Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Finally got out and shot some squeaks, a great day, saw some small Bald Eagles!

The ground squirrels are definately up good in NE Oregon.

My brother in law and I went to a large cattle ranch near Enterprise Oregon yesterday and had good, steady shooting all day long. A fantastic day with bright sunshine, cool temps, the Wallowa mountains in view as a backdrop, and plenty of targets.

One highlight was when I inspected a kill that I made with my Marlin 22WMR. Through the scope it looked like more and larger "chunks" were thrown than usual. Upon inspection, I had knocked four squirrel embryo's from thier hiding place. This means with one shot we managed to take out five fleabag, grass chomping hole diggers. And, I had never seen a squirrel embryo before. Kinda wierd.

Another highlight was seeing the sky full of Bald Eagles that have learned to associate the sound of rifle fire with a dinner bell. We left our last field a little earlier than we otherwise would have to give them all a chance to eat in peace and in daylight. Two of the bald Eagles were, we presume, juvenilles. Unless there is such a thing as midget Bald Eagles.... They had their adult coloration, but were about 1/2 the size of what looked to be mom and dad showing them the way to the buffet line.

I had never seen small bald Eagles before, so that plus seeing another 8 full sized Eagles and one Golden Eagle was a real hoot for both of us. The single Golden Eagle landed on a fence post nearby to us, and boy are they ever huge! What a sight.

Got some blood on my BIL's new AR-15 but only with battle sights as his VORTEX scope has not arrived yet. Also bloodied my new to me Ruger 10-22 SS, checkered deluxe stock target model 10/22. Man, that thing shoots! Nikon rimfire 2-7x scope atop is a wonderful combo and set up. For a challenge we tried knocking over squirrels at a measured 125 yards and managed to connect a few times with the new Ruger. If we ere holding correctly, the rifle was up to the task. We kept the wind right in our faces and this helped with those shots a bunch. 125-140 yards was pretty simple with the 22WMR, and almost automatic with my old Sako Riihimaki .222 fed with Moly'ed 50gr TNT's.

We decided for this day to just bring light rifles and shooting sticks. No benchrest, left the heavy barreled .223 and 220 Swift at home. Made for a relaxing day, and helped us sharpen our field shooting skills in preparation for big game hunting later in the year. Shooting from a bench is not much preparation for hunting marksmanship.

All in all, a just terrific day. Probably my last hurrah before I go in for my Kidney transplant in a couple of weeks as I am really paying for my fay of fun today. But I am not regretting going even with the pain and exhaustion today. I hope ya 'll can get out and shoot a few hundred yourselves, soon.

As I am fond of saying:

"Blasting ground squirrels on a sunny day in the mountains is as much fun as a man can have with his clothes on!"

They came out of their holes here today. Some didn't make it back in. I'm trying out the 55 varmageddons in my 243 and impressed so far. My wife had her 204 but she was at the other end of the pasture and didn't take any pictures. She was shooting 32 vmax, and they don't leave much for pictures anyway.

Those pics look really similar! Glad you have some targets out, now.

Too much fun, isn't it