Sage Rat Hunting

[USMC1911]

Anyone have a reliable and reasonable priced spot for rats? Place we went last few years was less then impressive last year and would love a new spot.

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[Hooyah DeepSea]

Ground squirrel / sage rate shooting places, especially like farms, ranches, and such are getting few and far between due primarily to personal liability issues. It's like you have to actually know the owners, agree to pay for any damages, and guarantee not to sue if you hurt yourself. The same goes for marmots / rock chucks / whistle pigs.

 

[WAYNO]

And even more than that, most of the ranches I used to shoot, when the owners aged out, they were bought up by out of staters, that almost exclusively have disallowed hunting on their property.

 

[kmk1012]

That's too bad. I just booked a dinner at the Cowboy Dinner Tree next month while we are in the area looking for rats, rabbits, coyotes.I'm taking my son for his first time and was hoping for some results.

 

[Hooyah DeepSea]

Back in the day, we used to go to Surprise Valley, CA; to their annual squirrel shoot, nick-named "Squirrel Wars". It was held every May and drew folks from all over the region. A few years back, I tried to set up something similar in the Madras / Culver area (Central OR), but there were no positive responses despite a plethora of critters there. Again, it was liability issues that pretty much killed the idea.

 

[ORhutner]

Unfortunate but all to true changes that have been occurring over the last 20-years. The pay to play places have seen rates climb rapidly also. Saw an add for rat shooting outside Burns and the cost was $300/shooter for 6-hours of shooting time as they took a mid-day 2-hour break for lunch. I can sympathize with the property owners as I have seen some appalling behavior before at some of the more frequented sage rat fields.

If you have skills to offer in trade that are valuable to a rancher who has fields plagued by sage rats, that is likely your best bet for getting onto a field. Things like irrigation pipe straightening and welding will likely get you onto a field in exchange for some work. If your good at it, it will likely get you invited back. If you can or do earn a living welding, you should be able to find yourself permission in exchange for some work. Service mechanics would be another one. All these trades have opened up doors to fields for our group in the past. Start with building a relationship and trust, it will likely turn into a long term friendship and both parties will always look forward to the next meet up.

 

[kmk1012]

I thought about offering my first born in trade for a place to shoot rats annually but then realized that I'd have to start mowing the lawn

 

[Member 53328]

We go shoot on a private farm. My dad knows the property owner. Unfortunately with the amount of poisoning they are doing now the amount of rats has dropped drastically.

Ahhhh the good ol' cowboy dinner tree. A 32oz steak or a full chicken. Those are your only options. Haha. Along with baked bean, potatoes, bread, and cobbler.

The hipster community and Portland now know about the dinner tree and have ruined it unfortunately.

 

[NeoBlackdog]

You live in Salem, for Pete's sake! Can't find any rats runnin' around the 'Capitol'?

 

[Hooyah DeepSea]

You live in Salem, for Pete's sake! Can't find any rats runnin' around the 'Capitol'?

Them are, for the most part, an entirely different kind of rodent, though I'd like to see a lot of them on the endangered list.

 

[kmk1012]

We go shoot on a private farm. My dad knows the property owner. Unfortunately with the amount of poisoning they are doing now the amount of rats has dropped drastically.

Ahhhh the good ol' cowboy dinner tree. A 32oz steak or a full chicken. Those are your only options. Haha. Along with baked bean, potatoes, bread, and cobbler.

The hipster community and Portland now know about the dinner tree and have ruined it unfortunately.

Friggin better not be full of "Hipsters", those lame asses should stay in their lanes.

 

[Koda]

The hipster community and Portland now know about the dinner tree and have ruined it unfortunately.

how so?

 

[Member 53328]

how so?

Cause now it's a "trendy" thing to do. Kinda like when you have a hole in the wall bar you love and no one knows about it. And then some hipster finds it and does a Vlog and then all his followers have to go too.

 

[Koda]

Cause now it's a "trendy" thing to do. Kinda like when you have a hole in the wall bar you love and no one knows about it. And then some hipster finds it and does a Vlog and then all his followers have to go too.

thats what I thought you were getting at and I can see that happening....

 

[kmk1012]

I'll have to report back on the 28th about the atmosphere of the place. You know, the Subaru to truck ratio in the parking lot etc.

 

[Iceman04503]

You live in Salem, for Pete's sake! Can't find any rats runnin' around the 'Capitol'?

Those are oversized cockroaches.

 

[DirectDrive]

It's a business.
The have War Wagons now.

 

[Member 53328]

It's a business.
The have War Wagons now.
View attachment 1394888

Talk about having a limited field of fire. Haha. Way too many people for me. I love sage rat hunting though.

This is more my style.

 

[kmk1012]

Talk about having a limited field of fire. Haha. Way too many people for me. I love sage rat hunting though.

This is more my style.

View attachment 1394909

Looks like my experiences circa 2002

 

[daddoz777]

I'll admit I'm a shameless newbie. A couple friends and myself are going out for the first time the weekend of the 14th to check out Sage Rat Excursions out of Bonanza, about a half hour east of Klamath Falls. We've been quoted $100 per day per shooter. If you'd like more info about what I know so far feel free to pm me.

Another thing I've been looking at is BLM land. While you can only determine so much from a map, I've found some intriguing spots using a site called FreeRoam. This site can show you BLM land, satellite views and elevations. Check out the area on both sides of Powell Butte Rd leading northeast out of Bend. While a good portion of BLM land can be quite hilly, this section is relatively flat and is an area I hope to check out.

Good luck.