204Ruger

Nice warm day (54F), saw a few scattered rats catching some rays in some field (not all). Starting to see the first green grass. Any day now...

If we do not get hit with a late Feb/March snow storm and/or heavy rain..which will slow them down. Bill K

Going out Monday-Weds. as you can see they are out on the southern slopes. The numbers are low still but what the heck it's all good. This was the long 268 yards shot with my new 22-250ai the red foreground was a couple of dead ones, the "Canibals" came out to eat their own....

Yeah, they're out here too. I got five of the little buggers a couple days ago.

Might be the best time I ever had shooting last few days. 650+ shots in two days! all larger Rats as the young have yet to be born. Every hole had Rats and the farm we were on had many holes. I would imagine he disks this field in the fall after the last cutting they are so thick. Shooting was good to say the least we had shots from 10 yards to 280+ yards. Northern California fields it was 65+ degrees (first use of sunscreen this year). Shooting my new 22-250ai and two custom 204 Rugers. The 22-250ia was shooting the 53 Vmax @ about 3900 fps and the 204's use the Nosler 32 Lead Free @ about 3950fps. Not that I needed to shoot the lead free but Nosler's Proshop had them on sale last winter for cheap and the fly great. Anyway my buddy shot just as many Rats if not more than I did with his .223 and .204. We never put a dent in the population of those 2 Pivots we shot. We did gain another large farm in the McDoel area and plan to shoot it next week if the weather is good. Envoy the pics guys.. I used a Nikon Laser Rangefinder to verify the distances shot on the first field by walking out to the dead rats and laser back to the car.. Mt Shast was in the background, we were the only rats shooters for every area we traveled. Met a couple of guys from Redding looking for shooting areas. Gave them a tip on the new Farm we just got and sent them on their way with smiles. Plenty of ground to go rat shooting for everyone.

Jealous! Looks like a great time. Seems like it may take a bit for the fields to dry out now. Nothing like shooting in a hot pivot field. I may head up that way next break in the weather. You shooting Prather or elsewhere? I'm looking for some new spots myself.

Wish it was me pulling the trigger! -39 on the way to work this morning!

Out in the old Red Rock area and Ericksons in MacDoel Bodei, we had a blast and got new ground to shoot also. Might be headed back to shoot Oregon (K-Falls) this week if the weather is decent. But we always start in No. California as they usually pop up a month or two early compared to the Oregon Rats. -0- in my area around Bend.

Are they as welcoming to shooters in Macdoel as the ranches around K-Falls? I got word that the rats are out in force in the Cedarville area now as well. Its nice to have a few different go-to places but we are always on the hunt for that perfect pivot field with thousands of rats in all directions! Always fun to find those places. I love the early season "Boon & Crockett" size rats!

I love the early season "Boon & Crockett" size rats!

now that's funny right there!


The guys around MacDoel are very open to any shooters, they copied our Driver's Lisc. and Hunting Lisc. everything but our AZZ... but the rats are there in numbers I have not seen in years, BUMPER CROP! lol and the little ones are not even out yet... Very good times for shooters this year that have ammo supplies....all you need to do is drive, finds rats, ask, then shoot.

Update! went out tuesday and shot 780 rds in one day! best day ever shooting squeaks. The farm in K-Falls is inundated with high numbers of Preggo squirrels. That means for every one shot you kill 10+. They are very concerned with the populations and are seeking shooters (pm me for info). I linked to a movie from yesterday and brought 800 rds, green boxes are .223 and the blue boxes are .204 ruger. When I neck turned these some were still tight in my new rifles, and I left the neck side up to denote them. Those boxes are all full of empties but one, it has 2 rows of unfired 32 Gr V-Max . I have never seen this many adults in one field. In an example, as you scoped a squeak you have a sight picture of 10-15 squeaks in the background, some more. The hillside was "crawling" with em....I brought 4 rifles, 3 -204's and 1-223. At no time was the 4 hot as we had a very brisk wind blowing all day off the hillsides with snow from Mondays storm. Started shooting @ 10am and finished about 5pm. 100+ rds per hour, more than 1 per minute!!!!! barely had time to pee...lol







http://s1094.photobucket.com/user/1_Var ... 1.mp4.html Movie of "crime scene"

O-yeah Don! Those are THE days we remember!

Your truck probably got much better gas mileage going home, being so much lighter, and you probably had swarms of raptors in your rear view mirror as you left the field too.......a perfect day in the rat patch! I'm lovin' it! You're gonna be a busy boy at the loading bench soon gettin' ready for the next field op.

PM sent a while ago......

Wow, the word 'EPIC' keeps bouncing around my brain!!!

I thought we would stay another day but i was out of ammo..lol

Guess what showed up on my front porch today?? Dillon XL650 with everything..I shoot X-terminator and after the initial setup it was as accurate metering as my 1010 or electronics.

I did 300 .204 Rugers after testing very tired tonight and will finish thursday. Nice not having a woman around when you are experimenting on the dinner table..........

That's a sweet setup! Glad to hear your shoot went well. I have 800 20 VT and 500 17 Hornet. Sounds like I'll need all my 204 and 223 as back -up. Did you shoot any rimfire? Will be up that way April 1-14-ish. Great inspiration!