[jbeltz7]

For years I have read or seen on TV how fun shooting rats at the dump could be. Popping self-erecting targets with no socially redeeming value sounds like a great way to spend a couple hours. Problem is I think it is an urban legend, has anyone actually been somewhere they could shoot rats? County dumps will nail you for trespassing and discharging a weapon within city limits is a fine way to end up in front of a Judge.

[308win]

When I was a pre-teen (mid 50's) there was a city dump inside the city limits in the small town (<10,000) I grew up in and in warm weather we used to go shoot them with .22's and nobody said a word. Do that today and you would undoubtedly develop a familiarity with the municipal judicial system.

[BIGR]

I use to shoot them around the corn crib with a revolver loaded with rat shot.

[gezzer]

Yes I have shot rats at the dump. 30 years ago when it was a dump and not a recycle center. As long as the dump was closed it was fine with the town and cops. Great fun.

[Doc Hollowpoint]

:)
In college back in the 60s, a town in a very rural county owned a huge open dump well outside the city's limits. It was loaded with rats. We shot them with a variety of guns, mostly .22s of course, but given it was rats we could -- and often did -- use other things. I realyl enjoyed using a .45 auto and M-1 carbine. Ah, the memories, the sweet memories....:)
In the meantime, you really need to visit this web site:
www.ratkill.com
Enjoy!

[.45Guy]

Dang, when I saw the thread title, I was picturing something akin to this. And yes, it did go to third echelon the next day.;)
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g27/aguy123/YeeHaw.jpg

[gm]

Ive shot rats in a large grain shed and also a storage building next to a creek.I have found that going into a barn at late nite and using a flashlight with an red filter is the easiest way to get them.Most of the time, you might catch a glimpse of them scattering when the lights go on but if not, they are there hiding in the rubble and the broken down machinery outside.Bad thing is,rats carry diseases and are tough critters to kill.They move quickly and seemingly have an endless supply of lives.

Their dens look very similiar to that of a groundhog,with different entrances and exits.Its interesting to hear one growl but not see it.they can be very aggressive.


no, its not an urban legend.If theres junk,garbage or a food source, you can bet there are rats as well.

[ZeSpectre]

Shooting rats (when I was a kid) involved going out to the grain hoppers or the behind the storage shed on the farm I grew up on. If dad had bought me .22LR ammo it was cool but when I had to use my crossman airgun it was a serious exercise in endurance pump, pump, pumping that bloody airgun for every shot!

The actual county dump used to " deputize" and pay people to shoot rats long about mid-summer when things got bad because the farmers over the hill would start complaining.

'course that was the mid 70's and the area has changed an awful lot since then.

[koja48]

All we have in my neck of the desert is flying rats . . . we use air rifles or shotguns, and they look a lot like pigeons . . .

[tank mechanic]

The most I have done was last weekend shooting mice in a garage. Using a .22 loaded with shot shells. I had a blast:D . I had so much fun I would even pay to be able to do it at a dump.

[Leanwolf]

When I was a kid in the early 1950s, I grew up in a tiny town in northern Arkansas. There was a town dump about a mile out of town. I have no idea how many rats I and my buds shot at that old dump. Shot an unimaginable number of bottles and tin cans, too... and old refrigerators, washing machines, and whatever else was there. :D

Although I learned to shoot on a Winchester .22 single shot, when I was 13, my father gave me a new Remington 550A semi-auto .22. I can't describe how much fun it was to shoot at rats running, without having to reload each cartridge individually.

My buds and I would put our rifles across the bars of our bicycles and pedal through the town square on out to the dump. (Today, however, the local SWAT Team would be called on us, I'm sure!)

I still have that Remington 550A, and although today it does have some "character marks," it is just as accurate and reliable as it ever was.

Those days are gone forever. :(

L.W.

[Steve in PA]

Not THIS is "rat patrol"!

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid210/p984cf43c311eff25df7ce4e13127d9df/edb5248c.jpg

[sharkhunter2018]

couple years ago, we had a major rat and mice problem in the main barn and feed room on the farm, so i picked up one of those Gamo Varmint Stalkers for that purpose. but i had released four black snakes in the barn to help out and within a month (before the air rifle was delivered) there was hardly a rat or mouse to be seen......so much for that...... so the gamo became my wabbit gun....:D

[308win]

We never had a rat or mouse problem in our barns or out buildings because of the number of cats that my grandmother 'adopted' and my grandfather had a black snake in the barn as well. I don't like snakes and that damn thing was always where I was or wanted to be it seemed like. We used to shoot pigeons and spatzies with .22 shot shells.

[tasco 74]

not really a rat but they look alot like one are possums...... i've shot about 30 of them here in town in the last few years...... i live in a small town of around 1200 so everyone is a neighbor more or less.. i just shot one tonite in my garage... shot him 4 times with a .357 magnum loaded with speer shot capsules and #2 shot...... the town cops know what i'm shooting so they don't even show up when i discharge the weapon here........ i live almost in the center of town too.... kind of a perk for liveing in a small town and being trusted i guess..........

[SniperStraz]

not really a rat but they look alot like one are possums
I shot my fair share of possums back when I was living in Atlanta. Damn things used to sit on fences and make the dogs go crazy. Aside from that every year there was at least one possum that decided to make my trash cans home. Never could remember to keep the lids on so whenever I heard them rustling around i'd just plink at the trash can with an air rifle until he popped his little head out. No more possum. Ugliest creatures on earth.

[Bud Tugly]

The city dump was just a mile or so from my house when I was a kid. We'd sling our .22's over our shoulders and ride our bikes over there to shoot rats all the time. It's lots harder than you might think, since they are very quick and move constantly.

We also used to find some of the old light bulbs that had a little point on the end and had vacuum inside of them instead of argon gas like they do today. When you shot them they exploded like a little hand grenade. Same thing with the picture tubes on the early TV's.

I think I learned more about shooting at that dump than just about anywhere else.

[Byron Quick]

Not an urban legend but I don't think there are any open air trash dumps anymore. A buddy and I went. He took an automatic shotgun. A tidal wave of rats rushed us one night and several ran over his foot while he was banging away at them. How he avoid shooting his foot off, I'll never know. That twelve gauge dug a trench around his foot.

[tasco 74]

while reading this thread i couldn't help but think about the insomniac show that used to be on comedy central..... the dave attell went to new orleans and while he was they taped him nutria shooting with one of the cops or something there.... the guy had some kind of a bolt action scoped .22 and was shooting the critters in the canals or something there.... even let dave pop off a few with a 1022!! looked like a ball!!!!!!

anyone else see it??

[woodchuk]

In the 60's & 70's there were a lot of dumps in Central NY. As kids we had a local town dump and several private ones where we shot rats with air rifles, then .22's when we got older. Our parents knew where we had been without asking, we usually smelled like a dump fire. It might not have been the highest calling we could have aspired to, but it kept us off the streets.