Rat Hunting has cut into my hobby cash

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joab

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Ocoee, Fla
I am an exterminator for a very large Pest Control company in Orlando, working the night route , servicing some really seedy accounts.
Some of these places are really bad with rats, Now granted Fla rats do not compare to 5lbs New York mega rats, our rats are rather small. A large Central Fla rat is about 1.5 lbs

One restaurant in particular has had an ongoing problem for about 6 months and he has refused to make any of the corrections that I have suggested. So one night I got bored and decided that I would do some creative rodent control.

Last week Friday I went to my favorite account armed with my newly aquired Crossman .22 CO2 pellet pistol, I walk into the kitchen and am immediately confronted by the 3 main rats that have been taunting me for weeks now, Herbert , Harry, and Beth. They have grown so used to me that they don't even attempt to hide.

Harry just waddles his fat ass back to his hole, Beth sits on top of the water heater looking at me and chittering, and I see harry the smallest and quickest of the bunch looking at me from behind the stoveline.

My first shot is perfectly tucked under Beth's chin straight up into her heart lung cavity at a slightly upward angle, she doesn't make a sound just drops down to the ground quiver-twitching.

My second round was aimed at Herbert's head but misses ever so slightly but is good enough to crease his skull and drop him instantly, dead as a doornail.

Now for the fast little Harry. The last 3 seconds of carnage has got him running for cover along some kind of pipe, my first shot is high and a little behind, next shot I lead too much and still too high, Third shot, just as he was ducking behind the refrigerator, was almost perfect just a little low.

It did however let me know exactly what kind of pipe Harry was running on, Suddenly the floor is quickly filling with hot water.

After 10 minutes of searching for the shut-off valve I stem the flow, search for the emergency repair supplies that I know he has, because most of these Mom and Pop types do, finally find it and effect repairs on the pipe. Spend an hour cleaning up and covering up. No evidence, no harm, no foul

Monday morning we have our weekly meeting This weeks topic, Restaurant security cameras, apparently some are located in kitchens, So anyway now I work for a rather small Pest Control company in Altamonte and I need to find a cheaper way to feed my gun collecting. Maybe I'll get into pellet guns
 
Joab - well done but you should take out the most difficult target first. Like Corporal York (he was only a Corporal when he performed his acts that won him the MoH), you shoot the furthest or most difficult one first. That would be Harry. BTW, while your boss may have been pissed but in private I betcha he was laughing his head off.

Thank you for sharing your unorthodox method of (for a registered pest controller) of rodent control.
:D
 
Very funny. Sorry you've had to make some career changes, but good shooting.
 
:D

Is billing per pellet?

What is proper shoot sequence if a rat uses another for a shield?
I wouldn't think that falls into "bad guy /hostage" .

You need to start your own company - Paladin Pest - have gun will travel...
 
Who shot Stuart Little?

joab. Get ready for thouseands of 4 & 5 year old kids to lynch you.

Good shooting. Used to shoot rats as a kid around the feedbarns and grain elevators. Lots of fun.

You should have gotten a bonus for innovative techniques instead of getting canned.

Smoke
 
Caddyshack might need a groundskeeper?
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Hmmm...Bill Murray is getting a bit long in the tooth these days. Perhaps he needs a replacement. :D

Now hitting a gas line instead of a water line would have definitely been some caddyshack material. Methinks you got lucky it wasn't!

Good Shooting
Red
 
You should have gotten a bonus for innovative techniques instead of getting canned
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When you've already been told by the assistant manager that you intimidate the manager, and she already got you on her hit list you should be smart enough to mind your manners. Giving her ammunition is one thing, chambering the round and putting the barrel in your mouth is pretty much past stupid.

Rule #something... know whats behind your target
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I knew what was behind my target, what was under it caused the problem

Now hitting a gas line instead of a water line would have definitely been some caddyshack material. Methinks you got lucky it wasn't!
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Yeah I thought of that
Hey, this has great potential for a hunting magazine parody
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The funniest thing to me is that every word is true, I even left some out to keep it from being to long and boring. I'll never question the voracity of any of the stories I read here again. Now I have to apologize to that Ninja guy.
 
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I have a confession to make: long ago and far far away I also was an infamous rat hunter. Firebases in Vietnam were crawling with the damn things. My favorite weapons were first a M16 using a cartridge with the bullet pulled, powder reduced, filled with a paper wad with buckshot then stopped up with soap. Was good up to about 15' and you could shoot it in a hooch or underground bunker. Second weapon of choice was a Montanyard double shot crossbow. Very powerful and deadly up to 10' or so. Could use it anywhere cause of no noise. Best of all was a High standard .22 pistol mounted in an old mauser stock with barrel inserted in a 3" diameter 18" long bamboo section stuffed with steel wool. I made a cross hair sight out of a M79 hull I cut in half and mounted an eveready flashlight on the forearm. Tied it all together with trip wire and after I adjusted it a bit it was dead on accurate up to 25 yds and real quiet. All you could hear was the slide racking. I killed a lot of those damn nasty things.

rk
 
Roadkill
What part of Ala are you in. My cousin's used to take part in an annuall Nutria rodeo in Spanish Fort area. I used to be amazed by the piles of skulls they had on their back property.
A regular rat shootin bonanza
 
My buddy shot a rat that was on a shelf in his shop with one of those russian pellet rifles.The pellet went through the rat and ALSO through the can of spray paint that was behind the rat.....the shop looks pretty good in red.
 
roadkill

Now I see why we didn't succeed in Viet-Nam. Such ingenuity- had it only been used against the human enemy... owhell...

Joab: Do you think you could teach my cat to shoot? He's getting on in years, and his teeth aren't so good anymore. Haven't seen a little pile of rat guts outside the front door in nearly a year, come to think of it.
 
Many moons ago I worked as a C.O. for on a fairly infamous prison rock. The rat (and mouse) population was pretty near the inmate count.:what: They made us get rid of the cats in the housing areas even though the inmates took pretty good care of them.

I used to do outside patrol on the 12x8s. We had vehicles and were armed with S&W M&Ps. However, in the night a .38 would be quite loud so I sometimes carried a .22 single action in the inside pocket of my leather jacket.:evil: Strictly unauthorized and I don't recommend this today.

There was a quadrangle type building that was the storehouse. For those unfamiliar, there was a port in one wall that vehicles would drive through and the loading docks were on all 4 walls on the inside. With the dumpsters and the cracks in the base of the docks it was rodent heaven. Good backstops and no damage as long as the shots were kept below the windows.

At first I used .22 shorts and with the fixed sights and clean shots weren't easy. I did make one heckova shot on a runner from the hip with a solid round but ratshot usually guaranteed one shot stops.:D I'd just scoop up the bodies with a piece of cardboard and toss em in the dumpster.:cool:
 
Just drop it off by my house, I'll make sure he gets it. Honest!
angel.gif
 
You are not alone!

http://www.ratkill.com/main.html

As a licensed Exterminator myself you should have owned up to the damage and offered to pay for the repairs. Every time I have broken something or damaged property (inevitable in this business) I have gained points by going to the owner and fessing up and offering to pay. In just about every case they either refused my offer or worked out a deal to pay for the damage. I have never shot out anything but did loose a sparrow I popped with rat shot once. Lost it in a rack of boxed goods. Told the customer and he was elated I wasted the little pooper, said he found it and gave it a proper burial. Customers appreciate honesty, and are not eager to loose a good vendor and have to look for another.

You are lucky you still have a license, if the customer complained to the state you might be out of a career.
 
Everybody seems to have missed a major point...

exactly what restaurant has this many rats as pets??? And, where are the health inspectors???

I'm betting it's Chinese. When I worked in advertising I was in the back of a Chinese joint. The guy that was cooking opened a little refrigerator under the counter to get some food and a mouse ran in. A few minutes later he opened it again and the mouse ran out. This went on for the 45 minutes I was there.

I went back to office thinking they'd never believe me. They just kinda shrugged if off, and said "why do you think we never eat in Chinese places???"

Maybe that's why all their food has the meat cut into small pieces. When you start with a carcass that small, all the cuts have to be little:D

Nice thing about the pellet gun is that it doesn't spoil much meat.

Ever think about taxidermy?? Coulda had the trophies mounted.
 
Geoff Ross
In Fla pest control operators are not licensed, the company is. Each technician works under the certificate of the Certified Operator in Charge. I am a certified operator but not the Operator in Charge. Nothing I did that night violated FIFRA in any way so my certificate nor the company's was in any way jeopordized.
The SCPA has determined that it is acceptable to drown rats that are trapped live which takes 5 to 7 minutes if done properly shooting them in the head is much more humane.
If you read my story completely you will see that there were no repairs to pay for, because I made them myself that night.
The customer, who called because he thought the whole thing was hilarious, has since cancelled not only this account but all his accounts with the company in response to my termination and the company has offered me my job back ( with conditions).

redneck2
No redneck it isnt a Chinese restaurant, but a damn good guess. It was Jamacan(sp)
Health inspections are a joke here every once in awhile they will crack down, but it depends a lot on where the restaurant is. This one is in a relly scary part of town so I think maybe they don't even go there
And who cares what kind of meat it is, it all taste like curry

Bullet Bob
Thank you so much, I had put a .22 Midgit Magnum on lay-a way before the "incident" that still has to be retrieved you will now be the scapegoat for that purchase.

Now if somebody will offer to give me a Winchester 1300 I can cover the one I picked up a day or 2 after the "incident"
 
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