My goal with this channel has always been to just tell my story of my own personal backyard pest war and showcase the tools I use. Along the way, Irsquo;ve discovered many of you have similar issues with these furry little bastards, so Irsquo;ve done my best to pass along useful information and tips.
This video, and the series for that matter, Irsquo;m going to take it a little further. Irsquo;m going to give you my top tips so you can replicate whatrsquo;s worked for me, and get out and clear your yard of these unwanted pests.
Lets kickoff the series with Airgun 101 Vol 1 - A How-To-Guide to Pest Control
When people ask me how to replicate what I'm doing, I break it down into a few top tips... here they are in no particular order:
Tip #1... find/build your ldquo;table for onerdquo;. The MVP, of this channel at least, has been this little gem. While it entered my life through a series of random events it doesnrsquo;t have to be for you. Build or buy your own. It brings the critters to a safe place, and provides enough entertainment to keep them still for a clean dispatch. It also makes for some great footage. As yoursquo;ve seen, mine has evolved to be a perfect fit for me... do the same and adopt it to your specific needshellip;
I donrsquo;t think Irsquo;ve spoken about this, but the new table for one in my yard has some pretty cool features. Built in targets like this... which are just pellet tins filled with duct seal. Itrsquo;s Super cheap and makes for a crazy quiet pellet trap. Irsquo;ve shot up to 60fpe and it stopped it. Itrsquo;s crazy quiet, which is key for the backyard. I replace it or pull out the pellets every once and awhile as needed.
To blend the table for one in, Irsquo;ve covered it this fake boxwood style vines. The color is keyhellip; and itrsquo;s not just to blend into the yardhellip; it really helps with tracking the pellet on film so you can ensure yoursquo;ve really dialed in your gun so the pellets are flying perfectlyhellip; it also doesnrsquo;t suck for pest control footage eitherhellip; which is nice bonus.
Irsquo;m using a white high gloss nail polish in the pellet skirts, and the contrast of white on green allows for that sweet pellet vision. If it works for the MLB, itrsquo;s good enough for me!
Tip #2 focuses on cameras and lights! For ages hunters in the woods have used trail cameras to get an upper hand... a backyard warrior can do the same, but really up the ante here, and if course thatrsquo;s what I did! I have a Nest cameras in key locations. I also have additional IR flood lights... these do 2 things: the first is boost the footage through the security cameras quite a bit. Irsquo;m able to see little baby rats at 25 yards no problem. The 2nd thing is help the NV for the
ATN 4K Pro In a similar way. I still flick the
Streamlight IR on thatrsquo;s mounted to the Leshiy right before Irsquo;m about to send it, but thatrsquo;s just to further enhance the clarity.
The main purpose of the nest cams is to monitor my pest hot spots. When a critter comes into that area Irsquo;ve marked like yoursquo;re seeing here, I can have different alerts setup. I can be chillinrsquo; and having a beer, and then get a Table for One alert like this onehellip; I make my way out, and then send the boom. I was in singapore once and got an alert, saw it was skunk and texted my wife saying not to let piper out.
Tip #3 is about tuning your gun to your personal needs and contexthellip; not what yoursquo;re watching on YouTube that while might be entertaining, has no relevance to your specific needs. For me, I subscribe to the slow and heavy concept. My goal is to maximize the energy dump at ranges of 30 yards and in, although Irsquo;ve stretched it out to 45/50 on occasion. If yoursquo;re zipping pellets at 900 fps and getting straight passthroughs yoursquo;re wasting energy. I slow things down, and use the weight of the pellet to get to the desired energy needed for a humane dispatch. This is my backyard contexthellip; the point is setup your gun to exactly what you personally needhellip; not some dude on YouTubehellip; including me for that matter.
Nothing illustrates this more than the Dirty 30hellip; watch the impact and energy transfer of a 50gr JSB traveling 480fps. Thatrsquo;s around 25fpe, but given the slower speed and larger mass Irsquo;m getting little to no passthrough, so almost all of the energy is being displaced into the critter. If I was shooting 25fpe in a .22 or even a .25 Irsquo;d get a passthrough for sure. On bigger bullies, this is quite enough, so I have the .25 Leyla setup shooting 34gr JSB MK2 traveling around 685fps, or around 37fpe. The Nasty 9 is shooting 45FPE, but I'll leave that for another day/story...
Cheers,
Tim