Telescope mount

#16 - Shooting Rats at a Dairy with a Benjamin Marauder .22 Air Gun

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• published: 05 Feb 2016
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I have been shooting rats with an air gun at a dairy in western Washington State for about a year. This video represents a few nights' shooting in April of 2015 before the rat population was reduced to a more reasonable level. However, regular shooting sessions are necessary to keep the rats in check. Here is a link to my 14th video which includes a detailed description of the Crosman manufactured Benjamin Woods Walker .22 caliber airgun and the night vision system I am using to hunt rats. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYWhbbFf-3g The dairy where this video was shot is in western Washington State and therefore rainy and wet most of the time. A few hundred cows eat a LOT of feed and what goes in comes out constantly as pee and poop everywhere. It makes the dairy a messy place, but the rats don’t seem to mind. Rats get food directly from the feed storage bunkers and eat side by side with the cows in the feeding lanes, not to mention that rats also happily eat undigested kernels of corn that make it through the cows. And so a perfect habitat exists in which the rats thrive and their population explodes in spite of the predators that gather nearby and depend on the rats as a food source. Additionally, the rats burrow under everything, including building foundations and even the paved road running by the dairy, causing damage to both. When the rat population soared so high that dairy workers had to literally kick rats out of the way as they went about their jobs, I was asked to help reduce the rat infestation. Rats are very interesting and, in many ways, admirable animals. I don’t hate them. But, being unable to convince them to practice birth control, I have developed a very effective and humane way to reduce their population and help keep it down to reasonable numbers. A few thousand dead rats later, I would like to share the experience with you. These videos contain graphic scenes of rats being shot with an air gun and the resulting deaths of the rats. I believe that this method is the most humane way to control the overwhelming population growth, especially when compared to using poisons which cause slow, agonizing deaths not only to the rats, but also to animals and insects that feed on the dead rats. In this location, those animals would include Cats, Dogs, Bald Eagles, Great Horned Owls, Screech Owls, Barn Owls, Red Tailed Hawks, Ravens, Crows, and Coyotes, as well as others I have not seen but live near the dairy. Thanks to Crosman Corporation and their terrific Benjamin Marauder Woods Walker .22 caliber pre-charged pneumatic (PCP) air pistol/carbine, I have assembled what I believe to be an ideal rat control weapon system. I removed the pistol grips and installed the carbine shoulder stock provided with the pistol, resulting in a quiet, compact yet steady weapon with enough power to penetrate through rats, while remaining low powered enough to minimize ricochets. The incredible accuracy of the Benjamin Marauder Woods Walker, with it tuned to deliver about 40 shots per air fill, makes it perfect for close-in work and longer shots, too. I typically shoot from 2 to 40 yards with most shots in the 5 to 20 yard range. Mounted at the rear of the receiver is a Sony HDR-SR11 high definition camcorder featuring Nightshot which enables viewing and recording infrared light. The camcorder has a flip out screen on the side for recording or playback, but more importantly, it has an electronic viewfinder on the back of the camcorder which is active when the screen is closed. Being mounted at the rear of the carbine receiver, it can be used much like a telescopic sight. The camcorder has a ten times optical zoom which allows wide angle shots and the close-up shots seen in the video. In front of and below the camcorder is a Vector Optics SCGL-04 Viperwolf laser sight which has both green and infrared lasers, each with its own adjustments for accuracy. I use the infrared laser since it is invisible to the rats. Below the barrel I have mounted an Evolva T-67 950nm infrared flashlight which delivers plenty of light for the camcorder. The laser sight and the flashlight are each equipped with rat-tail switches that can either turn the device on/off steadily or pulse on/off with push and release on part of the switch. The flashlight switch also cycles through three levels of brightness. I usually use the brightest setting and zoom the flashlight from wide floodlight to spotlight as needed to provide correct light intensity for the video. As you watch the videos, keep in mind that rats and cows cannot see the infrared light being used and, to them, all that happens is in total darkness. Even though the rats appear to sense when the infrared shines on them, only the shooter and those viewing the video can actually see what happens.