I’ve never had much use for a gun, until early this spring when we had to rid our pond of some pesky varmints.
We first spotted the stout bucktoothed critter swimming along the bank of the pond. After watching it a few days, we determined he was a muskrat living in a burrow along the pond’s edge. Resisting the urge to give him a cute little name like “Bucky” and letting it stay; we thought it would be best to remove the critter before he could do any more damage. After considering the possibility of catching a skunk by mistake, we quickly abandoned our initial plan of using a live trap. We had no luck snaring him with a spring loaded game trap, and he continued to elude us for several days. To make matters worse, we soon noticed it was more than just one muskrat that had taken up residence in the pond.
In the end a .22 rifle with a scope (on loan from a friend) became the weapon of choice. The style of the gun was classic, something more befitting in the hands of a cowboy than a sniper. It had a rich wooden stock with a black steel barrel and trigger. The lever-action added to the old-time western feel of the gun. Most importantly, it was effective. My father-in-law bagged one with his first shot. After that we missed more times than not, but we did manage to hit a couple of the critters. We sent one of the poor devils scrambling through the trees behind the pond, and we haven’t seen any sign of them since.
I have to admit I really got a kick out of shooting the old gun. After returning it, I wanted to get a gun for myself. I considered a few different options, but finally decided on a .22 lever action rifle. It was the same traits that I enjoyed with the borrowed rifle that drew me to getting one of my own. Unfortunately that exact model (a Winchester I believe) is no longer manufactured. What I did find was a comparable version from Henry Repeating Arms. It’s an American made western-style lever action .22 with a walnut stock and blued steel barrel. I just brought it home the other day, and look forward to taking it out to the shooting range.
This just may be the beginning of a newfound favorite pastime.
We first spotted the stout bucktoothed critter swimming along the bank of the pond. After watching it a few days, we determined he was a muskrat living in a burrow along the pond’s edge. Resisting the urge to give him a cute little name like “Bucky” and letting it stay; we thought it would be best to remove the critter before he could do any more damage. After considering the possibility of catching a skunk by mistake, we quickly abandoned our initial plan of using a live trap. We had no luck snaring him with a spring loaded game trap, and he continued to elude us for several days. To make matters worse, we soon noticed it was more than just one muskrat that had taken up residence in the pond.
In the end a .22 rifle with a scope (on loan from a friend) became the weapon of choice. The style of the gun was classic, something more befitting in the hands of a cowboy than a sniper. It had a rich wooden stock with a black steel barrel and trigger. The lever-action added to the old-time western feel of the gun. Most importantly, it was effective. My father-in-law bagged one with his first shot. After that we missed more times than not, but we did manage to hit a couple of the critters. We sent one of the poor devils scrambling through the trees behind the pond, and we haven’t seen any sign of them since.
I have to admit I really got a kick out of shooting the old gun. After returning it, I wanted to get a gun for myself. I considered a few different options, but finally decided on a .22 lever action rifle. It was the same traits that I enjoyed with the borrowed rifle that drew me to getting one of my own. Unfortunately that exact model (a Winchester I believe) is no longer manufactured. What I did find was a comparable version from Henry Repeating Arms. It’s an American made western-style lever action .22 with a walnut stock and blued steel barrel. I just brought it home the other day, and look forward to taking it out to the shooting range.
This just may be the beginning of a newfound favorite pastime.
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