Rat chewed on my mounts
Mule Deer
When I was in Elk camp this fall. My wife thought she had a squirrel in are house. Her house plants were getting chewed on and she would hear something running all over the house at night. I was 350 miles away. So I call my hunting buddy Neil and ask him to put some live traps in my house. And see if he could get rid of the burgler. In about two days he was in the trap. My wife called him and told him it was a big rat. So he came over and removed it. When my family came over for Christmas. My brother in law went into my trophy room and called me down. The Rat had chewed on 10 of my Deer mounts and one of my elk. He chewed the eye brows off them and chewed on the noses. The heads were 8 ft off the floor He would get up on my computer desk then climb up on a low hanging elk rack and jump from head to head chewing. This is the last one I have to get repaired. He got in my house from my garage by chewing a hole in the sheet rock. He had built a nest in are dog food drum taking the leaves on my wifes plants and hauling them out to the garage,
Bastards.
My property is sandwiched between the national forest and a big private summer camp which acts as a reservoir for rats.
It's a constant battle and I have to keep the traps baited or I get over run.
The latest casualty in the war is the electrical for the master bedroom jacuzzi tub jets.
It's why I won't kill foxes or bobcats around my place. I need something out there killing them during the night while I sleep.
Sorry to hear about your mounts. I'd be pretty damn upset.
Get a killer cat. My daughter had one and that damn thing ate everything. Rabbits were its favorite.
Sounds like what you had is a Pack Rat. They'll chew all the house plants off at the base and haul them to their nest. I trap dozens of them every year for folks here in the Mts of CO. They have large round eyes and short hair on their tails. Kind of cute looking. And they are very docile, I've picked them up without gloves before. Small Cage traps are actually more effective then a snap trap for them.
Glad you caught the rat.
I thought this was going to be a TBM thread before I opened it!
Not a cat fan but if I had rats around, I would have one.
I hate cats. There is a old cabin near my house. And there were a bunch of wild cats living. It took me about 5 years to clean them out. I did not have any grouse or turkey chicks till they were gone.
Get some rat shot for your .22 and do some small game hunting... :)
It must have only been one rat after we got him we have had no more trouble. My buddy did not kill him he turn him loose in town.
"Bastards. My property is sandwiched between the national forest and a big private summer camp which acts as a reservoir for rats.
It's a constant battle and I have to keep the traps baited or I get over run.
The latest casualty in the war is the electrical for the master bedroom jacuzzi tub...."
We caught over 60 pack rats from our crawl space over the course of 8 months. Our jacuzzi tub still doesn't work... Had to have all the insulation and vapor barrier replaced under the house and it wasn't cheap. They chewed their way in through the plastic foundation vents which I've since replaced with metal ones.
Every time I think about killing the four to five coyotes that I see around the house I remember they really like to eat rats. We've also been in a a major drought so the rats and rattle snakes haven't been too bad lately.
My first thought when I saw this thread was "get a blow gun." Not only could you get rid of unwelcome houseguests, but it could be a whole lot of fun to boot. Just check with the ol' lady first, or just don't tell her ;)
My wife wanted no part of that rat after it was in the trap. I had a problem with the Rats chewing the spark plug wires off my water truck. I put out bar bait and deacon. and nothing would stop them and they only chewed off the wires on the odd side of the motor 1,3,5,7 and they were chewed of on the dis cap. Then one day I watched a marmott come off the rocks above my place he came running and I saw him go under the truck. I garbed my 6 mm and I have had no problems sence
Dan, if you'd kill smaller bulls you could put the antlers higher on the wall...
We have pack rats where I live too, and they can raise hell inside a house.
I hear you about cats. Me and cats don't get along. Last week on an airplane I heard mewing before takeoff. Gal behind me had two in a soft carrier, stuffed under my seat. Fine, except for the lady next to me had a severe cat allergy. Watery red eyes, runny nose, all that.
Before we even take off, one of them takes an awful dump. Shortly after wheels-up, the second one does it. Stunk up the whole plane. Everyone in the front half had napkins, scarves, etc.. over their faces. The flight attendant put perfume on a napkin and held it over her nose.
When the seatbelt sign went off, the gal and the flight attendant tried to clean up the mess with napkins - brutal stink then, X 10. Then one clawed it's way out of the carrier and took off through the plane. While people were trying to catch it, the remaining one took another dump. They corralled the loose one, got it back in, then taped up the carrier with bandaids from the first aid kit.
Then that one pooped again. Miserable three hours for a whole lot of people. The boyfriend looked like he wanted to stab himself in the neck.
Here is my elk he chewed on he did 10 deer and only one elk.
This one had both eyes and a big chunk out of the noise. My hunting buddy Neil has been working on them. He carves decoys and sells them for big money. They look good when he's done with them.
Where we stay in Kansas there are lots of pack rats. The farmer hates them because they always chew through wires on his grain head. We asked him if he ever tried fly bait and coke. He had not heard of that, and since he didn't have any pets around we put out 4 pans. Since we were staying in a camper in his barn we kept rebaiting. Within about 4 nights we didn't notice the rats anymore. We did take out 3 opossums in the process though as well. The fly bait works great, but you need to be careful no wanted pets are in the area.
I had several mounts that I inherited as a kid from my grandfather when he died. They had belonged to his brother who died about 1949. There were 2 hawks, a possum, a mule deer buck, Canada goose, and a pair of quail.I had them stored in a shed along with an albino squirrel Papa also gave me. Finally had a place in my classroom at school I could put them this year for the first time since I was in college in the early 80's. there had been a couple of pack rats and a squirrel or 2 in there. The old wire and paper mache (or part of it)and the bases was all that was left of most of them. Only the horns of the muley were left, they had eaten/carried off all the rest of it. The hen quail was almost salvageable, but I laid it on top of the truck while I took care of the rest and my daughter's stupid dog climbed up on the cab and got it.
The mounts weren't worth anything except to me but to me they were priceless. I hate rats.
So many here the kids used to go out at night with pellet guns and spotlight them in the trees. When I first got married I used to lay out at night and spotlight mice in the kitchen with the bb gun. Yep, hunted em over bait... peanut butter.
Cats? Really? Me?
Glad you got em Bigdan. Made some points with Melanie too I bet. They can really do some damage and what they don't chew up they pizz on. The rats too....
Rodents love the noses of mounts for some reason. This fella had this deer and a grizzly bear chewed on.
Sorry to hear about your loss...I have a great taxidermist friend in southwest Montana with decades of experience and competition ribbon wins that could possibly help you with repairs if you're interested...Not sure how far away you would be from him...He's a great artist, but not a magician...If interested LMK.
Jaquomo, That sounds like a script to the next Chevy Chase movie, "Airplane Vacation"......
We've had packrats and mice, also. We now have a contract with Pestrite. They put baits around the perimeter of the house. Pets and larger critters can't get into them. Problem solved. Also with fewer rodents around the house, we see fewer rattlesnakes.
Anybody had a problem with critters chewing the antlers. I was thinking there should be something you can rub or paint on that would either poison the bastards or taste really bad, without changing the appearance. I dread them ever going after my mounts - if that happpened the wife might just get that cat she wants. Of course, how do you make sure it will go after rats? It's gonna get bit and not every cat is up to the challenge.
That Rat was so big you needed this sized cat.
