Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Can't wait for the rats!

The weather is still rough. Hopefully in a week or two it'll clear and the sage rats will be up from having their babies!

GoForBroke: Indeed we had snow showers here in SW Montana yesterday and its unsettled today (44 degrees at 3:00 P.M.).
What part of the world are you in.
I have shot a few "Sage Rats" this week but again wind and cold is keeping them "hesitant" to do much foraging.
Some fields are still to wet to traverse.
Patience is a virtue and at times, I lack virtue!
Come on spring/summer.
Good luck to you when you do get after'em.
Hodl into the wind
VarmintGuy

I'm in Eastern Oregon. They were out a month ago and I shot some. Shot a couple males two weeks ago. Seen a few pups out but not many. One or two weeks with some good weather and we'll see.

Today I got 64... Not as good as it should be.. gopher numbers have been down in this area for several years...

That's 64 more than I got. Ours are still down this year. I'm thinking it should be a good year but it's looking slim so far.

I've been waiting on the weather also to make a trip over to that side of the mountains. Looking forward to some shooting soon, I hope .... May need to put out some feelers to find some new fields, though. My old places seemed to be out of production last year when we went and had a tough time finding a new place...

Bob

GoForBroke: What part of the world are you and the lazy "rats" in?
Had fresh skiff of snow on my lawn again yesterday here in SW Montana.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I'm starting to wonder if it's going to be a slim year here too. Mild winter so they should be out.


I'm in Eastern Oregon not far from Boise. They had some plague over near Boise hopefully it didn't affect the population over here.

I've found that most of the time if there is a lot of cloudy weather like this spring they tend to come up later. If there is lots of sunshine they pop out a bit earlier, at least for a couple weeks, then they wait until warmer weather comes along. I don't think they are comfortable above ground with clouds and wind because they can't see winged predators in those conditions, but I could be wrong... those are the days I spend a bit more time calling coyotes and hunting for jack rabbits...

Bob

We always had the best shooting,because there ain't that much Fresh Fish on The Dry Side.(grin)

Nice to await a phone call saying..."we've mowed and NOW is the time",to arrive the scene and steal The Show.

It was rough.................(grin)

Yup, haven't had a chance to get to know anyone over there well enough yet to get to that point. Darned work and stuff always seemed to get in the way of a good time....
Feel like I'm starting all over again.....

First chance I got over there last year, was just BEFORE they were ready to cut..... grrrr.....

Bob

Prevailing thought is pretty much that. They either think the shadow is a hawk or predator. I have access to private and public lands. I prefer the public if I can get away from people. Private I have to watch out for cows, sheep, and irrigation equipment. The sagerat pups are out as well as the chucks. The fun will start now.

Just got back from Princeton 40 miles S of Burns 1 day of so so weather with no rain out of 3 slow for rats, had fun, kind of a redneck family reunion. Family raises mint roots there and alfalfa. Kurt

I had a week long trip scheduled for the end of the month but ended up cancelling it due to the expected weather. If I'm going to go that far and spend that kind of money, I darn well want to do some steady shooting.

One problem is we had a historically rough winter two years ago, and then mild winters since then. So the grass is pretty tall and the snakes are plenty. I saw more pups yesterday along the highway. We'll see how they are out on the BLM grounds.

That's nice! I like the Burns area. Although I spent more time north of Burns.

I'd expect the chucks are getting active in your area.

I think I'll plan a trip for next week late if the weather looks good then. Should be about right for the rats to be up and running around and the grass to still be a shootable height- I hope...

Bob

Was over south of Klamath yesterday at an old truck stop just north of the California line..
Said it was from Bonanza on the truckers door... I asked about how were the sage rats doing
and the driver said that he needed to get out there and after them, as they were out for the last two weeks and were already doing a number on his alfalfa as it was coming up...

I gotta find the contact numbers of the several places I shoot on every year...
Since moving last summer I still can't find half my world.. it either being in storage or packed in boxes it got thrown into ..

as soon as this never ending rain clears, they are going to be out just like the leaves on the trees will go from budding to full leaves in a couple of days...the tree huggers have to be stroking themselves over all the rain we've gotten this year......

between the fast growing once the sun stays here and the mud... cutting down access, it may be a short opening season on the little rodents.

I can't seem to get my timing right to join you but I'm not giving up.