After returning home for a week long vacation with my family I discovered more rat activity in my backyard storage building. Those that follow my adventures know this is a continual problem that has become more frequent since we are now into Summer. About 9 months ago I received a Brocock Sniper XR, the Safari model from Airguns Of Arizona.
This rifle is the magnum version in .22 caliber and I have since then been using it on many of my outdoor hunting adventures. Those not familiar with this brand they are in my opinion some of the most ruggedly built Airguns on the market now. The Safari model has been worked hard and I have it configured to shoot the Daystate Howler 20.3gr Slugs at just about 40 fpe, plenty for the majority of small game hunting I do. Marley and I had previously used this rifle to hunt both Cottontails and Jackrabbits for a recent catch and cook video taking shots out over 80+ yards. I decided after seeing the rat activity in my storage building that I would use the Sniper XR, it would just need to be turned down in power.
I easily turned the power down on the rifle via the side adjustment knob, this is essentially just a transfer port restrictor. With just this adjustment I was able to bring the power down to 16 fpe using the 25gr redesigns. The rifle is extremely accurate and quiet with them and I went heavy to keep penetration to a minimum, my experience the gun is quieter and the slower pellet wont carry enough speed to penetrate as well as an 18gr JSB. My backyard is fairly good size but the position I have to shoot from to see the inside of the building is only 15 yards.
Now I have very little experience shooting at such close targets as the majority of the hunting I've done my whole life has been over 50 yards. This has embarrassingly been the case for me just being bad at close range shooting, something I have been practicing and improving upon. One of the tools I have in my backyard beyond paper targets is a small reactive target.
This is the RX Target Systems that I have been using for a good few years now, wonderful tool for practicing my hunting skills. My friend David has all different models of these and I have been impressed with how it's held up to some serious continued abuse.
After a bit of practice the beautiful wife put together some bait crackers that consist of Triscuts, Peanut butter and Chia Seeds.....hopefully these would contribute to the rats last meal. I'm lucky to have such an understanding wife that's motivated to keep me outside to hunt for a few hours. lol
Inside the storage building I have some wooden shelves that I cleared off the make visibility better and to have space to put the bait out. Generally most of the rats come in from the top portion of the rafters and will climb down onto the shelving. After the bait was in place I still had a few hours before night and for the commotion of neighborhood activities to quiet down. The neighborhood was now quiet as a mouse and it was time to make way outside where Marley and I would sit and wait for this evenings festivities.
I have a clear spot that I sit up against my house that gives a clear 15 yard sight into the front door of the storage building.
I do have two OneLeaf NV 100 clip on units, one is mounted to the scope and the other I use as a static camera to capture some of the action. I have little experience filming in low light conditions and over this past year have learned a great deal about what can be improved. It didn't take long for Marley and I to spot our first victim of the night.......He moved in from the left side of the building and onto one of the rafters where I was able to make a headshot!
Through the next few hours I was able to get a few more, some were quite acrobatic and would bounce around vigorously on the shelves before falling off to Marley's retrieval.
Marley was having a good time and excitedly waited next to me for the next opportunity to run out and grab one, she's a character.
We had some pretty good action with a few coming in near one right after another, the fact that the rifle was so quiet I think really contributed to our luck.
We got 7 of them over a few hours that for us is not bad at all for a nights work in the backyard.
After cleaning up our mess we called it a night, we ad a great time and I felt like we put a bit of a dent in our continual problem.....we will be out again in the next week though. This kit worked out really well for us and I really do like the fact that I can use this for such a wide variety of the hunting I do. Here is the video I made of our adventure that gives a bit more details of my setup and a better look at the action.
