# Chase a cop you get shot



## Craig Snyder (May 7, 2012)

Came home last night to find my wife and neighbors watching this sick, tiny, groudhog doing circles in our driveway last night.

The dogs spotted it under the deck and wanted to kill it, (they were on the deck and the gate was closed). My wife went out to shoo it away and it charged her. She ran into the garage and grabbed the hose and sprayed it but it charged her again. Then it went out in the drive way and just started walking in circles.

That's about when I got home. By then the neighbor had called the police.

When the officer got there we asked him to shoot it. It was clearly rabid. He said he couldn't. We said Ok.. then we will. He said you can't, it's illegal to discharge a firearm in the township and he'd have to arrest us. So we asked him to call the county health office or animal control officer. He said sorry, can't do.. no such officer anymore and the county health officers won't deal with animals. :-({|=

He said we had to call a private pest control company. But I said he could circle around and around and in another hour he'd be in my neighbors yard. Then what? He said then your neighbor pays the pest control company.

But we said that doesn't make sense.. he could run anywhere.. and bite any kid or pet in the neighborhood in the mean time.

He said sorry.. a bullet might riochect and hit a window or even worse a person.

But you shoot deer on the highway when they get hit by cars and aren't dead.

That's different he said. The animal is injured and suffering and usually not moving much.

But this animal is sick and suffering.

Sorry.

By now the groundhog had circled himself down the drive and was now circling under the cop car. The cop moved towards his car and the groundhog charged him. The cop ran away, (along with rest of us talking to him).

Now the groundhog was circling under the car and partly into the yard. NOW the cop tried to shoot him. First round missed and the cop had to back up. NOW he called for backup and told them to bring a small 410 shotgun.

Backup arrived and promptly shot it.

Morale of the story: Don't chase a cop and make him run away in front of people! :razz: It only ticks them off. [-X

Craig

PS> While somewhat funny, the officers were somewhat handcuffed, (pun intended), by their policies and the law. They were very professional and understanding of the situation. It just seemd very funny to us! Make sure your pets have their shots!!!


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

Craig Snyder said:


> Came home last night to find my wife and neighbors watching this sick, tiny, groudhog doing circles in our driveway last night.
> 
> The dogs spotted it under the deck and wanted to kill it, (they were on the deck and the gate was closed). My wife went out to shoo it away and it charged her. She ran into the garage and grabbed the hose and sprayed it but it charged her again. Then it went out in the drive way and just started walking in circles.
> 
> ...



shoulda shot it yerself.. then wait and see if the neighbors called the police or not...


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## Craig Snyder (May 7, 2012)

Joby Becker said:


> shoulda shot it yerself.. then wait and see if the neighbors called the police or not...


Hmmmm.. yeah.. unfortunatly one of my neighbor's is a cop but for another township. And it was a different neighbor that called police before I got home. My cop neighbor was out there too and he did have his gun. He would have shot it himself if it had managed to really get close to anyone and pose a real threat. He just really didn't want to do the paperwork. Once the local guys arrived, (who he all knew), he just stood back and smiled at their predicament. :razz:

I would have eventually just taken the back side of a shovel to it probably. But the police were called before I had gotten home and my wife didn't want me to get close enough to hit it with a shovel. She was afraid I'd miss and it was a quick little bugger.

Craig


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

thank god for pellet and airsoft guns..

and .22's oops


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## jim stevens (Jan 30, 2012)

I always keep some .22 CB caps just for that kind of use, or if you are truly adventuresome, take a plastic coke bottle, line it with fiberglass insulation, duct tape it to the barrel, and pfffft. Dead vermin very quietly. This does not have ATF approval.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Hopefully they didn't shoot it in the head and ruin it for rabies testing.


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## Craig Snyder (May 7, 2012)

Joby Becker said:


> thank god for pellet and airsoft guns..
> 
> and .22's oops


Well.. you have to remember, this is pretty much a suburbia... all 1 acre lots, two cars, often BMW's or Acura's, picket fences etc.. guns and hunting are not a huge pastime of the local area. Crime is usually white collar and the primary danger to the cops are car stops of people passing through and the occasional domestic. The only guns you'll usually find are the CDW types carried in purses and under suit jackets. 

Now another 20-40 minutes west or north of here and it's a different story. In the "T" section of PA every kid grows up with a rifle, shotgun or both. Pellet guns are scoffed at. Don't you rememember.. all us Pennsylvanian's cling to our religion and guns? I think in many of those areas every ten year old has dispatched a groundhog or squirrel or two.

And no one within miles, with few exceptions, has the property size they can get away with clandestine target practice with anything. Outside of suburban handguns, and the rifle collection for the weekend hunters, you won't find much else in this neck of Philadelphian surburbia. 

Craig


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## Craig Snyder (May 7, 2012)

Maren Bell Jones said:


> Hopefully they didn't shoot it in the head and ruin it for rabies testing.


They took it away double bagged and told us it was just going in to the dumpster back at the station. The shot was at the base of the skull through the spinal cord.

Craig


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

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Ugh, that makes me scream...they need to actually test these rabies suspect animals! The state pathology labs typically do it for free as part of the department of public health. But can't do it if the brain is toast.


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## Howard Knauf (May 10, 2008)

jim stevens said:


> I always keep some .22 CB caps just for that kind of use, or if you are truly adventuresome, take a plastic coke bottle, line it with fiberglass insulation, duct tape it to the barrel, and pfffft. Dead vermin very quietly. This does not have ATF approval.



The home made silencer will get you more time than an ordinance violation of shooting within the community. Speaking of the ordinance....it has been found unconstitutional and a violation of the 2nd amendment. Ours, and all of them around us have gone away now. I can actually shoot within the city as long as it's not reckless andangerment. Woo Hoo! All those times of quietly popping critters raiding the pigeon coop with CB caps in a .22 rifle wasn't illegal after all. I can also practice with my hunting bow again.


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## Randy Allen (Apr 18, 2008)

Isn't that what they make shotguns for? Use lite loads if it's really that urban.
Just shoot the poor creature and put it out of it's misery.

I'd go before the judge before I'd watch a menace suffering from an incurable disease run loose.


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

rabies is a NASTY way to die 
- just watched a Nat'l Geo documentary about how three organ donor recipients all died horrible deaths before the docs and the CDC could figure out the cause. turns out the donor had rabies
- NO cure once it manifests and has one of the highest probabilities of fatality of all infectious diseases

- doesn't take much tissue to find it ... that animal should have been checked not dumped in a trash can and public officials should have known that


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## Timothy Saunders (Mar 12, 2009)

why didn't somebody just run it over with a car by mistake


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## Craig Snyder (May 7, 2012)

Timothy Saunders said:


> why didn't somebody just run it over with a car by mistake


 
Actually we tried that!!! LOL 

Running in circles it was just out swerving us! Got close a few times.

The other issue was we really didn't want to cause it to run away and get lost in the neighborhood again.

Randy: they did finally use a shotgun. The 410 is about the smallest shotgun you can find.

Craig


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## mike finn (Jan 5, 2011)

Craig Snyder said:


> Actually we tried that!!! LOL
> 
> Running in circles it was just out swerving us! Got close a few times.
> 
> ...


They sell rat shot for 357s and that is what we use for snakes and vermin. We shoot right next to houses. You have to be very close though.


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## jim stevens (Jan 30, 2012)

You could have used a .22 CB cap and nobody would notice. I have shot literally thousands of them in town teaching my kids to shoot, but I have 10 acres.


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## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

Have there been any verified cases of rabies in gophers?


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

susan tuck said:


> Have there been any verified cases of rabies in gophers?



Very rare in most rodents simply because their exposure to other mammals is usually as a meal. 
The possum can be in contact and bitten by a lot of other critters but their lower body temp isn't conducive for getting rabies. Not a rodent for sure but it's an interesting fact. 
When I did earth work with terriers I would get an annual rabies shot for myself. Yanking a live ****, ground hog or fox out of a hole or having one of those critters use you for a ladder when your upside down in a hole can get really interesting. :-o8-[


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## Randy Allen (Apr 18, 2008)

LOL Mike,
Let's take a vote of how many PD's here want to be armed with rat shot for their side arms.

Hey, do you guys still carry those short barreled magnum loaded .oo buck riot guns in your cars? Now that would've been a fun thing to try and hit the critter with. And you could've gotten a new car out of the deal!!!! And your carpenter brother inlaw could have a few months worth of work repairing the housing in the area.
Win win.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Get the Taurus Judge. Shoots 45s or 410s.


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## Howard Knauf (May 10, 2008)

Bob Scott said:


> Get the Taurus Judge. Shoots 45s or 410s.


 A fellow handler just bought the Judge in .410/454 casull. It lasted 20 rounds with 454s before the torque started to unscrew the barrel. It also was spitting pieces of bullet jacket from the cylinder. Just sayin in case anyone was considering one.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

I guess I can understand that. Both my son and myself had Taurus 92s. Both of us didn't keep them long. 
We're both big STI 1911 fans now. My Spartan is as good as most anything costing twice as much. My son has a Spartan and a Guardian.


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

Randy Allen said:


> LOL Mike,
> Let's take a vote of how many PD's here want to be armed with rat shot for their side arms.
> 
> Hey, do you guys still carry those short barreled magnum loaded .oo buck riot guns in your cars? Now that would've been a fun thing to try and hit the critter with. And you could've gotten a new car out of the deal!!!! And your carpenter brother inlaw could have a few months worth of work repairing the housing in the area.
> Win win.


Put me as a no for the rat shot. The shotgun is still an issued item here. Most load it 00, 00, slug, slug, slug. We also have some less than lethal rounds for the 12 gauge.

DFrost


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## eric squires (Oct 16, 2008)

Groundhogs are one of the few species of rodents that live long enough to incubate the virus and transmit it. That being said i have never heard of one testing postive for rabies in my area. The health department here has never had one come back postive here in my county. I shoot a lot of animals as part of my job for testing. I always put a 9mm frangible round through the chest if it is to be tested.


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## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

eric squires said:


> Groundhogs are one of the few species of rodents that live long enough to incubate the virus and transmit it. That being said i have never heard of one testing postive for rabies in my area. The health department here has never had one come back postive here in my county. I shoot a lot of animals as part of my job for testing. I always put a 9mm frangible round through the chest if it is to be tested.


scary looking critters with those big front teeth! Are they the same thing as Woodchucks?


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## mike finn (Jan 5, 2011)

Randy Allen said:


> LOL Mike,
> Let's take a vote of how many PD's here want to be armed with rat shot for their side arms.
> 
> Hey, do you guys still carry those short barreled magnum loaded .oo buck riot guns in your cars? Now that would've been a fun thing to try and hit the critter with. And you could've gotten a new car out of the deal!!!! And your carpenter brother inlaw could have a few months worth of work repairing the housing in the area.
> Win win.


 We dont leave the rat shot in there all the time Randy, we just hav some in the vehicle if we need it. lol it works pretty well believe it or not


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

susan tuck said:


> scary looking critters with those big front teeth! Are they the same thing as Woodchucks?



Susan, it's hard to make out but here's a picture of a groundhog/woodchuck with my dog Pete working it in the ground. Pete's white whiskers on the lower right and the hog is barely recognizable behind the fine roots.
When I dug to Pete I just stuck the camera in along side him and snapped the picture. 
http://www.workingdogforum.com/vBulletin/f22/look-close-223/


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## Ben Thompson (May 2, 2009)

Why didn't the police just use the k9 unit to dispatch of the wood chuck. A malinois should be able to take care of business. They tackle 200 pound men.... a wood chuck should be easy especially a half dead one. hahahaha


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## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

Bob Scott said:


> Susan, it's hard to make out but here's a picture of a groundhog/woodchuck with my dog Pete working it in the ground. Pete's white whiskers on the lower right and the hog is barely recognizable behind the fine roots.
> When I dug to Pete I just stuck the camera in along side him and snapped the picture.
> http://www.workingdogforum.com/vBulletin/f22/look-close-223/


Oh wow, thanks Bob.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Ben Thompson said:


> Why didn't the police just use the k9 unit to dispatch of the wood chuck. A malinois should be able to take care of business. They tackle 200 pound men.... a wood chuck should be easy especially a half dead one. hahahaha


I wouldn't sic a valuable working dog on a likely rabid animal. Or any dog for that matter. Have you never seen Ol' Yeller?! :-(


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## Craig Snyder (May 7, 2012)

susan tuck said:


> scary looking critters with those big front teeth! Are they the same thing as Woodchucks?


Same thing. Here's a picture of one of the more dangerous woodchucks I have seen.

http://themoderatevoice.com/120781/behold-the-indefatible-american-woodchuck/

Craig


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## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

Craig Snyder said:


> Same thing. Here's a picture of one of the more dangerous woodchucks I have seen.
> 
> http://themoderatevoice.com/120781/behold-the-indefatible-american-woodchuck/
> 
> Craig


So gophers aren't the same thing? Yeah..but this is the smartest one of all: :-\":-\":-\" http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=WaSUyYSQie8

(one of my all time hands down favorite movies)


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Ground hogs are a lot bigger then gophers. The average adult Ground hog is 12 -15 lb but I've dug to a couple of 18-19 lb ones. 
The average gopher is smaller then a squirrel. 
When I was a kid at my grandpa's farm I would catch gophers by hand. Just lay next to the burrow with a heavy welder's glove and grab their heads when they pushed soil out of the burrows. The ONLY way I've ever pulled a ground hog out of a hole is by the tail. The other end is way to sharp.


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## Zakia Days (Mar 13, 2009)

Now another 20-40 minutes west or north of here and it's a different story. In the "T" section of PA every kid grows up with a rifle, shotgun or both. Pellet guns are scoffed at. Don't you rememember.. all us Pennsylvanian's cling to our religion and guns? I think in many of those areas every ten year old has dispatched a groundhog or squirrel or two.

And no one within miles, with few exceptions, has the property size they can get away with clandestine target practice with anything. Outside of suburban handguns, and the rifle collection for the weekend hunters, you won't find much else in this neck of Philadelphian surburbia. 

Craig


Don't forget the Yeungling! LoL!


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## Craig Snyder (May 7, 2012)

Zakia Days said:


> Don't forget the Yeungling! LoL!


Oh yeah! Now that is something you can find throughout the state! One of my favorites!

Craig


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## Craig Snyder (May 7, 2012)

susan tuck said:


> So gophers aren't the same thing? Yeah..but this is the smartest one of all: :-\":-\":-\" http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=WaSUyYSQie8
> 
> (one of my all time hands down favorite movies)


Great movie! One of my favorites. But I think that was supposed to be gopher. But who cares!

Craig


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