Sage Rats on Oregon BLM Land

[daddoz777]

Anybody had any luck with sage rats on HWY 20 between Riley and Burns? Any worthwhile tips on where to hunt in 2024 without a $200+ per day guide service would be appreciated. Thanks in advance, Dan

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[joken]

Anybody had any luck with sage rats on HWY 20 between Riley and Burns? Any worthwhile tips on where to hunt in 2024 without a $200+ per day guide service would be appreciated. Thanks in advance, Dan

There is a large BLM or some other Government agency sign on the right side of the road that I recall being before Lake Chickahominy. I think the sign is stone on the ends supporting the wood sign. I was up that road once and spent the night in my camper. Not long after I got there I noticed rats running around. There weren't numbers like on an alfalfa pivot, but there were enough to keep me entertained for awhile. That's been a few years ago. If you don't see any, sit for awhile and if it's a nice day you should see some.

 

[daddoz777]

Thanks for the info, joken.

I now believe squeaks on BLM land in Oregon shall hereby and forever be relegated to the lore of Bigfoot or the proverbial unicorn!

Two weeks ago I went on a scouting trip to check out spots that seemed promising. I went down through Bend, La Pine, Fort Rock, Christmas Valley, across to Wagontire, up to Riley and then to Burns. What I saw was endless millions of acres of sage brush and not a single rat, save for a couple on private land just East of Fort Rock and one off of Substation Road in Burns.

I imagine you locals are probably laughing to stitches and I now consider myself completely and utterly schooled.

 

[joken]

We shoot on a large ranch south of Crane. It looks like a lot of Alfalfa growers have used poison and I suppose I can't blame them. There aren't as many rats there as there were a few years ago and it may just be that there are more people getting too shoot there. I am a friend of a friend of the family and have been shooting there for a number of years.

 

[bionic knees]

A couple years ago I made several trips through the grasslands around haystack lake and grey butte, places where they had been way more than plentiful in years past. Not a single rat was sighted. Friends of mine that still live in the area say that sage rats are nearly a thing of the past.

 

[R3dundantC]

I think they had a disease outbreak decimate them in between 2021 and 2022 because they just up and vanished, even in pivots I know haven't been poisoned in years.