Sage Rats Anyone?

[Rick in Oregon]

We just returned from a ten day rat shoot now that the weather has finally turned from snow, wind and rain to partially sunny in these parts. Our host lets us stay on ranch property, hook our trailers to power and water for a great way to spend a couple of weeks. Shoot rats most of the day, have a grilling session and adult beverages in the evening after rifle cleaning, and 'guy movies' at night on the trailer widescreen. All 'guy movies' include gunfire. (wink)

My Cooper M38 20VT on the bench cooling. The irrigation pivot blurred in the distance is just shy of 300 yards:



Plenty of mounds indicate plenty of targets. You can see a couple of squirrels in the back-lit pic waiting for 'attention'.



We set up each morning on the ranch two-tracks to avoid driving or parking on the freshly planted alfalfa. Everyone shooting into these fields got pretty much non-stop shooting until about mid-day.



Yours truly lining up on one of the alfalfa munchers at around 240 yards atop his mound with my Cooper 20VT:



The effect of a 32gr bullet at 3,680 fps on a small critter cannot be understated:



The rancher has an unwanted badger roaming about, so Dan brought his suppressed 7mm Rem Mag along. Here he's dialing it in at 400 yards in anticipation of the badger showing himself.....he didn't unfortunately.



Rifle cleaning got done either in the field at the bench or in camp on the tailgate....which is always handy as a makeshift cleaning table:



Now home, all the fired brass is in the vibe tumbler getting ready for reloading and ready once again. It was a great way to spend a couple of weeks with like-minded friends having "the most fun you can have with a rifle".

Now if the sun continues to shine, more rat shooting is on tap, and now that it's almost May, the young rock chucks are about done with mom, so they'll be 'qualified targets' too. More fun for us, less alfalfa eating rodents for the ranchers. Win-Win!

 

[5spd]

Was that down in Cedarville, tons of beldens there.

 

[Rick in Oregon]

No CA shooting for us. If we can't carry legally there, we won't go there. All our shooting was in Orygun. We shot N. Cali for many very good years on a friends huge alfalfa ranch, but he bailed from CA, and with the lead ban, no carry, even higher prices for everything, it's now in "The Forbidden Zone" in our vernacular.

 

[Hal]

Rick
Looks like a GREAT time. Thanks for sharing.
I'm still looking for one of your light weight shooting benches.
I just noticed one bench for right handed guys and one bench for the left handed
guys.
Spring must be on its way, Rick is out shooting sage rats.

Hal

 

[chuckshooter]

Rifle cleaning got done either in the field at the bench or in camp on the tailgate....which is always handy as a makeshift cleaning table:



Now home, all the fired brass is in the vibe tumbler getting ready for reloading and ready once again. It was a great way to spend a couple of weeks with like-minded friends having "the most fun you can have with a rifle".

Now if the sun continues to shine, more rat shooting is on tap, and now that it's almost May, the young rock chucks are about done with mom, so they'll be 'qualified targets' too. More fun for us, less alfalfa eating rodents for the ranchers. Win-Win!

Rick , I read a study once that claimed the Belding ground squirrel eats about 4 oz. of alfalfa per day. based on that number, and my conservative kill ratio, I figure I have save about 2000 lbs. of alfalfa per day just this year. wouldn't it be nice if the extra alfalfa savings from killing sage rats could be turned into some money to pay for some powder, primers and bullets.

 

[markT]

“Shoot rats most of the day, have a grilling session and adult beverages in the evening…
Rick you lucky bstd. Are you grilling those sage rats? Haha.
The front rest? Yes sir!!! I LIKE IT!!! Easy east to west…AND north / south..

 

[jxb]

Glad to hear you all had plenty of targets. Have lots of fond memories of time in SE Oregon in the 90's although most of ours it was cold and some days snowing but that was in March. Better in April and until the alfalfa is too high and it's too hot. We did around Memorial day once, just once. We did similar, cleaning in the fields as needed then back to where we were staying and some good food out on the town. One thing that even today is nice about over there is the locals are always happy to see hunters/shooters. Having the RV's right there would be nice, certainly less costly than room and eating out most of the time. Although it was nice to have others do the food in the evening, there's something about all day out in the fields that takes a lot out of a person. We never had any issues sleeping. lol

I'm looking forward to getting back over there once work wraps up and it's nice to see not everyone has cabbage'd them.

 

[markT]

“it's nice to see not everyone has cabbage'd them.“

@jxb: ^^^ What does this mean?

 

[boltfluter]

We just returned from a ten day rat shoot now that the weather has finally turned from snow, wind and rain to partially sunny in these parts. Our host lets us stay on ranch property, hook our trailers to power and water for a great way to spend a couple of weeks. Shoot rats most of the day, have a grilling session and adult beverages in the evening after rifle cleaning, and 'guy movies' at night on the trailer widescreen. All 'guy movies' include gunfire. (wink)

My Cooper M38 20VT on the bench cooling. The irrigation pivot blurred in the distance is just shy of 300 yards:



Plenty of mounds indicate plenty of targets. You can see a couple of squirrels in the back-lit pic waiting for 'attention'.



We set up each morning on the ranch two-tracks to avoid driving or parking on the freshly planted alfalfa. Everyone shooting into these fields gave us pretty much non-stop shooting until about mid-day.



Yours truly lining up on one of the alfalfa munchers at around 240 yards atop his mound with my Cooper 20VT:



The effect of a 32gr bullet at 3,680 fps on a small critter cannot be understated:



The rancher has an unwanted badger roaming about, so Dan brought his suppressed 7mm Rem Mag along. Here he's dialing it in at 400 yards in anticipation of the badger showing himself.....he didn't unfortunately.



Rifle cleaning got done either in the field at the bench or in camp on the tailgate....which is always handy as a makeshift cleaning table:



Now home, all the fired brass is in the vibe tumbler getting ready for reloading and ready once again. It was a great way to spend a couple of weeks with like-minded friends having "the most fun you can have with a rifle".

Now if the sun continues to shine, more rat shooting is on tap, and now that it's almost May, the young rock chucks are about done with mom, so they'll be 'qualified targets' too. More fun for us, less alfalfa eating rodents for the ranchers. Win-Win!

Looks like a great adventure to me. That Cooper looks great in the pic! Beautiful wood on that one.
Paul

 

[chuckshooter]

“it's nice to see not everyone has cabbage'd them.“

@jxb: ^^^ What does this d to

“it's nice to see not everyone has cabbage'd them.“

@jxb: ^^^ What does this mean?

Cabbage with poison stuffed into squirrels holes is a common way for farmers to try to get rid of the squirrels..

 

[durand mortenson]

I'm fortunate enough to be the only shooter on farm/cattle ranch around New Plymouth. The folks that own the ranch heard about me from a friend and I got an invite to come on out.

The original homestead was in 1862 and is still in the family. Large parcels have been sold off over the years to make it more manageable. No hired hands, Just family and they still have 1000 acres more or less. This week they are branding cattle.

I look forward to going out there every April and May and it is a hours drive from here...easy.

I have to close the gates and try not to get to upset tracking cow shit into my truck cab.

Mort

 

[Rick in Oregon]

Rick
Looks like a GREAT time. Thanks for sharing.
I'm still looking for one of your light weight shooting benches.
I just noticed one bench for right handed guys and one bench for the left handed
guys.
Spring must be on its way, Rick is out shooting sage rats.

Hal

Hal, the BRP bench top is reversable for both RH and LH shooters. The top just flips over to accommodate either hand shooter.

As for finding a used BRP, they come up for sale now and then, some are found on Craigs List I'm told.
And 'yes' it is indeed spring, and the rifle barrels are warm!

Rick , I read a study once that claimed the Belding ground squirrel eats about 4 oz. of alfalfa per day. based on that number, and my conservative kill ratio, I figure I have save about 2000 lbs. of alfalfa per day just this year. wouldn't it be nice if the extra alfalfa savings from killing sage rats could be turned into some money to pay for some powder, primers and bullets.

Chuckshooter, our rancher buddies suffer huge monetary losses to the rats. One alfalfa farmer told us he looses about $300K per year to the little buggers. Using the cabbage poison is very expensive, so many landowners prefer shooters to thin out the critters, as it's free and is a win-win for both the farmer and us shooters. But from what I know, your figures are about spot-on in terms of what the rats eat.

Looks like a great adventure to me. That Cooper looks great in the pic! Beautiful wood on that one.
Paul

Paul, thanks, here's another pic of "Scooter" my Cooper M38 20VT, formally owned by "Scootertrash", a well-liked and knowledgeable forum contributor here and Saubier for many years prior to his passing some time ago.



I'm sure Mike (Scootertrash) would approve of what his old rifle has been up to if he could. In the pic above, it's obvious it's a good day when the 100 count box of handloads is empty on the bench with a warm barrel. IMHO, the 20VT is about the best overall ground squirrel caliber we've got at this point in time. It checks "all the boxes".

 

[jxb]

I'm fortunate enough to be the only shooter on farm/cattle ranch around New Plymouth. The folks that own the ranch heard about me from a friend and I got an invite to come on out.

The original homestead was in 1862 and is still in the family. Large parcels have been sold off over the years to make it more manageable. No hired hands, Just family and they still have 1000 acres more or less. This week they are branding cattle.

I look forward to going out there every April and May and it is a hours drive from here...easy.

I have to close the gates and try not to get to upset tracking cow shit into my truck cab.

Mort

That's a good find. I have a couple places outside Salmon, like yours homesteaded family ranches that dad and I used to go to when he lived in the area. The best part was nobody else around at least the days we'd go.

That's a loooong way for me, although lots of great country and a nice drive up the Lochsa or Payette depending which way I'd go and funny part is when I go up the Lowman route I go right through New Plymouth.

Oh yeah and some good formed rubber mats take care of the cow shit issue. I grew up on a farm and worked farming/ranching and trail crew the first 1/2 my life, before I got tired of living hand to mouth so you get used to the smell. Just be happy it's not dog shit, never could deal with that.

 

[RabbitSlayer]

Anytime you want to invite me to rancho red mist, I will be there. I'll exchange 500+ yard shots on PDs on public land in constant hurricane force wind!

 

[snert]

That's a good find. I have a couple places outside Salmon, like yours homesteaded family ranches that dad and I used to go to when he lived in the area. The best part was nobody else around at least the days we'd go.

That's a loooong way for me, although lots of great country and a nice drive up the Lochsa or Payette depending which way I'd go and funny part is when I go up the Lowman route I go right through New Plymouth.

Oh yeah and some good formed rubber mats take care of the cow shit issue. I grew up on a farm and worked farming/ranching and trail crew the first 1/2 my life, before I got tired of living hand to mouth so you get used to the smell. Just be happy it's not dog shit, never could deal with that.

Or worse, cat crap

 

[jxb]

Or worse, cat crap

Just as bad smelling for sure, but at least cats generally bury their crap so less opportunity to step in it.

I never really minded most livestock crap, heck as a kid we'd have group fights with road apples and cow pie tossing contests, using the half baked ones! lol

 

[Majday]

I'm fortunate enough to be the only shooter on farm/cattle ranch around New Plymouth. The folks that own the ranch heard about me from a friend and I got an invite to come on out.

The original homestead was in 1862 and is still in the family. Large parcels have been sold off over the years to make it more manageable. No hired hands, Just family and they still have 1000 acres more or less. This week they are branding cattle.

I look forward to going out there every April and May and it is a hours drive from here...easy.

I have to close the gates and try not to get to upset tracking cow shit into my truck cab.

Mort

I went to school at TVCC for a year and it was spring 2005 and had hands down the best shooting I've ever had just over across the river and 15 miles away. Could shoot a brick of .22 from 1 spot 100 yard and under over a few hours. It was a blast. Loved that area.

 

[durand mortenson]

I went to school at TVCC for a year and it was spring 2005 and had hands down the best shooting I've ever had just over across the river and 15 miles away. Could shoot a brick of .22 from 1 spot 100 yard and under over a few hours. It was a blast. Loved that area.

Never been on campus but that is a pretty school.

The upper Payette?

I have to remember to bring my 22 lever Marlin for the close ones on the ranch.


Mort

 

[durand mortenson]

Going out tomorrow ...will bring camera.

 

[drover]

Unfortunately it is looking like another down population year for ground squirrels here in central Idaho.
I have exclusive rights to three large ranches, all withint a 30 mile radious I have been out twice, the first time about 3 weeks ago for about 4 hours and only managed to get 75. I went out again Monday and was out about 4 hours and only got 38. These are places where I could reasonably expect 350 to 500 shots per day, mostly 22 LR.
I don't know if there was a bout of plague or what but for the last 3 years the population has decreased each year. I am going to give it a couple of weeks then try again.

drover