Tag: pest elimination

November 9, 2023 – The Role of ‘Less Than Lethal’

November 9, 2023 /

I have finished my analysis of the Crossman 760. If you recall, this is my son’s BB gun that is multi-pump. Since you already know that I hate pumping, then you know that I don’t have a ton of interest in this platform. That being said, I got curious in the difference between this rifle and my Crossman Legacy when shooting BBs.

I am going to skip a lot of the technical information about this test and the results. But I will give you the bottom line. My initial hypothesis was that it took a certain velocity to stabilize BBs and therefore be more accurate. Unfortunately, even at the maximum number of pumps on the 760, the BB did not reach the same velocity as the most accurate number of pumps on the Legacy.

It does appear to me that there is one target slightly more accurate that the others. In this case it is the four pumps target. That correlates to an average velocity of 391 fps and energy of 0.7 ft/lbs. That is a far cry of difference from the Legacy that was most accurate at 608 fps and energy of 4.3 ft/lbs.

There are however many factors that impact the analysis of the results. The first is that I couldn’t validate my hypothesis in the first place. The max velocity of the 760 was 514 fps versus the most accurate level of pumping on the Legacy was 608 fps. Second and possibly more vital was that I have a scope on the Legacy and only have the open sights on the 760. It is entirely possible that the inaccuracy was due to the sight picture. I was hoping that I would be good enough the way things were to get comparable results. I have to say that is a variable that should be considered.

This post is more focused on what to do with this information. Since I have already announced that I hate to pump and the number of pumps for follow-up is what drove me to purchase another rifle the Optimus, is there any place for the Crossman 760 at home or homestead? The answer is yes.

First of all, never have a BB gun fight with something that is really going to hurt you. If you can’t tell, that was very strong sarcasm, don’t ever do that. But, thinking along those lines, maybe you want to discourage uninvited visitors. When we were kids, we used to shoot deer with our Daisy 840s that hopped into the garden and wrecked havoc on beans and everything else. I also know from hearsay that pellet rifle can kill a deer.

Other animals may be either pets or fall under the furbearing game regulations. Killing animals just might be a crime, not to mention many municipalities prohibit discharge of air rifles and bows. That being said, I think that a stinging BB is a perfectly acceptable deterrent in the right circumstances. Even though that cat pooping in your yard drives you crazy, just wait until you have to face them when you have shot and killed beloved ‘Fluffy’.

This is a very contentions subject in rural America. As we have a right to property, if someone’s pet is causing or potentially causing harm particularly to livestock, then we have a right to defend our property. Lethal force is permitted in those cases. All that is a subject for another day. My point is that you might want to have less than lethal options to avoid unwanted drama, legalities and other situations that may be uncomfortable at the least.

I do not know the exact energy that it takes to kill animals so it should be said that using a BB gun may also be risky if you are looking at non-lethal deterrents. I shot a lot of birds as a youth with my Daisy 840 which I calculate around 0.6 ft/lbs. That same rifle had no penetration on deer and racoons. Possibly better options include pepper spray works well for dogs or something like Airsoft that shoots a larger projectile at lower velocity.

End Your Programming Routine: Adding a scope ($12) to my son’s BB gun is certainly a strong possibility. I have half a notion to move the scope that is on my Legacy over to my son’s 760 and upgrading my own rifle. It is really a terrible piece of kit but it just may be slightly better than open sights, I don’t know. For now, I am going with four pumps is the optimum accuracy with that rifle. That makes my new hypothesis something like pump rifles are most accurate at pumping slightly less than half the total of pump capacity.

October 24, 2023 – Game Over

October 24, 2023 /

Just like I said in the podcast yesterday, I got pretty ahead of posts so I could take time off and go hunting. Consequently, I have stuff piling up behind me that I want to write about. Today is really more of an update than anything earth shattering. I feel like I need to get better at following up on things that I have previously stated.

A picture is worth 1000 words. As you can see from the photo on the left, I got my target. I think that it does a good job illustrating the final state without getting too graphic. As it turns out, it was a rat. I kind of feel bad for the guy because I saw very little evidence of the creature other than something was trying to get into pantry items. Usually I can at least identify the species by to poop it leaves behind. Not this guy, he was pretty tidy about his invasion.

In fact, the first couple of days that I had set the traps out, I put them next to the flour that he had spilled by getting into the package. I was going to get around to cleaning it up with the vacuum but I figured in the meantime, he might come back to it. In about two days, the flour was all gone without me having to clean it up.

After I threw away the punctured bag and he cleaned up the mess, he moved on to some sleeves of crackers. I moved the traps in and within three days it was over. I was pretty surprised at how big it was. And fortunately, it was trash night so disposal was pretty fast and easy.

Two days later was the anticipated solar eclipse. You can see from my picture on the right what we had. The forecast was already iffy, it rained most of Friday and it was going to rain at some point on Saturday. My picture was taken at totality, but with the fog and the clouds, no chance. I tried really hard to see if I could even notice a difference with the amount of daylight, but I could not.

I knew it was a risk, the weather that is. In fact, the forecast for the day that I am writing is clear in the low seventies. That is pretty unusual for mid-October, but the reality is that to get that temperature, the wind is from the southeast and with that is also moisture (or humidity). It has been at 100% all morning. Even more so than that, we have thick fog just like on the day of the eclipse.

I haven’t spoken with my dad yet. They were still hunting on the central part of the state during the eclipse. I had even purchased some special glasses to give to them so that they could view the eclipse. But, I forgot to leave them. When I do find out if it was possible, I don’t think that I will update you on that conversation. My point with that is re-enforcing what I was saying in the last post. If it isn’t a lot of effort to see an eclipse, you should do it. But, if it requires a three hour drive for a maybe, then I probably wouldn’t.

End Your Programming Routine: Part of my point today was to say that patience is a virtue. I think that we all hope that pest don’t do a whole bunch of damage. But when they do, we have to deal with it. Funny thing, our pest guy came by before I started going after the rat. He asked “any problems?” and I said no without a thought in my mind. I could have called the service, it is part of what I pay for. That being said, the best person and tactic for the job is me because I am in the basement five days a week. I can observe and react and ultimately get my target.

October 5, 2023 – It’s War!

October 5, 2023 /

We have become soft, most of us anyway. We live in a mostly sterile and sanitized world away from things that we perceive as icky. It wasn’t that long ago that we more or less coexisted with other creatures. In those times, it was more of a cat and mouse game, I will get you if you are in my space uninvited. After all, why do you think there was Tom and Jerry cartoons in the first place?

This goes part and parcel with the ever increasing urbanism. The farther we get from the edges of the wild, the less tolerance we have with interaction of the wild (at least on our terms). I don’t like having vermin in my house anymore than anybody else, but it happens. It is my turn again.

I was helping my dad the other day and we were wandering around his orchard picking apples and other things out of the garden as my ‘payment’. He showed me the holes around one tree and we discussed the particular type of vermin it might be. Was it a mole, a vole, a gopher? It’s hard to say without actually seeing it. More importantly, it better not impact the tree, that would be a death sentence.

This wasn’t the only thing we looked at. We saw where the mice? rat? chewed on the power line feeding the shoreline power to his camper. Then we went into the pole barn and saw droppings on top of the boat cover and speculated whether they were from bats or mice. My point with this was that these things are all around us.

I am an advocate for keeping a good, hunting cat. They will police the basic perimeter and do the day to day work of keeping vermin numbers lower. But, there becomes a certain size that they just cannot handle. Anything bigger than a small rat is too large for a cat. I have had my share of rats, squirrels, racoons etc that I have had to deal with over the years.

I can’t say what my exact problem is right now. I have not seen any droppings only some signs that an animal has gotten into some stuff. It almost makes me wonder if it is coming and going. Nevertheless, I don’t want it in and around my pantry goods. I didn’t start the fight, but it is on now.

I have been successful with both traps and bait. The last thing that I dealt with, I never saw. It helped itself to cereal, so I just mixed some cereal into the bait and that was the last time anything got into the cereal. I had an aggressive rat a few years ago. It was eating onions, peppers and dry goods every day. I used rat traps on that one. But, it was big enough that the trap didn’t actually kill the rat. I had to manually dispatch that one.

I have caught mice with sticky traps as well. The problem with those is humanely ending the problem. The solution that I find is quick is two bricks and a total crush. It is over in a split second for the unlucky mouse.

We had a bit of a mouse problem when we first moved in. Because I was renting a unit, I went ahead and paid an exterminator. He said that mice can get in within the space of fingernail. Rats can get in a hole the size of a quarter. Don’t forget that they also come in when the door is left unattended. The point being is keeping them out in the first place.

For bigger pests, the pellet rifle is a good friend. That of course means that you have to see them. The good news is that when they take up residence in your home, they are often around more frequently. I want to point out that many of these critters fall into the game regulations so do what you will with my recommendations. Also be aware that discharge of air powered weapons are likely not legal within city jurisdictions as well. As always, be mindful of the backdrop and your capabilities before doing anything.

End Your Programming Routine: My home is for invited guests only. I don’t say this with pride but I have had to kick out people that were a threat to my enjoyment of my property. That goes the same with animals that I didn’t invite in. It will end for that unfortunate animal at some point, I just have to be patient.