Hey guys, haven't been on here for a while. I was at my cousin's house this weekend and we spotted a fresh badger mound out in his pivot. I grabbed the binoculars and looked around a little for it when I spotted a SAGE RAT, in about 4 inches of snow So, naturally I decided that it would be bad luck to not kill the first squirrel of the season, so I grabbed a .22 and Kenny and I walked out to go kill it. We stopped at about 75 yards and I sat down in the snow, Brrrrr. I thumped him good on the second shot. First rat down !!! As if your trigger finger wasn't itching bad enough Won't be much longer until they are running all over the place now!

You killed 1/2 of the breeding stock already!!

Verm, were are the pictures! You know the rules! Pictures, pictures, pictures! Gary

If that was a female, it may have represented more than half of the Spring production....

No snow here but I shot a couple here about two weeks ago. I really was surprised to see them out. I don't think you're going to hurt the population any by shooting a few now. I started shooting them the last week of Jan. last year and later, when it warmed up, there were thousands of them. Have fun, I'm going to.

Verminator, I suspected they should be coming out for short periods of time. As to argue in support of killing rats early. We hunted early for several years on a ranch with 6 circles that was literally infested with the rats. Yes, it is Dennis's brothers place. Add lots of early shooting and a hard winter, they were nearly wiped out. To say the least, he was very happy with the results.

The rancher got us into another large alfalfa growers last season and the populations were so very high. We are going to go in and shoot early to help him get the numbers down. From all of the killing rats, we keep getting referalls to other places where they have major rat problems. I am hoping for a good season.

Yeah I know, I know, I just don't bring cameras to my cousin's house. I mean teenagers, with an expensive piece of digital equipment, on a ranch, with snow, it would just be bad luck for a camera I'm not worried about shooting rats early, they are a farmer's worst enemy and they reproduce fast. Rockchucks, on the otherhand, you have to be a little more careful.

Just so all the Oregon guys know, rats are starting to get up pretty good. Been seeing quite a bit around noon. We went out shooting from almost 4 to 5:30 and shot 80 centerfires and 50 rimfires. Got one at 480 on my first shot. Pure luck as I guessed the range As well as some squirrels, we also got a badger off the pivot.

Oh, I also have been seeing quite a few rockchucks up in the middle of the day. Spring's here!

Verm, that is great news! I'll cross the big hill in a couple of weeks and get after them! Gary