slaphead Posted November 5, 2017 Report Share Posted November 5, 2017 So, Ive spent about an hour for the last couple of nights shooting rats in my hen house which is more like a breeze block shed with an apex roof. They come on at the top corner of the roof just above a shelf.When shot they end up on the shelf. I'm too lazy to move them and leave them for the missus to shift when she feeds the hens in a morning. HOWEVER... every time she has gone in there are no rats to be found... Leaves me to think that: 1. The chickens are eating them 2. Bigger rats are coming in a dragging them off 3. The missus is sneakily putting them in my sandwiches as revenge 4. All I am doing is shooting Zombie rats and they play dead until I'm gone. I'm on it again tonight an this time Ill set a trail camera up to see whats happening to them. How very odd! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Me matt Posted November 5, 2017 Report Share Posted November 5, 2017 4. All I am doing is shooting Zombie rats and they play dead until I'm gone. 😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7daysinaweek Posted November 5, 2017 Report Share Posted November 5, 2017 (edited) Other rats dragging them off and scoffing them would be my take, shot a good few in the past and the moment they had been dispatched their ratty companions would drag them off at great speed. Witnessed this may times. If the deaduns are outside many times it will be crows hoovering them up. Ratty will never pass up a free meal. Nom, nom, nom! atb 7diaw Edited November 5, 2017 by 7daysinaweek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spanj Posted November 5, 2017 Report Share Posted November 5, 2017 rats, fox, badger the possibilities are endless Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaphead Posted November 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2017 rats, fox, badger the possibilities are endless Its all in the space the size of a small garden shed with locked doors etc. It must be a rat thats having them then. Badgers fox etc all too big to get in and they would have the chickens too. There just isn't a trace of the dead rats at all.. Ill report what the trail camera sees if indeed it sees anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldypigeonpopper Posted November 5, 2017 Report Share Posted November 5, 2017 Other rats dragging them off and scoffing them would be my take, shot a good few in the past and the moment they had been dispatched their ratty companions would drag them off at great speed. Witnessed this may times. If the deaduns are outside many times it will be crows hoovering them up. Ratty will never pass up a free meal. Nom, nom, nom! atb 7diaw hello, i also would say as the above, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultrastu Posted November 5, 2017 Report Share Posted November 5, 2017 When you shoot a rat dead inbthe head or heart .They tend to lie still for about 10 seconds .then the nerves kick in and they can flip about a lot often falling down holes and behind walls etc. So often you shoot one confirm its dead then look away for another when u look back its flipped away . This and longer term the other rats WILL drag them off for a meal . I've often shot many rats all in the same place almost lieing on top of each other .the warm blood of the first victim attracting the followers . I remember shooting in excess of 50 rats one night in a barn corpses all over the place .8 am the next morning not a single one to be found . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marccus Posted November 12, 2017 Report Share Posted November 12, 2017 What was the verdict? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted November 15, 2017 Report Share Posted November 15, 2017 Think the rats nicked his camera!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rimfireboy Posted November 16, 2017 Report Share Posted November 16, 2017 I shot three under a feeder the other week. Returned with my gloves a while later, to find two of them gone and the other moved about two yards from where it lay dead before. I think other rats were dragging them away for a meal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sako7mm Posted November 17, 2017 Report Share Posted November 17, 2017 My money is on the other rats eating the dead ones. I have found just a rats head in a Fenn trap after other ones took away the rest of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longstrider Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 I make a point of never picking up dead rats until I'm ready to leave at the end of the session. So many times I've seen a rat come from hiding to make a meal of the last one I shot. They'll often start by just licking at the blood oozing from the wound, but it doesn't take them long to realise they can get a more substantial meal from their fallen mates. I've had several dead 'uns lying almost on top of one another at the end of an evening by constantly shooting the next one to come looking for a feast on the fallen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manthing Posted December 8, 2017 Report Share Posted December 8, 2017 On 05/11/2017 at 17:22, Ultrastu said: When you shoot a rat dead inbthe head or heart .They tend to lie still for about 10 seconds .then the nerves kick in and they can flip about a lot often falling down holes and behind walls etc. So often you shoot one confirm its dead then look away for another when u look back its flipped away . This and longer term the other rats WILL drag them off for a meal . I've often shot many rats all in the same place almost lieing on top of each other .the warm blood of the first victim attracting the followers . I remember shooting in excess of 50 rats one night in a barn corpses all over the place .8 am the next morning not a single one to be found . This and the cannibalism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
activeviii Posted December 15, 2017 Report Share Posted December 15, 2017 i shoot good numbers every week. i have never picked them up as i do not fancy climbing in with live stock at night, on my own. farmer says im doing more than enough to reduce the numbers. when i was chatting to him last week he asked if i was pick up the rats and binning them, nope, i leave them where they fall. he said he isnt finding many. so shot 80 odd the one evening and then went over next morning to have another chat, as we walked around we found only the odd couple. rest all gone. i then went over this week and as normal, you shot one, quick reload and others come to the party so i can shoot 2 or 3 very quickly. i shot a couple and next thing i saw was one moving, like a ninja, it looked like is was belly crawling away. after watching for a few seconds i notice another rat behind a brick was dragging the dead rat away. must have dragged it a good meter before i shot that one. after this i waited after shooting the first rat and just watched. i can not confirm, lave rats drag dead rats off. well, try to no i know for sure i just wait and use dead rat as bait Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted December 16, 2017 Report Share Posted December 16, 2017 special forces, leave no rat behind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyshooter Posted January 9, 2018 Report Share Posted January 9, 2018 rats are cannibals they eat each other when dead , they do not miss out on a free meal!! nasty creatures rats i delight in killing rats. atb brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnmoon Posted December 17, 2022 Report Share Posted December 17, 2022 Did you have the trail camera footage I was reading and wanna see what happened hahahhaa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THEINVISIBLESCARECROW Posted February 21, 2023 Report Share Posted February 21, 2023 Like all have said before me, eaten by other rats. I never pick up when finished, no need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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