When I was an early teen (late 70s), we raised chickens and my job was to keep the rat population down. dad gave me six steel jaw traps, a couple of those victors, a 22LR bolt action single shot and a box of ammo. I beamed with pride that he had given me the job and made a genuine effort to wipe them out.
I used to setup the steel jaws in such a way that they were the "step" up to the bait, which was raised and blocked in such a way as to make the step the best route. I would mix peanut butter with feed corn and plaster it on the trigger pad, then a blob up high...
I averaged 6-8 per night, as I would sit on the coop roof from dusk till bedtime, shooting them...then my trap sets would get checked in the morning to fill out the tally. eventually, I graduated to gasoline vapor tunnel evolutions...but that's another story <BG>
We had elevated roosts for the chickens, but when one got sick and could not make the roost, the rats would bite holes in their sides...slowly killing them over a night or two... I still have a profound hatred for the things..
Last edited by medicjim; 05/28/13.
