Last Stand at Packrat Gulch

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"There was lots of things that mighta done 'im in, I guess. Being a no good squatter, not respecting other's property, he didn't have no thumbs...or a gun. Mighta been any of those things but it weren't none of 'em. It was me. And I did it for the love of a woman. I ain't never killed for no woman before. Thinking 'bout 'im as a rat instead of a man made it easier to pull the trigger. Cuz that what he was...a low-down, no good, stinkin' rat."- from Last Stand at Packrat Gulch

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About a week ago we discovered a packrat had begun nesting under the hood of the wife's Traverse. Little bastard tore most of the fiberglass insulation from the firewall and carried in about 10 pounds of grass, twigs and leaves to build a nest. We tried all the non-lethal methods we could find or think of to get rid of him. Then I tried to flush him out to the Terriers. He decided there was no way he was gonna leave the relative safety of the inside of the engine, even while being sprayed unmercifully with a hose, for certain death in the jaws of 3 yard sharks. At that point I was afraid the Terriers were gonna dismantle the entire car, piece by piece, in their quest to kill the rat. So, nothing worked, and I couldn't flush him out. Then, this morning, I found he'd started chewing on the tape around a wiring harness and I decided enough is enough. Last thing I need is a big repair bill on the wiring of her car. Wife pretty much gave me the "if you can't take care of a rat, what good are you?" look.

I started looking around inside the engine compartment and finally found him. He was under the plastic engine cover, right on top of the block. Good, solid backstop, no hoses, no wires, no plastic to damage. I loaded up some .22 shotshells in my little revolver and ended the threat. One shot, one kill. I generally don't like to kill animals...even mice and rats. But woodpeckers drilling holes in the house and packrats eating the car are pretty much where I draw the line.

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Wife pretty much gave me the "if you can't take care of a rat, what good are you?" look.

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I've seen that look.

They can cause alot of damage in a short time. [AR15]

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Originally Posted by spqrzilla

I've seen that look.

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Applies to snakes, bats, skunks, mice,... too.

Great quote and story, BG. I've done battle with pack rats many times and usually end up live trapping them, but that takes patience. They sure can make a nasty, stinky mess.



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Yesterday, I had a similar chase to capture a juvenile marmot that was in an auto repair lot in GJ. We think it came into town with a towed car that had all it's wiring chewed up. We worked more than 2 hours trying to dislodge it from under vehicles, on top of fuel tanks, transmissions and spare tires. It had gotten dunked in an open tank of used motor oil so it kept slipping out of the capture noose. Biting at everything. I tried to dislodge it by spraying with water which at least gave it a good bath. Poor thing. Eventually we grabbed it by the tail and yanked it out so we could blanket it and put it into a carrier. Rescued alive, we took it up to the mountains to release. Whew, one for the books as the most difficult wildlife capture we've ever done.

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Originally Posted by Hummer

Great quote and story, BG. I've done battle with pack rats many times and usually end up live trapping them, but that takes patience. They sure can make a nasty, stinky mess.



http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...pswlgvf5na.jpg




Yesterday, I had a similar chase to capture a juvenile marmot that was in an auto repair lot in GJ. We think it came into town with a towed car that had all it's wiring chewed up. We worked more than 2 hours trying to dislodge it from under vehicles, on top of fuel tanks, transmissions and spare tires. It had gotten dunked in an open tank of used motor oil so it kept slipping out of the capture noose. Biting at everything. I tried to dislodge it by spraying with water which at least gave it a good bath. Poor thing. Eventually we grabbed it by the tail and yanked it out so we could blanket it and put it into a carrier. Rescued alive, we took it up to the mountains to release. Whew, one for the books as the most difficult wildlife capture we've ever done.

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No offense meant Hummer, but after reading your post I had to chuckle a little bit, because all I could think of was "yeeyeeyee LIVE ACTION!!"

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Originally Posted by crays

No offense meant Hummer, but after reading your post I had to chuckle a little bit, because all I could think of was "yeeyeeyee LIVE ACTION!!"

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It was crazy how this frightened little marmot ran us between and under vehicles. And, I'm crawling on my back looking in the under carriage with a flashlight trying to spot him without getting bit. Once we started spraying with water to try to get him out, things got very messy.

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Originally Posted by foxtrot

Hummer, do you do wildlife work professionally?


(unrelated to that question)
Every now and then we live capture / rescue / relocate / whatever critters around our place.
Latest one was some bunnies the wife obsessed over. They are healthy and weaned, and now there is an underweight vixen with kits hanging around the bunnies safe zone (pallets)

So my wife has a bit of a dilemma. [LOL]

We've rescued and dropped off things like hummingbirds and hawks and the like. If you do that professionally, let me know if you take anything - it's a rare now and again when the more important ones crop up, but they do from time to time.

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I'm a fruit grower and an ornithologist working professionally in private and contract research, and as a volunteer doing wildlife rescue for the state wildlife agency. In the marmot rescue I worked with fellow volunteers, great, dedicated folks, experienced with animals.

We like the birds and bunnies and try to protect the nesting critters but we never begrudge the native predators. That's just nature. But, we don't tolerate feral and free roaming cats. Native wildlife regularly gives us the opportunity to see fox, coyote, bobcat, badger, bear, hawks, eagles and owls on our property. We have numerous nest boxes on the farm and currently have falcons and screech-owls in two of them.

If you encounter injured or displaced wildlife it's best to call CPW. The gals in the GJ office know which volunteers to contact based on the situation. They'll call me when they need my particular expertise with hummers, raptors and other birds. I see my job as mostly public education. but we'll capture, pick up and transport wildlife to the vet whenever necessary.

Just the circle of life. You did him a favor. You think he would rather have been mauled and eaten alive by a fox or swooped up and picked apart, while alive, by hawk.

Did you toss it out in the field to complete the circle?[Flower]

^^ If that's directed to me? That's exactly what I did. Something will feast on the carcass.

Good shoot!

I vid of you firing a revolver into your open hood would be comical.

Use red vines for bait. That will get them

pack rats are bad news. I'm so glad that they are far and few between around here. My nephew in KS. has entered a one day contest for the last two years, to see who can kill the most in one day. He and his team killed 47 last year and 43 of them this year. Didn't even place in the contest. Winning teams brought in over 100 rats, in one day.
Had a back hoe burn to the ground at work because of them and also had to replace all the plug wires on a truck because most of the wires got chewed by em.
I've got a picture that a buddy in KS. sent me earlier this spring showing a hood open on his neighbors truck that wouldn't start. When they opened the hood the whole engine compartment was packed completely full with milo heads.

Pellet rifle, gitcha one.....

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Originally Posted by Skip

Good shoot!

I vid of you firing a revolver into your open hood would be comical.

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I know...it sounds like "ammo" for the "WTF were they thinking thread". But I thought it thru pretty well. It was only .22LR bird shot. Barely penetrated the body of the rat. Didn't think it would damage the car and it didn't. Damaged the rat pretty badly though. I'm happy that at least it was an instant, humane kill.

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Originally Posted by bobbyfairbanks

Use red vines for bait. That will get them

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The candy? I used peanut butter and he didn't take it. Works really good on mice.

Take one of your wife's nylons, put a fist sized ball of moth balls in it and tie it somewhere in the engine compartment. They are attracted to the hoses and wires since our friends at the EPA have banned the use of silicone as a mold release and manufactures now use vegetable oil.

We tried: mothballs, dryer sheets, traps, soap (Irish Spring?) and a few other "tried and true" methods. He ate the mothballs, used the dryer sheets for laundry, bathed with the soap and ignored the traps.