Jack Rabbit/Sage Rat Hunting

[VarmintKiller.308]

I've been thinking about heading out and trying to kill a few Jack Rabbits or Sage rats. Does anyone know of a good place to go this time of year? I talked to the ODFW office in Hines and they said that the rabbit population was fairly good this year. Any help would be much appreciated.

Read More

 

[eldbillbo]

do a board search here already lots of good info posted

 

[g.i. joe]

Im definitely on board with this. Jack rabbets are LOTS of fun to hunt. We would shoot 500-1000 rounds a day during the big infestation in SE Idaho in the early 80's. It was unreal!

 

[Cougfan2]

My dad grew up in Topeka, KS. I have some old black and white photos of him hunting with his buddies where they were standing around a late '30's vintage sedan with literally bushel baskets full of rabbits after a hunt. This was back when there had been an explosion of the rabbit population. His best friend had a pack of beagles that they used to hunt the rabbits with and he says what they couldn't save to to eat themselves they would boil up and feed to the dogs. My brother still has the old Savage .22lr semiauto rifle that he used to hunt them with.

 

[g.i. joe]

Thats how it was in Idaho. When the winter hit, hoards of Jack rabbits would come off the desert and storm hay stacks, they could destroy a haystack overnight. There was nothing to do with the dead ones, they all were carriers of some form of Hepatitis. That was 1981, and they haven't been back to that degree, or even close, since.
I shot 1000's of rounds out of my $15, .22lr Marlin lever action. Then I graduated to shooting them with .30-06, loaded with 110gr hollow points. Yikes!! That will tear a rabbit right in half, its quite a visual in the snow!

 

[prkrgrp]

I've been thinking about heading out and trying to kill a few Jack Rabbits or Sage rats. Does anyone know of a good place to go this time of year? I talked to the ODFW office in Hines and they said that the rabbit population was fairly good this year. Any help would be much appreciated.

blm east of crane is full of rabbits, rats are underground now and will be until spring.

 

[gunfreak]

Every year now for the past 6 we have gone over to Christmas Valley Oregon. It started out as a bachelor party for Jason and has grown to all out war every spring. Beer, bratwurst and blood. Driving around in the middle of the night on alfalfa fields. This year we killed 400 rabits on the first night. Shotguns, are the weapon of choice but I had to transition to my pistol a couple times because there were so many that my 7 shot 870 ran dry. Then during the day we kill rats. Savage .17hmr is king here. It's gotta be sunny with not a lot of wind or they don't like it. Few years ago 8 guys sat in a field for 6 hours and never stopped shooting.

 

[Decker]

Every year now for the past 6 we have gone over to Christmas Valley Oregon. It started out as a bachelor party for Jason and has grown to all out war every spring. Beer, bratwurst and blood. Driving around in the middle of the night on alfalfa fields. This year we killed 400 rabits on the first night. Shotguns, are the weapon of choice but I had to transition to my pistol a couple times because there were so many that my 7 shot 870 ran dry. Then during the day we kill rats. Savage .17hmr is king here. It's gotta be sunny with not a lot of wind or they don't like it. Few years ago 8 guys sat in a field for 6 hours and never stopped shooting.

Sheesh. If you eat what you kill then you're a very satisfied bunch!

-d

 

[gunfreak]

No not those nasty things. These are not cute little fat cotton tails, but mangy skinny nasty jack rabbits.