog was like yours. We taught each other. lol He made it to 15 and still liked hunting birds when he was an old geezer dog. Couldn't do what he did when it was younger but that was ok. He just liked being there and I liked taking him. His son was doing all the real work by then. He was my best friend back in those days. Never was quite the same without him.

 

[deluxestogie]

The opossum is a 20 million year old fossil marsupial. Really tiny brain and lots of teeth.

Opossum Biology, Life Cycle, Habitat, Diet

www.animalatticpest.com

Bob

 

[plantdude]

Great stories guys. @Ruffseas Where abouts are you on the coast? I'm really hoping to make it over to Forks at the end of the month for some salmon fishing. I love fishing the rivers there. I usually go here: https://www.threeriversresortandguideservice.com/ I've heard the chattering and cooing sounds raccoons make too. They have quite a vocabulary and are very intelligent animals. Smarter than a lot of people I've met. I don't have any birds now so my war with them has ended. Aside from playing the game of hide the cat food. I've heard that they like corn and can really devastate it too. But thankfully the ones here have never discovered mine yet. Once they learn something they seem to pass that knowledge on to generation after generation. There is a big fir tree about 30 yards behind my house that is the pooping tree. There is always a small mountain of raccoon poop there every year. I guess it has been designated the local raccoon outhouse or they use it to mark who has been around lately. ??

There are no possums here. I've seen them and man are they fugly. I'd have to be near starving to eat one. We have pack rats in the forests but no norway rats. If I ever saw one it would be total war on those beasts. Probably the only thing I would consider using poison on. No foxes here either. They seem to be everywhere in north america except the inland northwest. Too much competition from coyotes I guess. And we have wolves again now after nearly 100 years of extinction. Very controversial subject here. Cattle men and Elk hunters hate them but I figure they have a right to live too like everything else. And they have a roll to play in nature.

We were heading to town one hot summer day a few years ago and smelled Skunk. About 20 feet in front of the truck under a Maple tree was a dead baby skunk with flies buzzing around. It looked to be about 8 weeks old. When we got home I grabbed a shovel to go bury it. I Iooked it over to see what might have killed it but didn't see any thing. I wasn't going to touch it because they also sometimes carry rabies. I went to scoop it onto the shovel when suddenly it moved and tried to raise its head up but fell back down. I thought, damn its still alive and went in and got the 22. For some reason I just couldn't shoot it. Dunno why. After a bit I went back out to do what I had to do and put the poor thing out of its misery. Then it managed to raise its head and tried to crawl off but didn't get far. We felt really sorry for it and got up our nerve and tied to help it. My wife got a turkey baster filled with water and I stuck it in the corner of its mouth and gave it some water. It could hardly move but still managed to gulp it down. So she went in and got some milk and it really gulped that down. After a couple hours it got up and made it over by the truck where it collapsed again. It was nearly dark by then so we put an old laundry basket over it so nothing would bother it and it could die in peace. Next morning I fully expect to see it was dead. Lifted the basket and it didn't move. Thought it was dead. But nope, wrong again. It got up and tried to follow me but was very weak. So we gave it a bowl of milk and some canned cat food which it happily ate. Then it had a nap and an hour later it managed to get up and wandered off into the tall grass by the barn. The next morning it came back, still weak but looking better. It drank more milk and gulped down more cat food and wandered off again. This went of for 3 more days. Never once tried to spray us. I guess it knew we were trying to help. Last time we saw it he was a happy looking little skunk full of life.

@plantdude You said a few week ago that you where you lived was surrounded by swamp land a rice paddies and the first thing I thought of was duck hunting! Didn't you post a pict of a lab who had shredded your cardboard box you planned to cure leaves in? Maybe it was someone else. Made me laugh though. That guilty look it had on its face was very familiar to me. All my dogs have been labs or lab crosses. One was a black lab Rottweiler cross. She was all black but looked like a rott. She was my 90 lb lap dog. Sweet girl but one of the best guard dogs ever. She tangled with a porcupine in late March one year. About the first week of May I noticed her face was swollen on one side. Figured it was a quill I missed so I took her to the vet. It wasn't. She had bone cancer. They cut out a big lump and took out a couple teeth which made here more comfortable but by July she was gone. She was 9. I still miss that girl. My best duck dog was like yours. We taught each other. lol He made it to 15 and still liked hunting birds when he was an old geezer dog. Couldn't do what he did when it was younger but that was ok. He just liked being there and I liked taking him. His son was doing all the real work by then. He was my best friend back in those days. Never was quite the same without him.

The dog in the pic with the box was my cane corso. I don't think they make labs that ugly Believe it or not the dog is a chick magnet. I'm always having women stop to say he is so handsome or he is beautiful when I take him for a walk. It blows my mind and I have to struggle not to laugh. Every night after he eats and I'm cleaning the drool streamers off his face with a towel I tell him he is beautiful and he loves it
Our town boasts of being the rice and duck Capitol of the US. Duck hunting is big business down here and a way of life for many people. I started hunting about a year after I moved here and have taken one year off so I guess that makes about 15 years - and I still can't blow a duck call for crap People spend thousands of dollars for duck leases and guided hunts down here, I don't have that type of disposable income (and would not spend it if I did) so I just stick with public land (bayou Meto). Some days are great, other days are not, usually fun and good excercise regardless.
You mention you used to run a trap line. My dad used to do that when I was a kid, I've never tried it and was too young to go out with him at the time. Our previous neighbor did that as a side business. I've skinned and tanned deer hides - anything beyond the basic skinning stage gets to be a lot of work in a hurry.

 

[CobGuy]

The Cane Corso is a great dog … good looking boy!

~Darin

 

[plantdude]

The Cane Corso is a great dog … good looking boy!

~Darin

Thanks, they are an interesting breed and very intelligent - sometimes a little too much so
My dad was into Schutzhund (obedience, tracking and attack) training with Rottweilers while I was a kid so I grew up with rotties. I was expecting the cane corso to be more like rots but they are definetly different. Got a lot more of the mastiff temperament to them, while almost seeming to be a little more affectionate and have slightly more of a personality than a rottie (just my opinion based on my previous rotties, not saying anything bad about rotties they are good dogs too). Great dogs, but definitely a lot different to train and stronger willed than the average lab

 

[skychaser]

I've never even heard of that breed before. I guess I should have looked a little closer at the shredded box picture. I took one look and saw a black dog with a guilty look on its face and immediatly thought Labrador. lol

 

[plantdude]

I've never even heard of that breed before. I guess I should have looked a little closer at the shredded box picture. I took one look and saw a black dog with a guilty look on its face and immediatly thought Labrador. lol

They are also called Italian mastiffs (or the worlds biggest babies by their owners). They are supposed to have the third highest bite force of domesticated dog species. I think about that sometimes when I have my hand halfway down his throat forcing pills down sometimes - I just don't worry much about it though They love their herd and and are very caring about the family/pets they are raised with. Everything else is met with intense and very watchful appraisal. Very unique dogs and wonderful if people know how to handle them, but probably not the best choice of pets for most households that aren't willing to spend the time training them. They are similar to rotties in temperament but have a more independent, willful streak. The mastiff blood makes them a little more subdued but moodier. Not a dog I would ever want to cross if I didn't know it, but otherwise they are very loving 100 - 120 pound lapdogs.
This needs a pup and adult photo (he was "mooing" to the cat in the last picture)

 

[skychaser]

My sister has a Dogue De Bordeaux, aka French Mastiff. It's a little over a year and a half old now. She also has a half English Mastiff and half Great Pyrenees who is almost 13. The old dog is a pretty good watch dog but a total coward. She will bark when people come over but as soon as a stranger gets out of their car she runs and hides in the bushes. She will sit and shake hands but that's about all she knows. And she is the smart one.

I call the young one Rock Pile. A few weeks ago my sis asked my why I call her dog Rock Pile. I said because she is as smart as the pile of rocks I have. My sis said she's not dumb. I said I bet she won't even come when you call her or sit or shake hands yet. It took her about 5 tries to get her to come. 5 more to sit and finally after looking really confused for a while, she raised a paw, which I think was an accident. So I said, ok, she is smarter than a pile of rocks and I upgraded her to potato. Now I call her tater. My sis has taken to calling her tater now too. lol I don't completely blame the dogs for their lack of knowing anything. My sister is just not really good with them. She has spent nearly 0 time trying to teach them anything.

Does yours like drinking out of sprinklers and biting them? Hers does. She loves water and is always screwing up the sprinklers. She loves going to the lake and swimming and has her own little kiddie pool at home

 

[plantdude]

I've never had the honor of interacting with a dog de Boudreaux. One of my previous interactions with an English mastiff almost cost me a few fingers trying to flick a few pieces of kibble into its cage.
Normal dogs respond to people. Mastiffs will, eventually, maybe, after they think about it, when they are are ready, if they feel like it, maybe, if they know the person, sometimes I swear somebody bred the insolent TYSAT (take your sweet ass time) passive aggressive gene into them. They know what you are saying and they'll get back to you when they feel like they are good and ready for it.
I'll be having an awesome training session with mine, then all of a sudden this well behaved dog suddenly goes screw you to the simplest command. They know what you want, they've done it six times already in the last 10 minutes , but all of a sudden it becomes a hell no. Lay down, nope, Lay down, nope, lay down or else, hell no. The problem is you have to always win as the human because they know exactly what you are asking of them and they are just refusing to do it.
I've owned an Australian Shepard before and think they are close to one of the smartest breeds around. I think the cane corso may just about tie with them but it's hard to tell because the passive aggressive nature kicks in and they do what they think is best vs what you, as the mere owner are over there yelling and screaming about. It almost feels as useless as trying to train a cat sometimes.

 

[deluxestogie]

According to Richard Wolters, dogs are most trainable between the ages of 8 and 12 weeks. As a trainer, you must always win. Otherwise you are teaching the dog that it doesn't matter.

Bob