F&*kin Pack Rats!

[nodakian]

Could have shot this one easily had I been armed with something other than a cup of coffee.

I worked with a guy who doused one with scalding coffee then clubbed it to death. Very entertaining.

 

[BAKPAKR]

I caught over a dozen in two weeks in my mom’s barn a few years ago using a box trap.

 

[ElkArcher918]

I've had my truck electrical wires and under hood engine insulation chewed up twice while basecamp hunting in south central CO. I hate those critters. Next time I'm bringing a case of snap traps and kill 'em bastards.

 

[Fitzwho]

They can be handy sometimes. Coworker of mine didn’t have to pick up dog poop for over a year because of a pack rat. He thought it was nice until he found out where it was all going… into a storage are in his RV.

 

[Sled]

Just went through this mess. First time ever. Got into my boat. Pieces of dog food in bacon grease held it on the pan of the trap to finally get it! View attachment 724744

Did you come close to getting him once before? Where's the rest of his fluffy tail?

 

[Sled]

All these stories ring true for me. The last one picked up all my dog poop at the cabin and anything shiny. This past fall I had a run-in with a pack rat while I was sleeping in Northern Colorado near a job site on BLM land. He woke me up around 2:30 trying to drag thick sage limbs into the engine compartment. I tried to shoo him away and when that didn't work drove a couple miles away to try and get some sleep. It wasn't 15 minutes later I heard him again walking on the frame. Since nothing else worked I took him on a Baja run through the mountains for about 45 minutes. Just in case he survived that I went to the job site and got the pressure washer out. After 30 minutes of spraying everything I could get to it was damn near sunrise. I chose to listen to the elk for the next hour before work. It was a hell of a night for the both of us.

 

[Danomite]

I keep a trap line going year around for pack rats. The big plastic snap traps work pretty well but you need to stake them down. The small havahart live traps work the best. I shoot them with a pump BB gun (or let my son do it, and use it as a lesson in shot placement - seriously). Bait doesn’t seem to matter much. A little fruit, half a cookie, peanut butter, whatever.

 

[nodakian]

Similar to MTWarden's experience, I can testify that spraying 22 and 9mm (outside, of course) in the beam of a flashlight is ineffective. The only casualty was a pack frame which took a 9mm round.

When that method turned out to be worthless (but fun!), we moved to the truck bed to try escaping them. Within 10 minutes, one got in there, too. My brother wasn't amused when I hit him a couple times while trying to whack the rat as it ran between us.

 

[manitou1]

Seriously?

Yes

 

[spike camp]

Just went through this mess. First time ever. Got into my boat. Pieces of dog food in bacon grease held it on the pan of the trap to finally get it! View attachment 724744

Glad you got your intruder, but that’s no pack rat.

OP- curious where you live?

I’ve fought true Colorado pack rats for years before I demoed and built a new house in the same spot.

If there’s one, there are more.
Protect your vehicle if possible, they chew the shit out of wiring.

Large glue traps, anchored somehow, seemed to work the best for me.
That, and my late Vizsla, Blue.
He’d destroy rats and mice, he lived for it.
You’re my boy, Blue!

 

[GSPHUNTER]

I have a pack rat that lives up the street from me. Trash all over the place, driveway, front porch, lawn, four vehicles, only one runs. the city won't do anything. Just your every day unless city council. Oh, I see you are actually referring to real rats.

 

[wyosteve]

Glad you got your intruder, but that’s no pack rat.

OP- curious where you live?

I’ve fought true Colorado pack rats for years before I demoed and built a new house in the same spot.

If there’s one, there are more.
Protect your vehicle if possible, they chew the shit out of wiring.

Large glue traps, anchored somehow, seemed to work the best for me.
That, and my late Vizsla, Blue.
He’d destroy rats and mice, he lived for it.
You’re my boy, Blue!

If that’s not a pack rat, I have no idea what else would accumulate a 5 gallon bucket full of cat food, debris, chew things up and drag shiny objects to its lair then! Enlighten me please? I kept a minefield of glue traps, rat traps and the leg hold trap set for a week and caught no more.

 

[BBob]

This sounds promising, I've got some old stove pipe too!

They love to nest in piping. We used to tip up unused stored pipes in the equipment yard to dump them out and let the dogs snag them. They are not very fast and the dogs got them pretty quick. What a show

Also airgun hunt at night with a bright focused beam flashlight. Their eyes glow bright red and make an easy target.

Another yes to hoods up with a light in engine compartment.

 

[def90]

They like shiny stuff. Glue some tinsel to an apple air tag and let them take it back to their den. Once you know where the den is then you have a multitude of options available

 

[IDVortex]

Get a tracking device and attach it to a small ball of string and leave it where the rat will find it .
The rat will take it to its den . Then start putting small amounts of Tannerite in the balls of string leaving them out also .
Do this for a couple weeks , maybe a month .
Then get a RC ignition device and another tracker , put them in the last ball of string , leaving it out .
Now all you have to do is wait until the two trackers are in the same place and pull the trigger .

Oh , and video it all , it should be Epic !

Bat-bombs, now rat bombs. I'm liking this.

 

[WeiserBucks]

Well the first night of trapping was a fail. I turned my whole back yard into a maze of various booby traps and caught zero rats. The battle continues.

 

[huntsman22]

A livetrap on the front porch, and 22 birdshot..... Then toss them up on the roof to keep the dogs from getting them.

 

[EastHumboldt]

A livetrap on the front porch, and 22 birdshot..... Then toss them up on the roof to keep the dogs from getting them.

I suppose the crows like it, but that’s some nightmare sxxt right there.

 

[spike camp]

If that’s not a pack rat, I have no idea what else would accumulate a 5 gallon bucket full of cat food, debris, chew things up and drag shiny objects to its lair then! Enlighten me please? I kept a minefield of glue traps, rat traps and the leg hold trap set for a week and caught no more.

A mouse?

 

[Tod osier]

A livetrap on the front porch, and 22 birdshot..... Then toss them up on the roof to keep the dogs from getting them.

I'm surprised they don't get drug off by birds. I throw ground squirrels daily on the barn roof and they don't last an hour before something takes them away.