01-25-2018, 08:23 PM
A few nights ago I again woke to the sound of an intruder nibbling on something. I turned on the light over my bed and saw a rat scampering around. He was incredibly brazen. I went searching for my old Gamo Hunter 220 only to discover that I had taken it elsewhere. It was not available. This left only the NPXL and an old Gamo CO2 pistol that hadn't been fired in years. Knowing the range would be very short I took the NPXL outside and shot at a tin can a couple of times at about 10' range. Even aiming 1 1/2" high it was hitting a little low but I figured I would be able to compensate for that. Armed with the massive rifle, a tin of pellets, and a flashlight I retired to my perch in the elevated sleeping loft. Only minutes passed before the sound of an extremely clumsy or careless rat stumbling around on the counter signaled the return of my prey.
I turned on the flashlight which was laying on the bed where it would shine in the right direction without being held. There was ratty climbing into a box of Triscuits. This explained the weird crinkling sound I had been hearing. He hesitated briefly on top of the box before diving in. One opportunity missed although I didn't really want to shoot the powerful gun with all the other items on the shelf plus a nicely finished wood wall in the line of fire. I settled down to wait, the occasional crinkling of the plastic liner indicating that ratty was still in the box. After what seemed like several minutes the crinkling had stopped and I had seen no more of ratty. I considered blindly shooting into the box but no truly ethical and safety conscience hunter would do so so I got up and stalked him on foot. My stealthy approach was ruined when I inadvertently trod on a dry Triscuit and when I got up to the box he suddenly broke from cover and made a dash across the cereal boxes, disappearing somewhere behind them. He had nowhere to go from there so I had only to wait, gripping the massive gun tightly, blood rushing in my ears....then I saw him scampering up the wall (painted steel, still don't recall just how he was able to do that). He gained the steel channel where his predecessor had met his fate and inexplicably stopped.......
I threw up the rifle, the muzzle only 3 or 4 feet from ratty where he crouched in the steel channel. He was quartering away from me and almost protected by the section of wall between the kitchen area and the shower. This wall did not go all the way to the ceiling and I was able to shoot over it but it would be a near thing. I tried to aim high, placing the 3rd or 4th mildot below the cross-hairs on the furry blob where I took the center of mass to be. I should also have aimed forward as well since I was shooting from behind him. The mighty NPXL roared, the pellet thwacked against steel and rattled off other surfaces as it spent its remaining energy cartwheeling through space, and ratty jumped, landing in the tub.
I expected him to jump out but he seemed not able to. As the seconds passed I realized that he had been wounded in the hind quarters. I felt a pang of guilt. Aiming from behind, the pellet hit far back as well as low. Well, there's more than one way to skin a cat. I quickly grabbed the armed snap trap I had set on the floor in an area where ratty had spent a lot of time hanging out and staring at me and placed it in the tub. Ratty eventually staggered over and began crawling over it. When he tripped it he was reclining full length on top of it so the results, while interesting, were not significant in terms of ending the stand-off. I quickly grabbed up the Gamo pistol, inserted a pellet, and took aim when he again crossed over the wooden trap, intending that the trap would stop the pellet should that be necessary. Phuttt. The ancient seals had let almost all the CO2 escape. I hastily inserted another CO2 powerlet, waited for him to cross the trap again, and aimed for the back of his head at a range of 12". The report was much louder this time and I could hear the pellet bounding off the plastic tub/shower enclosure, eventually coming to rest in the tub. Ratty twitched a bit but this shot had hit home.
A necropsy revealed that the final shot from the little Gamo pistol had gone right through his noggin. Good thing I waited until he was on the trap. The leg wound was severe, but had nearly been a miss. No surprise there given my past experience with the NPXL.
I turned on the flashlight which was laying on the bed where it would shine in the right direction without being held. There was ratty climbing into a box of Triscuits. This explained the weird crinkling sound I had been hearing. He hesitated briefly on top of the box before diving in. One opportunity missed although I didn't really want to shoot the powerful gun with all the other items on the shelf plus a nicely finished wood wall in the line of fire. I settled down to wait, the occasional crinkling of the plastic liner indicating that ratty was still in the box. After what seemed like several minutes the crinkling had stopped and I had seen no more of ratty. I considered blindly shooting into the box but no truly ethical and safety conscience hunter would do so so I got up and stalked him on foot. My stealthy approach was ruined when I inadvertently trod on a dry Triscuit and when I got up to the box he suddenly broke from cover and made a dash across the cereal boxes, disappearing somewhere behind them. He had nowhere to go from there so I had only to wait, gripping the massive gun tightly, blood rushing in my ears....then I saw him scampering up the wall (painted steel, still don't recall just how he was able to do that). He gained the steel channel where his predecessor had met his fate and inexplicably stopped.......
I threw up the rifle, the muzzle only 3 or 4 feet from ratty where he crouched in the steel channel. He was quartering away from me and almost protected by the section of wall between the kitchen area and the shower. This wall did not go all the way to the ceiling and I was able to shoot over it but it would be a near thing. I tried to aim high, placing the 3rd or 4th mildot below the cross-hairs on the furry blob where I took the center of mass to be. I should also have aimed forward as well since I was shooting from behind him. The mighty NPXL roared, the pellet thwacked against steel and rattled off other surfaces as it spent its remaining energy cartwheeling through space, and ratty jumped, landing in the tub.
I expected him to jump out but he seemed not able to. As the seconds passed I realized that he had been wounded in the hind quarters. I felt a pang of guilt. Aiming from behind, the pellet hit far back as well as low. Well, there's more than one way to skin a cat. I quickly grabbed the armed snap trap I had set on the floor in an area where ratty had spent a lot of time hanging out and staring at me and placed it in the tub. Ratty eventually staggered over and began crawling over it. When he tripped it he was reclining full length on top of it so the results, while interesting, were not significant in terms of ending the stand-off. I quickly grabbed up the Gamo pistol, inserted a pellet, and took aim when he again crossed over the wooden trap, intending that the trap would stop the pellet should that be necessary. Phuttt. The ancient seals had let almost all the CO2 escape. I hastily inserted another CO2 powerlet, waited for him to cross the trap again, and aimed for the back of his head at a range of 12". The report was much louder this time and I could hear the pellet bounding off the plastic tub/shower enclosure, eventually coming to rest in the tub. Ratty twitched a bit but this shot had hit home.
A necropsy revealed that the final shot from the little Gamo pistol had gone right through his noggin. Good thing I waited until he was on the trap. The leg wound was severe, but had nearly been a miss. No surprise there given my past experience with the NPXL.