A pester's lament...

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BackStop

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Oct 10, 2020
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North Alabama
It has been over a month since I have had a shot at a chipper and have only seen one or two where I could not shoot them. I am trying to remember if there was a lull in the pest presence last year around this time, but I wasn't keeping records then. My last pesting shot was here and that was over two weeks ago!

Anyway, my lament is that I almost exclusively shoot pests. I only shoot targets to zero, check zero or check different pellets etc. I don't "plink" or shoot targets for fun. Nothing against it, I just don't get much pleasure from it and with the rising cost and lack of availability of pellets, it just doesn't make sense for me to shoot when I don't have to.

Yeah, I know... whine whine whine whine! Please bring me some cheese for my whine... LOL!

I guess I could look at it another way. I am SO damned GREAT at pesting that I have TOTALLY eliminated ALL of the chippers, rats and tree rats in my area. 

LOL!

Yeah... right...

Oh well, maybe next month will pick up and I will get to shoot more than 2 or 3 shots. (grin)
 
I’m just like you. Punching holes is paper or even ringing steel. Is not al that exciting for me. I shoot rats and mice. But. I’m so proficient. Those targets are few and far between. I hunt over bait piles. Almost exclusively at night. I have about five different locations I can see / shoot from inside my house. So I’ll set up my sensors at one location for a week or two. If no action. I’ll move it to the next location. And repeat. 
At this point I’m lucky to get one a month. I’m not sure what you hunt with. I use a PCP. 
But for casual plinking I got a few break barrels. They make target shooting a little more of a challenge. I’ll just open up the window. Shoot five to ten shots. And that’s good enough. 

Got this guy last Sunday at 10:30pm. using my Benjamin Prod. 22 yards JSB Hades lung shot. 
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@ survivor45

I am retired and spend nearly all of my time at home. So, I check my yard regularly, about once an hour at least via cameras and looking out my "sniper window". And that is nearly 24/7 as I usually only sleep about 4 hours per day before I am up again. For now, my pesting airgun is a Fortitude Gen2 in .177 shooting CPUM 10.5 pellets @ ~750fps for ~12+fpe. I am going to experiment with lowering the fps/fpe soon as most of my shots are between 15 and 35 yards (basically my PBR) so even ~12+fpe is more than enough which creates pass through and ricochet issues. However (knock on wood), I rarely miss these days when I have a shot and when I do, it is almost ALWAYS me and not the gun.

A while back I had a Crosman Fire/F4 break barrel and my experience with that POS pushed me to PCPs and I have never looked back.

I am still thinking the chippers will rebound as the weather starts to cool, but I don't know. Last year I had an explosion of chippers before it got cold, but I had not put any pressure on them during the summer. My shot count was ~75 before they went into torpor last year and I didn't even start going after them until fall or maybe late fall! I won't even talk about the tree rats because where I live it is not exactly legal to shoot them, but I will protect my property.

Oh well, time to take a look out the "sniper window" and see if there are any rats lurking in the shadows of the cottontail rabbits I feed! LOL!

Thanks for the reply!
 
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Maybe you should consider looking into the English House Sparrow population where you live. Considered an invasive species and one of only 2 birds (collared doves are the other) that are allowed to be shot on sight in pretty much every state 365 days a year. On the gun forums, they're referred to as HOSP's and why any number of air gunners got into shooting.

You also shouldn't base your dislike of springers/gas rams on pretty much any break barrel made by Crosman, especially one like the F4. They're cheap for a reason which you already found out, a good lot of people who buy them do because they're a cheap, easy way to learn to tune springers before diving into more expensive ones and something like a Weihrauch HW30 or HW50 vs. the cheap break barrels bought off a Walmart shelf would very likely change your opinions of break barrels.
 
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I've written about this more than a few times.... the more pests you eliminate, the less you will have to eliminate - quite simple! After a breeding season there will be "new chippers" seeking a new territory, the "smell of death" will fade somewhat and the new will filter in and become NEW targets.... wash-rinse-repeat. ;-) I'm dealing with the same dilemma in my backyard, though I've begrudgingly made the switch to "dinger" and paper "shoot n c" targets to stay sharp.
 
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Hello every thing has been in short supply this year. My girlfriend has a bird feeding station in the front yard which leaves me a 12"x12" kill area for unwanted best so if they are not in that area they get a pass. Last year we had endless squirrels and chipmunks(many that did not get shot) as well as all her birds 20+ doves at a time and countless smaller ones like cardinals and finches. This year we are lucky to see 3 or 4 birds come a day. The seed is literally rotting. I don't know what caused the population to decrease this year. Eric
 
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Well, you have it better than me.

I’m sure some will hate on me for this – but my daughter got a kitten. Lot’s of predator birds around so it lived inside. However, after the kitten grew up a bit, it decided it was going to be an outside cat. The first time she took a chipmunk it was cute. Now, several months later, there isn’t a ground squirrel or chipmunk within 100 yards of the house – negating the very excuse I gave my spouse as to why I needed all this newfangled airgun stuff! Is it a sin to pray that my daughter goes off to college soon and takes that darn’ cat with her?

So you see, you have it better than me -- for now at least :).
 
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way it goes .. i dont shoot every squirrel just because i can .. leave some to breed and a couple of times a year the group will build big enough they need some thinning out to prevent it getting to the destructive level ... ive found that keeping chickens, i always have between 6 and 12 and hatch my own eggs, but with chickens around something is always after them .. same with gardening it attracts stuff ..if theres a lull in the killin i'll set some stuff up here and there in the yard and pop off a couple mags .. measure it off .. figure out different shots in chairgun etc ..
 
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Aye BackStop your words are so true. I when from those first days and weeks of pitched invasion wondering if they would be parachuting in next? To the much slower rates of engagement and then into the gee I the haven't seen any movements for a month now. I now wait patiently as I prepare for the next dance number as their breeding cycles bring forth a newbie invasion force.
 
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I haven't had a chipmunk to slay in two years. Even the mice and rats are scarce these days. I do enjoy popping them when they're around, but I don't think my pesting is responsible for the lack of targets. I believe the cats, foxes and coyotes in the neighborhood have had a bigger impact. While I do miss the excitement of putting a rodent in the crosshairs and exposing its brains to the sun, I am just as glad not to have em digging under the patio or foundations of my house. For now... Mission accomplished!
 
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Backstop, we are brothers in our methodology & lamenting! I, too, only shoot paper to zero in. I've got a number of pesting permissions here in SoCal but lately the Ground Squirrels have been evasive. Either I've been way too efficient in ridding the properties of pests or something has changed their normal behavior. Either way it leaves me lamenting for the mornings I was assured of hearing that satisfying GS "pop" when I schwacked 'em! Shooting paper & steel gongs bores the crap outta me & I'd much rather be ridding properties of destructive pests. I'd like some bread & cheese with my WHINE please! 
 
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I remembered this time last year I moved my bait pile out to 32 yards. That’s the edge of my property. And the furthest I can shoot pest at night. There is a lot of good habitat back there. Just set up my sensor and camera. Zeroed my gun. (Those were the first two shots I had to go and move my target back so I could see it better) Now when the sun goes down I’ll put some bird seed under my sensor. 
And …….Wwaaait 

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I think one of the things that originally attracted me to shoot field target, was lack of the live variety on a consistent basis. I don’t live in the middle of prairie dog country.

And no, it’s not the same, but it is somewhat similar. At least more so than anything else I’ve found

If you set up a couple targets at home, you can make it as challenging as you like.

mike
 
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The chippers will return. Our old neighborhood had a chip problem. Once the neighbors gave me the go a head to eradicate them on their property too, I was shooting 12-20 a week for some time. Then like some one flipped a switch, they were gone. 3 years later they returned again. Not as many as before, but enough that the damage they were doing warranted shooting them again.
 
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Thanks for all of the replies! At least I am not alone wondering where my pests went.

As to the HOSPs, I have shot a few, all males because there are several different species of sparrow in my yard and it is VERY hard to differentiate between female HOSPs and the others.

As to springers, well, as I said, I haven't looked back and don't intend to. I hit what I aim at now and don't have a good reason to get a springer. Even a high quality springer. Of course, to each their own and more power to those of you who like and shoot springers accurately!

On another note, I guess the rats have built up a tolerance to the Bromethalin (neurotoxin) poison because I am putting out 4 blocks about every 2 or 3 days and it is all getting eaten. So, today I bought 2 different kinds of anti-coagulant poison to add to the mix. Yes, that might mean I won't get many shots at rats, but with rats I simply want them dead even if I don't get to shoot them!

Thanks again for all of the replies!

Kerry
 
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The tree rats are slowly coming back, but I have still not seen ANY chippers. At least not in MY yard where I can shoot them and only 1 chipper in a yard a half-block away.

The "new" anticoagulant rat poisons (bromadiolone/Hawk and diphacinone/TomCat) seem to be working. Found one dead Norway rat yesterday after half of the 12 blocks of poison bait were eaten. Replaced those blocks in the new bait box and will keep watch to see if the bait keeps getting eaten. Don't know which one is more effective, but more of the diphacinone/TomCat bait has been eaten by a ratio of about 60/40.

Apparently the Bromethalin (neurotoxin), I had been using, became more of a drug for them than a poison? I guess those rats were strung out just like a drug addict and they knew where to get their "fix", but it simply wasn't killing them.
 
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