Epic Rat Shooting

[Rick in Oregon]

My crew and I just returned from what could be called an eipic rat shooting trip in N. CA. Perfect weather conditons, more ground squirrels than anybody could ever possibly shoot, and an arsenal of very accurate small caliber rifles, from 17HMR, 22 K-Hornet, 20VT, 204R and of course 223's.

Our setup on Day One overlooking a vast squirrel colony:



My Cooper M38 in 20VT cooling her barrel on the bench between strings of fire:



Dan, one of the EORFS members on a high plateau overlooking an "unshot" field of squirrel mounds. The close edge of the mounds were right at 300 yds, the back fence lasered 508 yds with hundreds of rats inbetween:



This was my pet spot.....a nice elevated position in a grove of trees that overlooked a 400+ acre field of alfalfa in a gentle basin......packed with squirrels. When they hopped into the wheel track and stood up for a look-about.....fatal mistake!



A large male badger was stunned by a 223 that clipped his back, thrown into the owners truck while still alive....imagine the tussle if he had "come-to" while inside....... Put him out of order with my Kimber 22 conversion unit.



Flyin' high and proud, Old Glory and the Eastern Oregon Raptor Feeding Society flag......the dreaded sight by our favorite rodent: Skippy the Flying Squirrel:



This has been a great rat season so far. I hope all you PD shooters have as good of conditons we've had here in the west. Good springtime shooting to ya!

 

[mao0720]

Looks to me like you were just across the border from Klamath Falls OR. Maybe Doris area?

 

[5spd]

Around or close to Cedarville?
The Mtns sure look like it.
I have a few ranches for them rats out there myself.
We would run 1K in 3 days easy out of each gun.

 

[Rick in Oregon]

Yep, both of you get cigars.....we were outside of Alturas at the foothills of the Warners. Good observational skills there, gentlemen!

 

[mao0720]

Grew up in Klamath Falls, I know that whole area by heart!

 

[SS427]

That third picture has more rat mounds than I think I have ever seen. For those people looking for fields to hunt, you can see them from Google satellite views. Look for center pivot irrigation systems and those dirt mounds. I bet you could see that field from the moon.

 

[thekriebles]

Rick,

Great photos as always! Congrats on another successful pd safari!

 

[2dogs]

Epic Rat Shoot. Gotta love it!!

 

[pacificman]

What are you guys doing in my backyard?.........LOL ;D Great pictures Rick! Badger looks like a bonus...Ya very rarely see them out and about!

 

[Rick in Oregon]

What are you guys doing in my backyard?.........LOL ;D

Having our way with Skippy, that's what. Pacificman, you have a mondo-beyondo backyard! Gotta love the Pacific Northwest for all it offers, that's fer sure. Yep, the badger was indeed a bonus. We figure for every 20 days in the field, you might see one. The last time I got one was in 2009. Sneaky buggers to be sure.

But these guys are certainly equipped for the task at hand:



Imagine that dental work clamping down on your hand! That would be a day we'd never forget!

 

[pacificman]

Yer right Rick...in all the years I've lived here I have killed only a handful of the mighty Badgers. I chased one once just to see what he would do. After running at him about 12 feet he decided he had enough and made a growl/Hiss I'll never forget and came after ME! I turned and ran for my life!!! I learned to never fool with them again after that. ;D Great pictures you have for sure!

 

[langenc]

Not to steal but:

My son and I were trapping. Came upon a trap w/ badger in it. Critter had a nice 'mound' of sand and a little trench all around w/ nest in top where he was located.

Mound was 1 1/2' high and about 3' across.

In the little trench all around were coyote tracks, I guess the critter got caught and a coyote thought--great an snack. No to be so. Traps checked every day. Badger in the trap less than 14 hrs, maybe as little as 5 or 6 hrs!!

We knew this to be a coyote area but never caught on in the 10 days we trapped there. We have a lot to learn. Thanks.