Pepe LePew RIP

We thought there was a pretty good chance that we had killed the skunk the other night when we shot it in the flower bed.  When it couldn't be found the next morning, I thought that one of two things happened.  Either it was wounded, and it drug itself off to die somewhere OR I missed the doggone thing.  As it turns out, the latter was true.

Tricia called me last week to tell me that the skunk was out in the back yard during the middle of the day.  Not good!  She wanted me to teach her how to load the rifle so she could take care of the thing.  For the next few days, we didn't see the skunk.  But Saturday we decided to go pick pecans.  As we rounded the southwest corner of the house, we saw the skunk not 20 feet away.  He didn't see us.  I quickly ran inside and got my .22 rifle.  

In no time at all, the skunk was dead.  Boy did that thing stink!

It was a little ol' thing, and I almost felt sorry for killing it, but I didn't want to get sprayed.  My wife had also reminded me that skunks carry rabies and when wild animals start acting strangely, like coming into the yard unafraid in the middle of the day, something is wrong. Maybe it had the rabies.  We don't know, but I knew I had to put it down.

One shot from my Marlin .22 lever action rifle did the trick.

We don't have to worry about getting sprayed by the skunk anymore.  Crazy stuff!  In just a few days, we killed two possums and a skunk.  RIP Pepe LePew. 

Removing the Rodents

The barn has long been a haven for rodents.  Every year I kill them and for a while, I see neither hide nor hair of the filthy animals.  There are woods nearby, so I assume more come out of the woods to re-populate our comfortable barn.  So the work of rate removal is never done.  It is a task that stretches out in perpetuity.  For some strange reason, rat traps don't work too good.  The rats seem to be too smart to be caught.

But they have to be eliminated.  They nest up in the loft on top of the hay.  They roam the barn floor at night, looking for morsels of feed or rice that the cows or chickens have dropped.  When we come in the barn and turn on the lights, the rats scurry up into the rafters and into the hay for cover.  The trouble with the disgusting creatures is that they pee on the hay and then the cows won't eat it.  That won't do.  The rats must be killed.

The best method of rat killin' I've had success with has been with my old Marlin .22 lever action rifle loaded with rat shot - or pest control shot, as it is officially called.  I walked out to the barn at around 10 pm, turned on the lights and watched the rats run.  Go ahead, make my day, night.

Two shots and two juvenile rats take a permanent dirt nap.

You Dirty Rats

I picked them up, skinned them and dressed them out and brought them in to Tricia.  She usually seasons them, dredges them in flour and then pan fries them in a cast iron skillet.  I'm just joking, of course.  I went out again tonight to kill more, but they were still gun-shy from the death of their friend from last night and I didn't see or hear anything.  They stayed hidden.  I know they are there, though, biding their time.  I'll be back in a couple of days to finish what I started.