Sage rat identification?

[JustSomeGuy]

What ever you use, be sure not to miss... I've heard tell that they're vengeful little critters and it's probably best not to get started warring with 'em..

 

[Yarome]

What ever you use, be sure not to miss... I've heard tell that they're vengeful little critters and it's probably best not to get started warring with 'em..

View attachment 1422294

It looks like Brandon upgraded them too! Just a couple years ago they weren't nearly as well equipped....

 

[Heyjoe]

Okay, you guys over there can do that.

whistle pig n
1 also whistle hog, whistling pig: A marmot n a, esp the woodchuck n.

(Yes, that was a bit of a d_ _ _ move, but hey, I'm a writer, occasionally of educational materials, and like being specific)

I'd have expected a writer of educational material to have recognized the qualifiers present in my initial reply.

I'd also presume a distinguished scholar of your achievement and success to realize that regional dialects, slang and language often operate under customs unfamiliar to those outside said region.

Here's an article about wildlife on Mountain Home Air Force including Whistle pigs:

Whistle pigs: Nuisance, but support local ecosystem

Editors note: This is part one of a five-part series on Mountain Home Air Force Base's local wildlife.Piute ground squirrels, more commonly referred to by locals as "whistle pigs," have been part of

www.mountainhome.af.mil

Another article referring to these as whistle pigs and a study that found plague in the whistle pigs in my AO:

Ground squirrels (aka whistle pigs) in Ada, Elmore counties test positive for plague

State health officials say tests of ground squirrels (or as many people in our area call them whistle pigs) found dead in the desert in Ada and Elmore county have come back positive for plague.Ground squirrels in the same areas last year, too, tested posit

kpic.com

 

[Hooyah DeepSea]

realize that regional dialects, slang and language often operate under customs unfamiliar to those outside said region.

Point taken, with apologies.

 

[ageingstudent]

That is the Sage Rat known as Steve.
Steve the Sage Rat enjoys long walks in the desert looking for food and places to homestead in.
Steve is very gregarious and loves to invite his friends over to visit.
Be advised that Steve is very allergic to lead....especially when it is coming in his direction at almost any velocity.
Andy

If nobody was around Steve would already have a barrel of birdshot in his arse

 

[ageingstudent]

I want to thank everyone for the discussion on the air gun caliber. I'm a little light on my knowledge of air guns. It got me thinking from more than one angle so thank you.

 

[P7M13]

In Wyoming, we called them "chislers".

 

[CO136]

Is this a sage rat?


View attachment 1421928

Appears to be a ground squirrel. Around here we call 'em diggers. I hate diggers. They get up in my woodshed, burrow, toss all kinds of dirt on my wood, and I have seen a time or two where a tunnel will cave in when walking up there. Again, I hate 'em. I used to have a white board where I could keep track of all those I wacked on an annual basis. Quit counting, last couple of years it's been a little better.

Lots of cool weapon suggestions by folks trying to exterminate these critters. I don't have one of them pellet guns. They sound pretty functional. Might have to invest one day...

Meanwhile, I'm a 12 ga fan. Fiocchi 12HV5 is my favorite, Mossberg 590. Hit's 'em hard at 30 yards. Challenging when they are on the run. Had a time when some mama showed up with a ton of little ones. Mossberg 930 that time. Have hit them with .17 HMR (which turns them inside out), and have wacked a couple with my S&W Governor 'cause they are stupid and let me get entirely to close.

And, NO ... wouldn't eat one of these vermin unless times are incredibly tough. YMMV.

 

[Yarome]

I want to thank everyone for the discussion on the air gun caliber. I'm a little light on my knowledge of air guns. It got me thinking from more than one angle so thank you.

I love my rimfires, but some of the PCP's they have on the market these days fit the bill in many applications. Modern engineering too has made it possible for a higher degree of propellant precision (air) over powder propellant. It really gives a boost to shot to shot accuracy and some incredible groupings.

Also, not to state the obvious... rimfires can also draw unwanted attention in certain circumstances. Especially if you have an Ninny's for neighbors.

 

[Yarome]

prairie dogs are known carriers of black plague. No thanks...lol

So do a number of other small animals... like rabbits! Looking it up a little... fortunately, in the past 20+ years there seems to have only been 2 cases of contracting the plague from eating raw mermot organs in Mongolia.

I dunno about anyone else, but I have a bad habit of cooking game meat. It's typically transmitted from ticks or the like from an infected animal.

The strain they carry though is typically a rodent plague so if you are poppin prarie dogs for your skillet... if they are in a thriving colony it's not likely that colony is infected. They tend to die when infected.. which is rather convenient.

To each their own....

 

[Hooyah DeepSea]

I don't have one of them pellet guns. They sound pretty functional. Might have to invest one day...

I didn't 'do' pellet guns until I found out that the Eurasian Collared Dove, which is invasive, is open to hunting 24/7, and without any license required. I can snipe them in my own back yard, without disturbing the neighbors. They ain't bad eating as long as you get a bunch.

 

[Xaevian]

So do a number of other small animals... like rabbits! Looking it up a little... fortunately, in the past 20+ years there seems to have only been 2 cases of contracting the plague from eating raw mermot organs in Mongolia.

I dunno about anyone else, but I have a bad habit of cooking game meat. It's typically transmitted from ticks or the like from an infected animal.

The strain they carry though is typically a rodent plague so if you are poppin prarie dogs for your skillet... if they are in a thriving colony it's not likely that colony is infected. They tend to die when infected.. which is rather convenient.

To each their own....

It's ok. Just the deadliest disease in human history. Easily treatable with modern antibiotics if caught early, though. Symptoms can show up as soon as 1 day after exposure, so keep an eye out.
I've skinned and cleaned enough game to know how often you come across fleas and ticks in the process and I always wear gloves.
There was a time not too long ago when some geniuses thought prairie dogs would be a great pet. Yeah, that didn't go very well.
Lots of land closures in Colorado over the last few years due to infected prairie dogs too after a little girl died from it.

 

[Yarome]

It's ok. Just the deadliest disease in human history.

I didn't mean to belittle a risk, but... there are so many ways to contract all sorts of things from animals that'll kill you just as dead and I don't believe in living my life in fear of everything that "may" in the remotest of chances be a possibility. Especially those things where the odds are in the hundreds of millions to 1... or... anything I'm 50 times less likely to contract than I am to being struck by lightening.

 

[Spitpatch]

That is the Sage Rat known as Steve.
Steve the Sage Rat enjoys long walks in the desert looking for food and places to homestead in.
Steve is very gregarious and loves to invite his friends over to visit.
Be advised that Steve is very allergic to lead....especially when it is coming in his direction at almost any velocity.
Andy

Look closer. It's Steve's evil twin.

 

[boattail]

Beldings squirrel, sage rat, whistle pig, pdog, whatever you want to call it just shoot it!!! I have turned more of these guys to pink mist than I can count. I have thousands of dollars in guns and equipment purpose built to eradicate those pests. I even have a shooting trailer dedicated to mission.

Usually I work the fields depredating them from early March into late May. We are in a down cycle for them around here and I have not shot for a couple years. On a good day 500 is normal, a slow day is 200-300, and a great day is 800 blood balloons popped. There is no better day than sending these guys into orbit with a 4000 FPS blaster and good friends around you.

 

[bbbass]

I didn't 'do' pellet guns until I found out that the Eurasian Collared Dove, which is invasive, is open to hunting 24/7, and without any license required. I can snipe them in my own back yard, without disturbing the neighbors. They ain't bad eating as long as you get a bunch.

I live in a developed neighborhood. Eurasian Collared Doves have run out all the Mourning Doves. I'd shoot the dang things with my .22 air rifle, but the neighbors are close. Mourning doves are excellent eating when marinated overnight.

 

[bbbass]

We have "Red Diggers" in the mountains over here, in addition to ground squirrels in the fields and rockchucks (marmots) in the hills. Cant find a pic of the Digger tho.

There are grey squirrels in the woods and brown squirrels in the trees in my yard and neighborhood. I have had to shoot brown squirrels that were chewing the bark off my weeping willow tree, causing big branches to rot out and fall. They will chew their way into attics too. Lil bastids!

 

[Stomper]

We call those 'whistle pigs' in my AO and total annihilation is welcomed.

Isn't that the term used in drinking establishments at 2am closing time?

 

[Stomper]

That is the Sage Rat known as Steve.
Steve the Sage Rat enjoys long walks in the desert looking for food and places to homestead in.
Steve is very gregarious and loves to invite his friends over to visit.
Be advised that Steve is very allergic to lead....especially when it is coming in his direction at almost any velocity.
Andy

Sounds a lot like everyone in my old platoon…..

 

[DirectDrive]

I'd go with Belding's Ground Squirrel (sage rat) in the OP's pic.
It is a big one and almost the size of a prairie dog.
Definitely not a Grey Digger.