My dream job...

[OneShot]

Did anyone else catch a show called "insomniacs" on Comedy Central ( guy stays up all night and checks out the night life) That featured a segment on a County employee in New Orleans, whos job it was to ride around in the back of a truck, sitting in a lawn chair , and shooting large rats that did damage to the canal levees, with a silenced 22 rifle.

This guy had a spotter, armed with a high powered spotlight, and just blasted these large rats (he called them something else) till they were dead.

He even let the show host, who was quite drunk by that point shoot a few of the rats with a 10/22.

What a job!! I wonder how much this professional hunter makes an hour. I also wonder where can I apply for a position as a
"Rat Sniper" --- Oneshot

 

[QuarterBoreGunner]

I caught part of this; I believe they were going after a critter called a 'nutria'- sort of a big hamster/rat/chuihuahua mutant. I recall an article early this year saying that several states in the south were no offering a bounty on the beasts.

I'm sure some of our Southern Chapter members will be able to shed some light.

 

[El Tejon]

Jack Furr, upon learning that I was from Lafayette, asked me if I shot nutria.

Being the stupid Yankee that I am, I looked at him in bewilderment and replied, "No, I'm a lawyer downtown; the physics department at Purdue or one of the research parks on the westside is where they shoot the neutrinos."

Had no idea what a nutria was. And y'all thought Yankees were overeducated know-it-alls!!!

 

[Mike Irwin]

"Being the stupid Yankee that I am, I looked at him in bewilderment and replied, "No, I'm a lawyer downtown; the physics department at Purdue or one of the research parks on the westside is where they shoot the neutrinos."


BBBBBBBBBBBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!


GASP!

GASP!

 

[Stickjockey]

Nutria.

Take a beaver and cross it with a 'possum. Now give it a really bad attitude,and the ability to reproduce like a rabbit.

IIRC, some state down in the South (Louisiana?) was trying to pass them off as a delicacy to get people to hunt them.

 

[C.R.Sam]

El Tejon.

Sam

 

[synoptic]

I thought they were actually kind of cute, sorta reminded me of otters in California. Either way, if they need taken out I'd be more than happy to help, never seen one in Texas though. Sounds like a great job, almost as good as the one the host of the show has.

 

[Betty]

Kinda looks like a muskrat. My brother and I would sit by the pond and shotgun (steel shot) those big water-rats.

One of the few known nonindigenous mammals (Phylum Chordata, Class Mammalia) is the nutria, Myocastor coypus. It is found in and around fresh and salt water ponds and swamps. Nutrias were initially introduced into North America and farmed for their fur. Since their introduction, some animals have escaped these farms and established localized breeding populations from Texas to Virginia and in the Great Lakes area. Presently, they are considered to be a pest species in some areas, disrupting irrigation systems and destroying native aquatic vegetation and crops. Additionally, by disturbing the balance of the native biota they provide an advantage for non-native plant species to become established.

picture and quote from http://nas.er.usgs.gov/mammals/

 

[4v50 Gary]

El Tejon -

Excellent job! I'd do it too. Anybody know of any positions for Jagdmeister der Vogel (specifically, pigeons)?

 

[Rus7y]

Here's a link about nutria. I have eaten them and enjoyed. They only eat plants so they are not bad at all. Of course I have been known to eat almost anything at least once.

Rusty

Nutria

 

[Futo Inu]

"whos job it was to ride around in the back of a truck, sitting in a lawn chair , and shooting large rats "

LMAO - I want that job!

 

[OneShot]

That's the creature in question. CUTE? I don't think so.

I can imagine being his kid on career day at school....

So Mr Smith, what do you do for a living?
Oh, I'm a professional Rat killer. I gun them down from the back of a truck.

They probably have a PC name for the profession like " Nutria population control officer" or something similar.

There is NO WAY in the world that you could get away with shooting them like that in California. There would be some kind of militant save the Nutria group that would blow holes in the levees or something like that.

I still want the job, I wonder what would happen if you blasted them with a .308? , I maybe should have put this in hunting--Oneshot

 

[mattd]

The cop was a sniper.