"Don Foreman" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 14 Feb 2009 21:48:16 -0600, "RogerN"
wrote:


Living out of city limits comes with varmints (skunk, raccoon, possum,
coyote, etc.). Since I've been into R/C models for many years, I've been
thinking about an R/C toy that could be useful for varmint control. The
general idea is a model vehicle, tank or 4X4 truck type model, and add
some
kind of gun (air gun?) that would be as near lethal (to varmints) as
legally
possible. The gun wouldn't need to be lethal as long as it could deter
the
varmints return. The gun on the vehicle would be aimed with the aid of a
wireless on board camera.

Ideas on the vehicle or aiming device are good but I'm especially looking
for ideas on the gun (or other method to chase away varmints). I'm
figuring
on using my 6 channel radio, 1 channel for forward & reverse + speed, a
channel for steering, two channels for gun pointing, and 2 channels for
firing (safety + trigger). So what about a paintball gun, perhaps with
solid plastic balls? Or maybe a CO2 BB pistol? Pepper Spray? Other? (no
flame throwers in case I have to send the vehicle under the house after a
varmint :-) I shot our pet ducks with an airsoft gun before and it didn't
seem to bother them, I don't think they felt it through their feathers, I
doubt an airsoft gun would drive a possum away either.

RogerN

It would be useful to first see how close you can get to various
varmints with an RC mobile device.

I suspect that none of the "control" measures you suggest would work,
regardless of range. I can guarantee that none of the mentioned
varmints would be controlled by a CO2 BB pistol.

In my experience, training and/or motivation doesn't work with
varmints. The only ways to control them are to exclude them with
barriers, or kill them as humanely as possible. Even livetrapping
and transport often doesn't work because they find their way back.


The general idea is to leave this vehicle in the car port and set motion
detecting software to work with the image from the camera to alert me to
take a look at the camera. When the varmints come in to the carport to
steal the cat food or get in the trash is when the vehicle is in range.
Hopefully the first audible noise being made will be firing.

If I had to try to aim a gun while driving the vehicle and hit a target, now
that would be challenging! I've also wondered how a vehicle would handle if
I installed a heading hold gyro from a model helicopter in one.

RogerN