So you want to shoot sage rats?

[flashpan]

I can recommend Diamond A guides in Burns for a great shoot! The alfalfa is just now cut ... rats are thick. Plowed thru a bunch of ammo today. Talk with Nikki 541 589 0755. The season will only last thru July 10th or so. Buy some ammo ...tell Nikki Craig sent you.

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[Cogs]

I can recommend Diamond A guides in Burns for a great shoot! The alfalfa is just now cut ... rats are thick. Plowed thru a bunch of ammo today. Talk with Nikki 541 589 0755. The season will only last thru July 10th or so. Buy some ammo ...tell Nikki Craig sent you.

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A hell of a picture! Very cool! Central Oregon is full of those sage rats, however, I always called them prairie dogs or ground hogs. I used to shoot them in So Central Oregon in K. Falls. Grew up on a ranch with 800+ acres, so, lots of varmint opportunities. Would love to go back and do it again.

 

[HB of CJ]

Any particular type of ammo required like lead free or frangible? I can understand the need not to poison the land or predators that feed off the remains.

.22rf

5.56x45

 

[flashpan]

Nothing special...high vel 22 rimfire hp's are fine. I think 17 HMR is the best cartridge for sage rats. Of course we also use several center fire rifles for long range fun and challenge.

 

[arrowshooter]

Thanks for this tip, gunna call them today and see how their bookings are.

 

[Stomper]

Nikki said Craig still owes them $20














Not really....

 

[snarlingdog]

What is there price to go and do it?

 

[arrowshooter]

What is there price to go and do it?

Predator Paradise - Burns OR - Sage Rats - Badgers - Coyotes

 

[snarlingdog]

Predator Paradise - Burns OR - Sage Rats - Badgers - Coyotes

Wow.....

 

[flashpan]

What is there price to go and do it?

Just give Nikki a call for this years rates...don't go by their website...phone calls really still work well for communication.

 

[arrowshooter]

Thanks again Flashpan, just booked a hunt and we're staying in a Tee Pee for 2 nights.

So how many boolits should we take? All of them?

 

[flashpan]

You could go thru 500 rnds in a day if you bang away at every rat you see inside 150yrd.
Have a great time...I also recommend the hot springs tub.

 

[Stomper]

$195 a day for lodging and meals, plus the hunting access is NOT a bad price at all...

 

[kevlar]

Pretty sure shooting rats is free.

 

[Medic!]

I have a secret place I slip off to.

 

[Ops]

thats just mean. wait till they come for you

 

[Retread Ted]

Just got home from hunting with Diamond A Guide Service last night. Like others, we have been looking for a place to shoot rats. Tried Christmas Valley for two years now. Not enough rats to make a decent meal. I read Flashpan's thread here, and arrived in Hines, Oregon Tuesday. Wednesday morning, 6:20 AM, followed Nikki into the killing fields. We have our own shooting platform, so we were on our own for two days. This is the tail end of rat shooting, so we didn't get many, BUT it was a blast (pun intended). Nikki felt bad for our comparative low success rate, and gave us a monetary break. When did you ever have someone offer you a monetary concession? These people (Nikki and Justin) are salt-of-the-earth people. And they're WORKERS and go-getters. By their work ethncs and fairness, you'd think they're Boomers, like us. Ha! Flashpan gave us their phone number. If you wanna kill rats next year, that's the number to call.

 

[flashpan]

So my varmint hunting buddy talks me into one last trip to shoot sage rats in Burns. Got home late last night after a 2 day outing.
It was cool and rainy last week so heard the rats should still be above ground...not hibernating just yet. The rifles on this trip were:
22LR Ruger 77/22 custom barrel
17HMR Savage B17 suppressed
204 Ruger Howa min-mauser suppressed
17 Fireball Custom 700
221 Fireball Custom 700
222 Rem Custom 700
Rolled into a field 11AM to perfect weather 75 degrees, 5-10 wind with few 15 mph gusts, blue sky.
Despite the late time in the season we were not disappointed ... it was a great last shoot. Sunday for 6 hrs and yesterday from 8:30 to 3 the two of us shoot an estimated 1400 rnds, roughly 800 rimfire, the balance centerfire. These rifles/scopes and handloads have been fine tuned from a season of shooting so with swivel benches, solid rests and little wind , our % hit/miss was high. No doubt we killed around 1200 rats. The long shot of the trip was 332 yards with the 204R, the short shot was 9 feet with the 22. Yesterday morning from 8:30 to 9:30 was insane...we averaged one rat/10 seconds for a solid hour with rimfires...it became so monotonous we began just taking head shots.
The eagles, ravens, seagulls, buzzards, crane and a weasel all seemed happy with the results. Farmers happy too....even though we tried our level best to kill them all, we did leave a few.
Our Compliments and Recommendations again to Diamond A Guides in Burns. The big comfortable tents and mineral springs hot tubs are excellent. Hope to see you in the rats fields next season.

 

[Retread Ted]

Uh - "Farmers happy too . . . even though we tried our level best to kill them all" You really didn't mean that? We left most of the farmers live when we hunted there. Otherwise, they'e a little reluctant to let you hunt again. Ha! GREAT report. Thanks for the info.