My yard is fenced, and I keep the grass trimmed short. No one has lived in the shacks to either side, and the foliage is not only poisonous, but tall.

I was tossing the ball for the dogs the other day, and it rolled right up against the chain link. As the beasts wrestled to find out who was to have the honor of carrying the orb back to me for a repeat throw, I heard a rabid buzzing from right on the other side of the fence. Something just a few inches from the ball was not happy my dogs were there, and was letting their displeasure be known.

An unseen creature, hidden in the tall grass, was making an angry buzzing sound when my dogs approached. Gee, I wonder what would be doing such a thing? Here, in West Texas?

I was armed at the time, of course. (I’m always armed, if legally possible to do so.) But I was armed with a small autoloader loaded with jacketed hollow point ammunition, perfect to deal with legged predators. What I needed was a handgun loaded with these.

Handgun cartridges with the standard bullet replaced with a plastic capsule loaded with tiny lead shot. Turns a handgun into a short range shotgun, perfect for greeting uninvited slithering visitors.

Want to take a closer look?