Jennifer and Mat, over at the Crown Cattle Company, which is located near Seneca, between John Day and Burns, Oregon, are offering sage rat shooting for very reasonable rates. In this instance, reasonable means that you have the luxury of showing up from hundreds of miles away and knowing you’ll have a place to shoot squirrels. In my opinion, their rates are great, and I’d sign up in a heartbeat if I was coming in to shoot squirrels from out of the area.

If you want to shoot on their property, you need to call them at (541) 542-2608 and make a reservation before showing up. (What did I just say people? DON’T JUST SHOW UP, CALL FIRST, LIKE A PERSON WITH MANNERS!) They have a 2 page form to fill out that says if you break stuff or yourself, or shoot each other, or shoot cows, horses, chickens, or Big Foot, you will be asked to leave a check for the damages, and then, “Just Leave”!

The Cattle Company’s squirrel shooting rates are:

• $35 per day per hunter Mon. – Thurs.
• $45 per day per hunter Fri. – Sun.
• $15 per day for hunters 12 and under.
• Group rate:  If there are 3 or more hunters in your party, take $5 off per hunter. (12 and under not included in group rate discount.)
• SAGE RAT MOBILE: $30/day

Here are all the rules and regulation, except for the “No shooting Bigfoot type legalese from the back of the form”:

• You must schedule hunting times with the owner prior to your visit.
  1. Prior to hunting, you must sign a release form and agree to follow the hunting rules. Everyone in your party who will be on the property needs to read, sign, and place these forms in the orange box prior to hunting. Parents must sign for minor children.
  2. You are only allowed to shoot sage rats and badgers.
  3. Driving off roads is allowed only if ground is dry enough that you are not leaving ANY ruts. No driving is allowed on the hay meadows. You are welcome to walk in any of the designated hunting areas. No driving off roads after July 10th due to fire danger.
  4. Do not leave any garbage, litter or ammo boxes behind. Please take it when you leave.
  5. No shooting near horses or cattle.
  6. No shooting around the shop, barn, houses, or corrals.
  7. Close all gates that you open.
  8. Drive and hunt only in the designated areas. (See map that will be provided)
  9. Violation of these rules will get you tossed off the place, with a request never to return…

There are a couple more points I’d like to make. The above rules should be no-brainer, common sense, reality to people who shoot and/or hunt on other’s property. Please don’t make the rest of us look bad and close down another hunting area, like the Dinsdale Ranch, because you’re an ID TEN TANGO.
Here’s a map that shows where Seneca is:

View Larger Map

SS

Here is a map that shows where they are located:

View Larger Map

Some of the guys in the forums have shot at Crater Lake Buffalo Company, and say the hunting is great. If you want to talk to any of them, the guys in the Tacoma Death Squad, including OblitaRat and RedMister have both been hunting there. And, according to Adrina, from Crater Lake Buffalo Company:

I had some guys shooting yesterday who went through about 3000 rounds each with a 75% kill rate.

Now that’s some fun shooting!

They only have a few spots left for the rest of the sage rat season, which ends around the middle of July, so if you want to go, you need to contact them quickly. Here’s what you need to know:

Crater Lake Buffalo Company Squeak Hunts
Ranch Phone: 541-365-2227
Cell Phone: 541-810-3956 or 3955
Address:
HC 63 Box 291 Hwy 97
Chiloquin, OR 97624
E-mail address: sales@clbcsqueakhunt.com
craterlakebuffalo@hughes.net

Before you get all uppity about paying for shooting squirrels, remember how it sucks driving around all day and not being able to find a rancher that’ll let you shoot on his place, especially when the weekend already cost you $400 in gas, hotel, food and licenses? Remember how he took one look at your pretty pickup or shiny SUV, and just knew you were a Portland or Seattle hunter, and didn’t want you within 20 miles of his stock? Or, the 3 years that you waited to get a team into the Unity Squirrel Shoot for $450 bucks, and then only ended up getting 23 squirrels in 8 hours, and that was split between 6 shooters (real story)? So quit your bitchin about the money already….

I’ll let you know when I know more.

I called and asked if they were doing it again this year, but since there aren’t any 4H kids traveling overseas this year, there wasn’t any call for the fundraiser. So, you guys that were hoping to win some money doing long range shooting on Sunday, are going to have to find something else to do…

Jennifer
Crown Cattle Company
crowncattle@gmail.com
(541) 542-2608

The Oakes Ranch is in Ironside, Oregon, and is a mile or two north of Highway 26, about 28 miles east of Unity. Their phone number is 541-446-3557, or 541-889-2302, for anyone who needs directions or has questions about the event.

This is the second time that the Oakes have done this in the last couple of years. Both times have been to benefit granddaughters who are in 4H and have been trying to raise the $4,000.00 it takes to pay for their Student Agricultural Exchange trips to Australia.

Lunch will be available, and, according to Mrs. Oakes, it’ll be pulled pork or BBQ Pork sandwiches, plus a bunch of other stuff. If you want to know for sure, give them a call. Here is a list of the events that are planned for Sunday, and it looks like a ton of fun. All the events have prizes, plus there is a grand prize of $100.00.

• Rim Fire Egg Shoot: 5 shots at an egg suspended by a string at 50 and 100 yards off hand. This is a rim fire event made for you guys who have .17HMR’s, and still have ammo left after the squirrel shoot on Saturday. The price to enter the competition is $5, and you can enter twice if you need to. (Of course, that means you suck, but hey.)
• Long Rang Rifle: 5 shots at a deck of playing cards at a distance of between 200 and 300 yards. (You can shoot from prone using a bipod or rucksack rest only.) The best poker hand wins…
• Long Range Steel Target: 5 shots at steel targets in the 200 to 300 yard range. You can enter the long range shoots for $10, twice.
• Sporting Clays: 36 clay birds and/or rabbits for a $15 entry fee.
• Pistol Shoot: 5 shots at 10-25 yards. You can enter for $5 and do it twice if you have to…
• There is a discount for multiple entries!
• And Finally, there is going to be a .50 caliber shoot too, but you will need to call them on the particulars.
• It was also mentioned, that there might be some squirrels to shoot, but you will need to call and ask about that too…

All of you guys who are going to the Unity Squirrel Roundup need to show up for this, have some fun, and spend some money for a good cause. If your willing to spend $75 per hunter to shoot squirrels where the prizes suck, you might as well spend some money to help out some kids.

SS

Call Jennifer at: (541) 542-2608

SS

If you want to shoot on their property, you need to call them at (541) 542-2608 and make a reservation before showing up. (What did I just say people? DON’T JUST SHOW UP, CALL FIRST, LIKE A PERSON WITH MANNERS!) They have a 2 page form to fill out that says if you break stuff or yourself, or shoot each other, or shoot cows, horses, chickens, or Big Foot, you will be asked to leave a check for the damages, and then, “Just Leave”!

The Cattle Company’s squirrel shooting rates are $25 per day, per hunter, Monday through Thursday, and then they go up on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to $35 per hunter per day. They offer special pricing of $10 per day for hunters under 12 years old, but I don’t know anyone in their right mind who’d want to go squirrel hunting with someone under 12. (Oh, Dang, I wrote that out loud, didn’t I? Please don’t send me mail, I won’t read it anyway…) They also offer $5 off per hunter, for groups with more than 3 adult hunter in them. (No further discount for the kids, sorry.)

Here are all the rules and regulation, except for the “No shooting Bigfoot type legalese from the back of the form”:

• You must schedule hunting times with the owner prior to your visit.
1. Prior to hunting, you must sign a release form and agree to follow the hunting rules. Everyone in your party who will be on the property needs to read, sign, and place these forms in the orange box prior to hunting. Parents must sign for minor children.
2. You are only allowed to shoot sage rats and badgers.
3. Driving off roads is allowed only if ground is dry enough that you are not leaving ANY ruts. No driving is allowed on the hay meadows. You are welcome to walk in any of the designated hunting areas. No driving off roads after July 10th due to fire danger.
4. Do not leave any garbage, litter or ammo boxes behind. Please take it when you leave.
5. No shooting near horses or cattle.
6. No shooting around the shop, barn, houses, or corrals.
7. Close all gates that you open.
8. Drive and hunt only in the designated areas. (See map that will be provided)
9. Violation of these rules will get you tossed off the place, with a request never to return…

There are a couple more points I’d like to make. The above rules should be no-brainer, common sense, reality to people who shoot and/or hunt on other’s property. Please don’t make the rest of us look bad and close down another hunting area, like the Dinsdale Ranch, because you’re an ID TEN TANGO.

Here’s a map that shows where Seneca is:

View Larger Map

SS

The squirrels are just starting to venture out. I saw my first one a couple days ago (A big fat one!). I hear they are out pretty good in Hereford and Ironside/Cow Valley which is typical. I’m sure it won’t be long and they will be out here too!

Stock up on .223 and .17 HMR and head for Eastern Oregon people. LOL

See you there…

We are now setting up reservations for shooting squirrels. Cost will be $100 per day per shooter. Does not include lodging. Motel, RV Parking, Camping available. We’ve had some that want to camp and some that want separate rooms etc, so we decided to just go a flat rate for shooting. 50% deposit required at time of Reservation. Youth under 17 are $75 per day Mentored youth under 13 are Free. All Oregon Hunting Regulations apply. Must have OR Resident hunting License ($22.50) or Non-Resident License ($76.50) age 14 or older. Under 17 years must also carry a Hunter Education Card. These are just a couple highlighted requirements to be aware of.

We have areas suitable for large caliber shooting as well as the small caliber. Even archery if they want. Contact Cindy or Bill to make reservations or if they have any questions.

Thanks, Unity Motel, Unity Country Store and Bill and Cindy. 541-446-3431 (home) 541-446-3636 Store/Motel

I tried to use my .223 V Match from Bushmaster*, but it’s jamming like crazy, so I was stuck shooting my 17. My V Match shoots a tighter group than his Varminter does, but that doesn’t really count when it jams on every other round. (My V match actually shoots a sub 3/4 inch group where his Varminter shoots a 1 inch group.)

But, I digress. Back to the squirrel hunting….

We couldn’t find the rancher whose ranch we usually shoot at, so, we drove up and down highway 3 between Lewiston and Enterprise, and knocked on doors until we found a very nice man that told us we could hunt one of his fields. We drove up to the field and Verminator set up his benchrest looking up a small gully in the field, while I took my 17 and wandered up to the top of the hill.

The field looked like it was about a half section, about 300 acres or so, and we could see squirrels occasionally running hither and yon through the grass. The rancher said he had just pulled the cattle off the fields, so the grass wasn’t very long and seeing the squirrels wasn’t the problem it usually is this time of year.

As I was walking up to the top of the hill, about 50,000 higher than I was, and covered with glaciers, (well, maybe it was only 200 feet above me, but remember, I’m old, fat, and eat Twinkies) I could here the Verminator behind me terminating squirrels with extreme prejudice. I could hear screaming and crying and the sound of battle over the next ridge. (I think he was on full auto and afraid of being overrun.) By the time I got half way up the hill, my heart gave out and I died.

When I came to, the Verminator was still shooting, so I might have recovered before I actually got more brain damage from lack of oxygen, but, there’s no way I can prove that.

I sat down on a rock and a couple of minutes later, the squirrels started to pop their heads out of their holes to see what I was doing. What I was doing was popping their heads off when they popped them out of the hole. It was kind of like playing whack-a-mole at Chuck E. Cheeses, but without all the screaming kids. If you guys have seen any of the squirrel hunting videos that we have done, then you know that when you hit a squirrel in the chest or throat with a ballistic tip bullet, their heads sometimes go straight up for 10 feet or more.

I had to keep moving, because the squirrels I was shooting were country squirrels who lived quite aways away from their neighbors, while the squirrels that the Verminator was shooting in his little gully were city squirrels and lived in high-rises; up and down both sides of a major squirrel highway. In other words, I was having to walk a long ways, shoot a squirrel and then hike on, while he just sat at his bench rest and piled the bodies up while drinking Perrier and having his nails done. OK, I’m jealous. Did you pick that up by the whiny tone in my voice?

We shot that field for around 5 hours or so, and ended up taking about 80 squirrels. I had 37 confirmed kills and 4 maybes, while he had 44 kills. I asked him how many maybes he had and he said real men didn’t count maybes. I told him his nails looked nice. See how pleasant I can be, even in the face of rudeness?

We quit shooting around 4pm, because the squirrels were all dead and we had forgotten to put on sunscreen. We went and thanked the rancher for letting us shoot his field and headed over to see the rancher whose ranch we usually shoot at. He was there, so we went out and looked over his property, but we had done such a good job whacking the squirrels on his place, that we only took around 20 in 2 hours.

I told Verminator that I thought we were so good at killing squirrels, that maybe we should start moving from field to field instead of sitting in one placing and actually killing them all before moving on. Of course, the ranchers do want us to kill them all, but I don’t want to put myself out of business. The Verminator told me I was an Idjit, or in police parlance, an eye dee 10 tango. I think that mean I’m really cool or something, I’ll have to look it up.

He also said that if we were that good, we should be able to charge for clearing fields, instead of begging our way from ranch to ranch. I think we’re that good, but he says I’m full of something stinky and that there are million more squirrels underground, just waiting for us to leave so that they can rebuild. I think he’s full of it, but we will know more next year when we return to some of the field we shot this year and see if he’s right or if I am. (I’m pretty sure that even if he’s right, I’m going to lie and tell you I was… Stay tuned.)

In conclusion, we got back to Walla Walla at 10:30 last night, I’m burnt to a frazzle, I’m tired and my eyes hurt from being windblown and sunfried. I didn’t shoot any tape, because I was selfish and just wanted to kill squirrels. I have tons of footage I haven’t turned into video yet, so that’s not really a problem. If you drop by from time to time this winter, there may be new footage up, you never know.

SquirrelSniper

*I thought I had a Varminter too, but I just looked it up and mines a V Match, not the Varminter like I thought.

If you are interested in shooting sage rats in the area, here is some general information to get you started.

• Take hwy 31 east off of 97, just south of LaPine to Fort Rock.
• In both Fort Rock and Christmas Valley you just need to knock on doors (they all say yes, except the ones with No Hunting posted.
• Skip the grass fields, go for the alfalfa.

There is a commercial ranch (Dinsdale Ranch) ten miles past Fort Rock (on the way to Christmas Valley) that has a sign-up sheet at their weigh station for hunters. They have maps of all their fields and encourage shooters, but only 22 rim fire are allowed. They have about 20 fields locally, so there should be enough to go around.

There are two hotels in Christmas Valley that are both a little gross but at least partially clean. A guy can easily shoot 50 rats a day and triple that on a good day.

Here is a link to the general Christmas Valley area on Google maps for those of you who don’t know how to find your *** with both hands. (Sorry about the rude *** comment, but I just spilled hot coffee in my lap and it made me irritable. Now I need to go shoot some squirrels.)

I forgot to mention that when you are looking at the Google map, if you click “Find a Business” and then type in RANCH, it will give you a list of ranches and driving directions to them on the map. You can then call them before you go so that you aren’t wasting your time driving around when you could be shooting squirrels instead. Once again I’ve done the work for you because I’m cool.

Christmas Valley Ranches.

SquirrelSniper

Double click on the play button to play the video.

Even though the wind was blowing pretty hard, the Verminator and I ended up shooting around 200 ground squirrels between us, so it was a pretty cool day. We also got to see a couple of 3 and 4 point bucks, along with a fox, a ferret, some buffalo and a couple of elk. Here is the view from where we were shooting squirrels.

SquirrelSniper

I will start posting video tomorrow, including the video of a nice fat ground squirrel being exploded by a .17HMR ballistic tip. Last time, I just made one big video, so this time I’m going to post a bunch of small ones, with only 2-4 exploding squirrels in each segment.

I will start with the 17 HMR video, since that’s what everyone on youtube and google have been clamoring for. If the video of the squirrel getting shot with the 17 doesn’t end up being any good, I will go to the park and shoot one with my 17 so that everyone is happy.

Disclaimer: The tape may also contain scenes of my arrest. How freaked out do you think the cops would be responding to:

" 1 Adam 12, 1 Adam 12. We have a report of an old, fat, white male, eating Twinkies and videotaping himself shooting squirrels with a high velocity rifle in Pioneer Park. He is armed and assumed demented, please use caution."

Can you hear the dueling banjos?

SquirrelSniper

Now the Verminator and I have to leave Walla Walla at 5am on Father’s Day and drive to Enterprise to get the tape that the guys who went on Wednesday should have gotten. That means that our poor little children won’t have their fathers to give gifts to, and to take out to breakfast, on Sunday with all of the other fathers in Walla Walla. (The crap I give up to be a good squirrel hunter is unbelievable. You people should be really grateful.)

SquirrelSniper

Pokegama Property – Industrial Timberland
Contact: ODFW Klamath Falls (541) 883-5732
Location: 34 miles west of Klamath Falls on Highway 66 near OR/CA border.
Wildlife Mgmt. Unit: Keno – 31
Unit Size: 48,520 acres
Game: Deer, elk, bear, grouse, quail, predators, turkey, squirrel
Special Regulations: Area under travel management restriction Nov 20 – Mar 31, consult pages 24-27 of 2007 Big Game Regulations.

McBride Access Project (Here is a map of the area)
Sagebrush rangeland
Contact: Ontario ODFW (541) 889-6975
Location: I-84 Moores Hollow exit 362, info signs with maps on both sides of exit.
Wildlife Mgmt. Unit: Beulah Unit 65
Size of Unit: 10,100 acres
Huntable Species: Deer, pronghorn, chukar, quail, predator, Hungarian partridge, ground squirrel
Access Period: Through June 30, 2010
Type of Access: Open Access
Special Regulations: Motorized vehicle travel restricted to roads signed and mapped as open.

If you live around one of these areas, why don’t you go check it out and tell me how many squirrels there are. I’m sure that some of you guys living around Klamath Falls and Ontario, Oregon can check these two locations out and send in a report. Of course, if you don’t, I might have to suck it up and do it myself. LOL

I love squirrel hunting!

Here are some of the stats for the big squirrel hunting day in Unity, Oregon:

• The total count of squrrels shot, picked up and turned in to the squirrel counters was 6,781 dead squirrels and 1 live one. (Which was promptly dispatched by one of the local girls.) Which makes the official count 6,782 squirrels.
• Here are the numbers for the top 3 teams:
  1. 3rd place brought in 604 squirrels.
  2. 2nd place brought in 635 sage rats
  3. And, (drum roll please) the first place team brought in 992 dead squirrels.
• It took two pickup trucks to haul away all of the dead squirrels.
• And finally, you never, ever want to smell 6,782 dead ground squirrels on a hot day, especially when they have been dead for the last few hours. (You have to remember, just about every squirrel was shot with a hollow point or a ballistic tip bullet, and it blows their guts wide open. Ewwww!)

The Unity Motel has been full up forever already. I called and asked how the squirrel shooting was and they said that it had been too snowy, rainy and windy. But, hopefully, the weekend of the 28th will be bright, sunny and warm.

I went to Bi-Mart over the weekend and bought a 1000 rounds of .22 hollow point ammunition and 200 rounds of .17HMR ammunition. I’ve been trying to pick up 400 rounds of ballistic tip .223 for my Bushmaster AR15, but that stuff is so expensive right now I’m not sure it’s worth wasting on squirrels. I guess I’ll just go back to Bi-mart and pick up 500 more rounds of Hornady 17 grain ballistic tip ammo for the .17HMR, and call it quits.