You can pursue all airgun quarry all year round. But for me, the longer, colder nights of autumn and winter mean it’s time to dial up rat shooting efforts on my chicken farm permission.
Unlimited food and water, as well as plenty of cover, means that rats are a constant problem. But this time of year, when the fields flood and natural food dwindles, more than ever seek the comforts of the farm. As soon as the rats have gobbled up the spilled maize when the cover crop is cut over the river, they swim across in their droves.
Most take up residence underneath the chicken sheds, helping themselves to the food and water intended for 8,000 birds. As a result, I am limited to picking off the few that choose to venture outside.
Every 18 months one of the sheds is pulled back into the field so the muck can be cleared up, and with the rats exposed, I get the chance to really drive the numbers down.
These windows of opportunity are small and infrequent, so most of the time I am limited to more of a maintenance mode, shooting every week or two in an effort to keep the numbers in check by knocking off maybe a dozen at a time. It’s a struggle during the summer when long days mean late starts, but it’s a different story now.
It was barely 5pm when I arrived for my first autumn rat shoot of the year and set up in the fading light. I prefer a .22 rifle when targeting rats and had brought my 12 ft/lbs BRK Ghost Carbine. At around 30 inches with a silencer, it’s ideal for moving around a cluttered yard. And weighing a little over 7lb with a scope, it’s easy to carry about, especially with a sling fitted.
I’ve paired the Ghost with a Pard NV008S LRF infrared scope and zeroed the combination to 20 yards. Thanks to the ballistic calculator function and plenty of time on the range, I’m confident of taking on shots between 10 and 30 yards.
Although I could use the Pard to spot for rats, I took a thermal spotter with me – a Hikmicro Condor CQ50L. It’s hardly a cheap piece of kit, costing more than my rifle and scope combined, but it is a real game changer and comes with me every session whether day or night. A set of Primos Trigger Sticks rounded out my hardware for the night.
In .22 calibre, the magazine of the BRK Brocock Ghost takes 11 shots and though not at all pellet fussy, I’ve found JSB Hades airgun pellets work best and really pack a wallop. By the time I’d finished fussing with my gear in the yard, the light had all but gone for the day. I resisted the temptation to set off and forced myself to wait another 15 minutes or so until it was properly dark.
At last, with barely any moon in the clear sky I set off, giving my surroundings one final scan through the thermal. To my surprise, I could see two rats underneath some pallet steps to one of the chicken sheds, clearly unperturbed by the commotion I’d made setting up.
One rat moved out of sight but the biggest stayed put. The Pard’s laser rangefinder indicated a distance of 15 yards, and I let off the shot. The Hades pellet made a hollow ‘thwok’ as the rat rolled over onto its back before leaping about for a few seconds as its nervous system shut down.
Congratulating myself on a good start, I headed over to the gate that leads to one of the fields the chickens scratch about in during the day. The latch opened with a whine and I stepped over the shin-high electric fence designed to deter foxes from getting too close.
Unfortunately, I’d forgotten about my Trigger Sticks which touched the fence and reminded me that I’d forgotten to switch off the electricity supply.
The painful lesson started to fade as I made my way into the scratching field, scanning with my thermal for any ratty signs and using my Trigger Sticks like a blind man’s cane to probe ahead for potholes and other obstructions in the near complete dark.
I could see a couple of rats in the sparse weeds along the back fence and headed towards them. The field has several low scrubby trees that provide handy cover. Even so, by the time I’d stopped again to scan ahead through the thermal, the rats had disappeared.
A bit more creeping through the trees brought me level to where part of the chicken shed is set back a few yards. The rats love it here and there’s usually a few in the corner, in some broken bricks in the soakaways or hiding under a couple of pallets.
Sure enough, I could see three in amongst the pallets. The almost moonless sky gave them the confidence to sit still, making it easy for me to shoot one at about 19 yards. The others disappeared but one returned a few seconds later to have a sniff at his dead mate and soon joined him.
I like to stay mobile but decided to stay put to see if any more rats would put in an appearance. Stood with my back to the trees, I knew I’d be all but invisible to the rodents.
Scanning every few minutes through the thermal, I kept a silent vigil, sweeping an area alongside the chicken shed. The farmer hadn’t closed the side doors and I had an audience of several thousand chickens all lined up waiting for the show to re-start.
The silence was broken only by the many aircraft that criss-crossed the sky and I passed the time by looking at them through the thermal, wondering where they were heading to or from.
At last, after yet another fruitless scan of the chicken shed, I could see the white-hot hint of another rat as it moved behind the pallets. Putting the thermal in my pocket, I woke the Pard from sleep mode and relocated the rat in the monochrome image.
At 17 yards, it required only a touch of hold off. However, although I could see its feet under the pallet, the rat obstinately refused to come any closer and give me a clear shot.
Every now and then I’d catch a glimpse of its eyes reflected in the infrared beam, but never long enough to place a shot. At last, after what seemed an age, it moved an inch or two closer, which was just enough to give me a clear shot between its eyes.
I added another four rats from the same spot before moving on to give it a rest. Over the course of the next couple of hours I returned to the same spot several more times, adding another dozen rats to the night’s total, which with 10 more from elsewhere on the farm, made it a productive start to my winter ratting campaign.
GUN: BRK (Brocock) Ghost https://brocock.co.uk/
SCOPE: Pard NV008S LRF https://www.sportsmanguncentre.co.uk/
AMMO: JSB Hades https://www.schulzdiabolo.cz/en/
SPOTTER: Hikmicro Condor CQ50L https://www.hikmicrotech.com/en/
GUN SUPPORT: Primos Trigger Stick https://www.bisley-uk.com/
