I just moved into my new house at the pond.
My first go-to was my Ruger 10-22 with a basic rimfire scope. It is a great gun. The challenge is 22LR is reasonably loud.
So I went to my local Walmart and picked up a Savage MK II bolt action. ($130) I shoot it with iron sights. Now I am shooting CB rounds. These are very quiet rounds.
I started with CCI CB 22 Shorts. These feed fine in the bolt action Savage. My daughter and lady friend can shoot cans with them without ear protection.
I just received a bunch of Remington CBee 22 Long Rifle from Academy. These are also CB but in a Long Rifle form factor. I expect this to be my primary round from here on.
Although I am one of those few people who don't mind snakes, I don't want water moccasins and copperheads. Bouncing a few dozen .22 off the water trying to hit a water moccasin is poor edicate so I went back to Walmart and picked up a single shot .410 It is a Hatfield, made in Turkey. $99 at Walmart. It is a basic single shot break barrel. I haven't fired it yet but I have #6 shot rounds.
We have a wide variety of normal critters. Rabbits, squirrels, fox, bobcat, coyote, whitetail, coons, possum, armadillos, Osprey, green heron, little blue heron, great blue heron, etc.
These guys are basically all welcome and safe at my place. Beavers, river otters etc may be less welcome.
Alligators are expected. Our mayor recently made The Drudge Report when she got a 12 footer in her nearby pond. (She is a grandmother.) I'll deal with this when it happens. A small gator will probably be welcome. A large one might be taken away by Gator World. Neighbors tell me they are really good to eat, so waiting until hunting season and harvesting is not out of the question.
Plus I've found panther scat. In my experience you never actually see these cats, just their scat and prints.
No hogs at this time, but they are expected to come around. They will be aggressively introduced to the AR.
We also have exotic critters exclusive to the Big Thicket. My ranch is on some website for its Bigfoot sightings. People regularly stop by looking for the Squash. I have not seen one on my game camera, but I have heard a strange noise out here on a few nights. The local electricity coop just encircled a neighbor's house with large lights for a woman who was being harassed by bigfoot.
About a 1/4 mile of my drive is the historic old Tram Road. It is known to be haunted by the "Saratoga Lights". This is an accepted fact around here, but I haven't seen them.
I'm not planning to engage Bigfoot or the headless conductor who carries the lights.
Last edited by Vortex 4; 01/13/19 09:51 AM.
