Rat Sniper

You can call me Rat Sniper. Since Hurricane Ike came through our area, I have been fighting a rat problem. When the bayou at the end of our street flooded almost to our house, the rats that had been living at the bayou were chased up to us by the floodwaters. There is a large hollow oak tree next to our house where the rats have taken over.

I bought a high-powered pellet gun that shoots with almost the same velocity as a .22 rifle. It even came with a scope, a cheap scope but decent enough to be accurate. I had been re-conning the tree for about a week to learn the rats' egress patterns at sunset each day. The queen rat, who is the matriarch, would come out after a few younger rats left and would sit in a specific spot on a limb to watch all the younger rats as they went their way. Using binoculars and the pellet gun's scope, I found the perfect spot to take her out.

Yesterday, I was ready with the pellet gun, iron sights dialed in, and the scope dialed in for 20 yards. The rats predictably started their egress right on time. I let the younger rats go since they came out running to look for food. The queen rat came out of the tree and sat in her spot to oversee her young ones as they went out on their hunt. I put the cross-hair on her, aiming for her head. I squeezed the trigger, and she fell from the tree from a headshot. One shot, one kill!

Once the matriarch was killed, all the younger rats took off and never came back. Rats live in families and have a definite hierarchy. Take out the leader, and they scatter.