Rats In January?

Jim at Crane says the source of this information is reliable and from a local who knows the difference. A Sage Rat was spotted East of Burns, out on the snow, a couple of days ago. ?????

In the meantime, Jackrabbits are working over the haystacks in the Crane area. You have to have permission from the owner, but it is legal to spotlight the rabbits. Just be ready for some minus 0 temps.

Keep checking in. Last year we were shooting rats by mid to late Feb. Jim and I are renting shooting rests on wheels this year for $65 per day, including shooting with us and our rat killing group. Various models of shooting rests are for sale also. Check my earlier posts for pictures.

A Winter Update

If there were any rats up now, they would have to be on snowshoes. Drifts are 3 feet deep at Jim's place in Crane. But, looking ahead, Jim shot his first rat on Feb 2nd last year. So, possibly only 2 months until shooting. I made my first trip last year on Feb 16th. But if you recall, pictures from early last season show that shooting rats in Feb-March is not for everyone. It can be pretty cold and windy. Of course the wind is a 12 month occurence in that part of the counrty.

Right now, we are checking on the rabbit population over in the Catlow valley. Might try a trip pre-Xmas.

We have had an early winter here near Sisters. Not very harsh, but winter snow and temps. One of picts attached shows my shop this morning. I have been spending time in my shop when I can, mostly working on building " Ratrouster"shooting rests. Trying to get enough ahead so I won't have to spend any time this spring during shooting season building more.

Going to try a new approach this year with the "Ratrousters". I will have them for sale ( going to have to raise the prices on the ones on wheels ) but, I am also going to rent them out. Haven't worked out all the details yet, but a rental will include a day of rat shooting with our group. Jim and I are going to team up and should prove interesting. Watch here for further info or you can always call me at 542-420-5342.

On a personal note: Last summer I developed what looked like a cyst on my lower lip. Turned out to be mucosal melanoma ( cancer). It was removed and then Sept- Oct, I went thru 6 weeks of radiation treatments on the affected area. Dr said only a 10% chance of it returning, Also had a skin cancer spot removed from my old bald head. Also OK. Saw my heart Dr. last week and he said with my new pacer/defib device I was on cruise control and he would see me in a year. I just need to lose some weight now. UGH.

Around the first of last month, I fished Lake Billy Chinook for 4 days over 2 weeks. Limited on Kokanee every day.

More later as things happen. Let me know if anything is happening in your world. Hoping to get a few more followers this year so we can share rat shooting and fishing info.

End of summer Recap

Well, haven't been out for rats since July. Some were still showing into August but I was spending more time fishing. Fished some from my 8 foot pontoon boat and then bought a 7 foot Livingston so I could keep completly out of the water. After I got a seat in it and balanced properly, it worked real good. We went to Carmen Diversion Res a few times with good results. Last time out I boated 17 nice Rainbows. It is only 42 miles from my house, so, we go about noon and fish the PM bite.

Also fished Ochoco Res with Grandson Brandon and Prineville Res a few times in my 16 Ft Tracker. Always have good luck there on Crappie and Bass. Usually do good trolling for trout, but is to boring.

Spent a week at Seaview Wa. and was able to fish 2 days with brother-in- law Matt in his 22 ft Sea Dory. What a comfy ride. We had 3 takedowns and boated 2, 13 lb Chinooks.

Now dealing with some melanoma on my lower lip with radiation treatments 5 days a week till Oct 19th and they found a couple of spots on my old bald head that need to be removed. So, most of the next couple of months will revolve around Dr. visits and we have 5 grandkids playing sports this fall that gives us something to do on Tuesdays, Thursdays,Saturdays and Sunday. Never a dull moment. See Ya

P.S. You might notice that I have shaved my beard. Had to for the radiation treatments. Get used to it. They said the whiskers probably wouldn't grow back in the treated area.

Crane, Or Hay is down & Rats are up

Just returned from 3 days at Crane. Most of the first cutting is down and raking and baleing is in full swing. Saw a lot of rats in the mowed fields. Now would be a good time to call your farmer friends and make one more trip shooting rats. We opted to go fishing instead, since my friend Jim had permission to get into some private bass ponds and we had only 2 dqys between Dr appointments. Getting old isn't for sissies. Kept enough bass for dinner.

Stopped by Great Basin Sporting Goods in Hines and said hi to friends Ron & Kate. Ron must have 250-300 guns in stock. Stop in if you are going thru.

I still have "Ratrouster" pivoting shooting rests in stock and am getting calls every week. Selling a few. You should try one.

Last week I fished Prineville Res one day and Ochoco Res another. I would call it average. Couldn't find any Crappie.

Still Killin Rats

I thought it might be the end of the good shooting for this year, but I decided to head out to the ranch for a look. Besides, I knew there would be no crowds since only myself and one other guy are okeyed to shoot rats there. Well, the other guy was there with his old friend, so it was kind of crowded. The three of us had to share 1200 acres of pivots. We are allowed to take only one other shooter with us at a time. I elected, that day ( 5-30 ) to go by myself. Alfalfa was getting a little tall. My attached picture shows the height compared to a Pepsi bottle. The other guys were shooting off their 4 wheelers so I moved off to another pivot ( they got there first and had the pivot, loaded with rats ) to the East. I had my Hitch-Haul plugged into the receiver on the Excursion and had strapped my Ratrouster to it. I backed up to the field ( of course, driving on the Alfalfa now is to damaging ) and had a 180 degree plus field of swing plus some added elevation to see the rats easier. The weather was OK. Temp around 60, very light wind and just a few light sprinkles. One of the attached pictures shows a wind/dust funnel. After all, this is Central Oregon, so weatherwise, anything is possible. I did a little driving around as well on some of the ranch roads and took some shots from the rig when the opportunity presented itself. The pivots streach for some 5 miles and are all linked with maintained roads. I saw quite a few Antelope and even some young ones. By 4 o'clock it looked like the weather might sock in so I called it quits with 84 kills for the day. Now remember. I score kills by the "Ratrouster" method. I know some of you score by the " I musta killed method". In that case, I "musta" killed 350.

I'm sure some of you are trying to figure out where The ranch is and maybe some of you know. One of the requirements of me shooting there, by the ranch manager, is that I have to tell anyone I take out, do not contact the ranch manager and try to get on to shoot. He said the answer will be NO and he doesn't want to be bothered. Message delivered.

In the area you want to shoot, knock on doors and ask. Sometimes it pays off, bigtime. This last week, I talked to shooters from around Xmas Valley and the shooting was still pretty good.

I've been selling my Ratrouster pivoting shooter rests right along and because of the Sh***y weather have been making some more this Spring. Getting in lots of shop time, but no fishing. So I have a fair stock right now. I will keep up on any rat shooting info I come across and what fishing info I can. Check in often and comments are welcome.

Latest ( and probably last) Trip to Crane 2010

Looked like a break in the weather thie last week, so decided to give Crane one last chance for a rat shoot without wind. Stopped at " the ranch" on the way over to see how high the alfalfa was and wound up killing 129 while just passing thru. On leaving, I looked West to check traffic and saw a huge black plume of smoke. Wasn't very tall yet, so knowing something was amiss, I turned and headed back towards Bend. Sure enough, a tanker truck had rolled over and caught fire. ( See Pictures ) I talked to an eyewitness and he said the truck hit the other shoulder and over corrected and rolled. Second roll it caught on fire. I was surprised that the sage wasn't on fire. Unfortunatly, I think the driver was killed. Didn't hear for sure. On the way home I saw they were digging a huge pit for the cleanup.

That was Wednesday. I stayed thru noon on Friday and packed up the trailer and headed home. Weather was great but the alfalfa was growing fast and you had to find bare and dry spots to be able to see the rats. Still easy to get 100 kills a day but after 6 round trips to Crane and 24 days of shooting this spring, I was ready to call it good. There will be a couple of weeks of decent shooting after cutting. I am going to just make day trips to a closer location until it grows up high. In the meantime, I will unpack my boat and start fishing. A caller, about purchasing one of my " ratrouster" shooting rests was at Odell Lake and said the Koke bite was on there now.

Don't forget to go back thru my old posts for a look at the "ratrousters" and other Rat Info.

I'll keep posting on any shooting info I get and keep you up to date on my fishing success, or lack of it. By the way, to enlarge any of my photos, double click on them. Try enlarging the center pic to see how thick the rats were at "The Ranch".Bullseyes and tight lines.

First Week In May, A Cold Windy Shoot

Drove to Crane on Monday morning with friends Gary, pulling a 32' toy hauler, and Jim, hauling a 11' camper. Luckly I was only driving my Excursion as the wind was crossway and on our quarter tail all the way. The prediction was for gusts to 50 and I beleive it. Arrived Crane about 12:30 and set up. Went out in the afternoon to check out the rats and found a few up in our favorite field. By up, I mean at least laying on the ground chewing on alfalfa shoots. Not much of a target, especially in a 40-50 mph wind. We got out our "ratrouster" shooting chairs and set up on the leeward side of my rig ( see attached picture). Notice the dust in the background. It settled in all around us a few minutes later, so we picked up and headed for camp.

The next morning, it was a little windy and 35 degrees. Wind chill-Brrrrr. Shot in one field till noon and moved to another for the PM shoot. About 3:30, the wind calmed down and I was in my T-shirt. Bill and I shot til 7pm. He had confirmed kills of 241 and I had 178. The other 3 had about as many, but they didn't count. Said it was easier to lie if there was no proof.

Next morning ( Wed) it was blowing hard again. We tried a little shooting,but, it was bitterly cold. Three of us pulled out after lunch and headed home and Bill and Ty stayed, The weather here near Sisters is nice with light wind this morning. I hope it is the same for the boys in Crane.