Rats, Mice, & Snakes: The Demise of Jake's Rat

Click to enlarge to see Jake's cabin on the ridge.

In a previous blog, "the peanut butter jar," I referred to a rat that lived with Jake in his cabin. This was an old rat, wise to the threat of man, elusive, and an avid collector of things lying around the cabin. This rat caused Jake considerable grief, and he expressed to me several times that if he ever had the chance he was going to put a bullet in him.

            Not only do rats cause loss of sleep and disappearance of small objects but they have a particular smell that is not pleasant. The phrase, "I smell a rat," which refers usually to an unforeseen danger or problem, comes from the experience of living in the presence of rats. Any one who learns this smell will instantly recognize it the rest of their life.

            This rat had been living in the west wall of Jake's cabin for a long time. We did not know this at the time. Jake also slept on this side of the cabin towards the front. The rat smell was always present.

As if to say, "Jake, don't shoot! I'm no rat!"

            Jake kept a hand gun with 22 long rifle hollow point ammunition in the cabin. This ammo can do a lot of damage. One evening the opportunity arrived when Jake saw a small movement in his peripheral vision. His gun was close by so he grabbed it and waited.  He saw the rat move away from where it was hiding and fired. The hollow point projectile entered the rat’s rear end and literally turned the rat inside out leaving entrails hanging from the beams overhead in the back of the cabin. This rat was not going to steal any more of Jake’s custom knife handles, special rocks, or utensils laying around the cabin.

             After the bullet exited the rat, it ricocheted into a small cardboard box nearby. This box contained blasting caps used to detonate explosives. Why the bullet penetrated the cardboard but did not cause the blasting caps to explode is a matter of divine providence or dumb luck. The bullet was lying in the box next to the dangerous long slender silver blasting caps as if it belonged there.

            I asked Jake about the rat parts hanging from the beams in the back of the cabin. He said he left them there.

The gang's all here. Notice Jake's cabin in the background.