Recommendations on who to contact for sage rat hunting

[HenryWMHR]

Hello, I have been interested wanting to do some sagerat hunting around Central Oregon. I heard that farmers are looking for help to rid themselves of these pesky varmints. Can anyone suggest who I can contact to do such a shoot? At the prices of fuel, I'd rather plan something in advance rather then knocking on doors for possible shoot sights. We had a sage rat hunt cancelled this year by a guided service. they claimed it wasn't promising and he prefered not to take us out for his customary fee. Has anyone did any hunting for sage rats this year?

 

[B23]

There are numerous guide services in the Burns/Crane Oregon area. It's been a few years since I've been back but I've used Tim Titus w/No-Off Season a few times and Tim ran a first class operation. Like I said it's been a few years since I've been there but I'd be surprised if Tim's services had changed much. Last time I was there we shot between 3-400rnds a piece. I always take a couple 17HMR's and my 17WSM.

Since you aren't from the area and likely don't know anyone, if you want to get good shooting in and by good shooting I mean a lot of shooting, it would probably be best to use a guide service.

 

[D Coots]

B23

What time frame on your round count? TIA

 

[B23]

B23

What time frame on your round count? TIA

I'm not sure I know what you mean but if this answers your question we'd start shooting fairly early am break for about an hour at lunch then Tim's guides would let us shoot about as late as we wanted. We generally shot well past sunset. Also, the lunch's Tim provides was five star quality and amazing.

 

[K9TXS]

There are numerous guide services in the Burns/Crane Oregon area. It's been a few years since I've been back but I've used Tim Titus w/No-Off Season a few times and Tim ran a first class operation. Like I said it's been a few years since I've been there but I'd be surprised if Tim's services had changed much. Last time I was there we shot between 3-400rnds a piece. I always take a couple 17HMR's and my 17WSM.

Since you aren't from the area and likely don't know anyone, if you want to get good shooting in and by good shooting I mean a lot of shooting, it would probably be best to use a guide service.

I agree. Tim Titus runs one of the best operations I've ever been to. He has really good people working with him. He also furnishes a great lunch and snacks in the field. I can't say enough good things about his operation.

The first day we shot from a trailer that halls hay bales. Tim also furnishes benches to shoot from or you can bring your own. The trailer and benches raised us up about 6' from the ground. The second day we shot from an elevated trailer and the benches were about 12-15' off the ground at least. Any rimfire is good especially the 17's as already mentioned. I also took my 20 VT and shot them at extended range.

 

[D Coots]

I'm not sure I know what you mean but if this answers your question we'd start shooting fairly early am break for about an hour at lunch then Tim's guides would let us shoot about as late as we wanted. We generally shot well past sunset. Also, the lunch's Tim provides was five star quality and amazing.

You mentioned 3-400 rounds apiece. How long did it take to shoot those?

 

[B23]

You mentioned 3-400 rounds apiece. How long did it take to shoot those?

Like I said the first time you asked this we'd start shooting fairly early am break for about an hour at lunch guides would let us shoot about as late as we wanted. We generally shot well past sunset. I don't think there was a day we weren't in the field shooting 10 hours.

 

[K9TXS]

You mentioned 3-400 rounds apiece. How long did it take to shoot those?

I depends on several things. If the sky is very cloudy, foggy, overcast, slightly raining, it will be slow shooting. The rats like sunlight, it makes them active. I've shot in bad conditions and by lunch time, about 4 hours of shooting, we shot maybe 200 rounds. About the same that afternoon. However, the next morning it was a different story. It was a little cool, but lots of sunlight and the rats were crazy. I'm sure I shot over 600 rounds that morning. Some fields may of course hold more rats than other fields do.

Shooting sage rats is different that shooting PD. PD's are smarter and sometimes you only get one shot at a PD before he goes down or scampers off. Sage rats on the other had are not too bright. You may get multiple shots at one rat and he never moves. If there are several rats together and you hit one, the others may immediate start eating him and then you pick off those.

 

[D Coots]

Like I said the first time you asked this we'd start shooting fairly early am break for about an hour at lunch guides would let us shoot about as late as we wanted. We generally shot well past sunset. I don't think there was a day we weren't in the field shooting 10 hours.

Just clarifying your 3-400 rounds shot.

Nowhere did you say that was per day on your original post.

Different people have different expectations.

I've been shooting dogs since the late 80's. Never shot any in the dark though.

 

[Rick in Oregon]

As a 50 year resident here in prime sage rat country, I'll chime in and add another "plus one" for Tim Titus and his operation. Tim is a first class guy, runs a primo operation, and will meet your expectations in terms of quality shooting and a great overall experience.

Give him a call, you won't be disappointed. Thousands of squirrels wish Tim would 'go away'.

 

[bloc]

As a 50 year resident here in prime sage rat country, I'll chime in and add another "plus one" for Tim Titus and his operation. Tim is a first class guy, runs a primo operation, and will meet your expectations in terms of quality shooting and a great overall experience.

Give him a call, you won't be disappointed. Thousands of squirrels wish Tim would 'go away'.

Yup!

And Tim's clients have reciprocated by making thousands of them "go away" in a cloud of chunks and pink mist . Tim is amazing.

Three of us tried him this year and he is simply the best, pure and simple. In a bad squirrel year, he found a field with some and we had some very challenging shooting. We have already booked him for next year.

He's a no-BS guy who runs a very, very classy operation. He has clients from as far away as the east coast and Hawaii. Corporations have used him and his services for their retreat.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

I know its less solid, but you can ask about any rancher in sw Mt. if you can shoot them and they will let you. Just tell them you wont shoot their cows or water pipes.

 

[B23]

I know its less solid, but you can ask about any rancher in sw Mt. if you can shoot them and they will let you. Just tell them you wont shoot their cows or water pipes.

And years ago in different parts of Oregon it was very similar but for a variety of reasons farms/acreage are getting tied up by guide services and the only way you can shoot sage rats at those places is if you pay to go on the guided hunts with whoever has negotiated to be the only service to use it.

I'm sure there are still farmers/land owners that don't have their properties in with guide services but if you're an out of towner and haven't made contact with any property owners you could spend a lot of your time door knocking instead of just using one of the sage rat guide services. I did the door knocking thing in Enterprise Oregon years ago. I rolled in to town thinking everyone would be thrilled to have me come shoot their sage rats but what I found was I spent a lot of time chasing down the actual person that owned the property and because some of them had had bad experiences with some knuckleheads shooting like assholes they were a bit soured on the idea of a stranger shooting on their property and I certainly couldn't fault them for it.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

I am not arguing that. Here Im not aware of any guides yet so its still open. If your traveling it makes sense to have it planned out but on the other hand if you want to do this for many years it may be worth blowing a year to make long term contacts with ranch owners. Many guys shoot the same place every year.

 

[B23]

I am not arguing that. Here Im not aware of any guides yet so its still open. If your traveling it makes sense to have it planned out but on the other hand if you want to do this for many years it may be worth blowing a year to make long term contacts with ranch owners. Many guys shoot the same place every year.

Absolutely and I completely agree. For me and my Enterprise Or. experience I just didn't see the volume of sage rats to shoot like I have in other parts of that state so I've never been back but to your point had it been a place I wanted to return to it definitely would have been worth the time and effort to establish relationships with property owners.

 

[Rick in Oregon]

Those of us who have our secret honey-holes of epic free rat shooting treat our rancher hosts like kings and treat their properties like they're our own. We clean up any trash we find, police all our pistol and rimfire brass and never tell others about the place to keep it on the DL to avoid "swarming" of careless shooters. Over the years, we've made some great long-term friends in the process, as the landowners look forward to our arrival to rid them of a few thousand alfalfa munchers on each trip.

Our current rancher buddy even has RV arrangements for us with a trailer parking area complete with power and water hookups. Shoot rats all day, BBQ in the evening, then "guy movies" in one of the trailers for nighttime entertainment. It just can't get any better, but it took much effort to obtain such arrangements.

A shot of our rigs this year during what is now referred to as our "Arctic Rat Shoot". Not the best year with snow and 30 mph wind. BUT the rats were up in small numbers and paid dearly for their careless attitude.



It will never be like it once was ten years ago, but it's still what I look forward to the most every year. Good friends, accurate rifles, copious quantities of sage rats and sunny days. What more could a guy ask for?