{"id":691,"date":"2009-04-06T22:16:04","date_gmt":"2009-04-06T22:16:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pursuetheoutdoors.com\/field-journals\/troy-neimann\/?p=691"},"modified":"2009-04-06T22:16:04","modified_gmt":"2009-04-06T22:16:04","slug":"sage-rats-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outdoorblog.net\/outdoorcallings\/2009\/04\/06\/sage-rats-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"Sage Rats 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0time of year has arrived when mother nature\u00a0teases us\u00a0offering a\u00a0few warm days causing sage rats to\u00a0venture out for a little field play. Once\u00a0out of hibernation their metabolism starts to\u00a0increase causing them to\u00a0become active allowing\u00a0\u00a0hunters\u00a0great\u00a0shooting practice.\u00a0&#8220;Prarie dogs&#8221; as some call them can\u00a0cause a guy to\u00a0shoot hundreds of rounds. Our favorite\u00a0weapon of choice is the .17 HMR combined with a scope of some sort (Simmons 3X9) in our case.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-692\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pursuetheoutdoors.com\/field-journals\/troy-neimann\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/13-400x300.jpg\" alt=\"13\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The day\u00a0finally arrived when I bought my son Eli his\u00a0first rifle.\u00a0The idea\u00a0was to familiarize him with hunter safety while training him on proper weapons handling. Once\u00a0the rifle had been set up\u00a0ready for field action, we headed\u00a0to the ranch\u00a0where we could\u00a0site in. Our mission was to reduce the sage rat\u00a0population. Of course we had to spend\u00a0time shooting at targets in order to dial in the 100 yard cross hair.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-693\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pursuetheoutdoors.com\/field-journals\/troy-neimann\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/1-400x300.jpg\" alt=\"1\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Later that day, the sun came out and\u00a0&#8220;behold,&#8221; sage rats magically appeared!\u00a0Excitement in Eli&#8217;s eyes\u00a0began to show as he\u00a0watched\u00a0rats run from\u00a0mound to\u00a0mound\u00a0disappearing quickly into their\u00a0 maze of underground tunnels.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-694\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pursuetheoutdoors.com\/field-journals\/troy-neimann\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/sage20ratslg1-400x270.jpg\" alt=\"sage20ratslg1\" width=\"400\" height=\"270\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Eli slung his .17 HMR and headed for the field to\u00a0gain a closer look!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_695\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-695\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-695\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pursuetheoutdoors.com\/field-journals\/troy-neimann\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/6-400x300.jpg\" alt=\"Ready for Action....\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-695\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ready for Action....<\/p><\/div>\n<p>When sage rat hunting, it always seems to work better if you have a great pair of optics\u00a0paired with a\u00a0stable shooting chair or rest for steady aim. With gear in hand, Eli and I set up on the far side of a pivot where the short grass offered multiple\u00a0prarie dogs opportunities.\u00a0 We spotted a perfect subject\u00a0approx. 100 yards out when we settled the rifle and proceeded to flip the safety off. &#8220;BANG&#8221; as Eli helped pull the trigger observing his first sage rat bite the dust!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_696\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-696\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-696\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pursuetheoutdoors.com\/field-journals\/troy-neimann\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/9-400x300.jpg\" alt=\"Great Shot!\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-696\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Great Shot!<\/p><\/div>\n<p>As we walked the field\u00a0later, we realized how much damage these\u00a0rodents really cause. If not careful, a guy could step in a hole and twist an ankle.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-697\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pursuetheoutdoors.com\/field-journals\/troy-neimann\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/8-400x300.jpg\" alt=\"8\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We picked up the remains from our\u00a0first target attempts,\u00a0then headed back and drove to another area for more opportunities. The day ended up\u00a0shooting about forty rats\u00a0while missing about ten. Not a bad day for the first trip out!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_698\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-698\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-698\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pursuetheoutdoors.com\/field-journals\/troy-neimann\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/11-300x400.jpg\" alt=\"Eli's Collection\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-698\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eli&#039;s Collection<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0toughest part of the day\u00a0came whan Eli showed me\u00a0our two ammo cases saying,\u00a0&#8220;dad &#8211;\u00a0we&#8217;re out of shells&#8221;. At that point we decided to head for a treat on the way home. I think Eli enjoyed the time together while learning proper rifle safety\u00a0in pursuit of the great outdoors!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_699\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-699\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-699  \" src=\"http:\/\/www.pursuetheoutdoors.com\/field-journals\/troy-neimann\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/12-300x400.jpg\" alt=\"No Nore Ammo...\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-699\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">No More Ammo???<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_700\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-700\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-700\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pursuetheoutdoors.com\/field-journals\/troy-neimann\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/5-400x300.jpg\" alt=\"I Love Sage Rat Hunting!\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-700\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">I Love Sage Rat Hunting!<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0time of year has arrived when mother nature\u00a0teases us\u00a0offering a\u00a0few warm days causing sage rats to\u00a0venture out for a little field play. Once\u00a0out of hibernation their metabolism starts to\u00a0increase causing them to\u00a0become active allowing\u00a0\u00a0hunters\u00a0great\u00a0shooting practice.\u00a0&#8220;Prarie dogs&#8221; as some call them can\u00a0cause a guy to\u00a0shoot hundreds of rounds. Our favorite\u00a0weapon of choice is the .17 HMR [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[104,117],"class_list":["post-691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hunting","tag-oregon","tag-sage-rat"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sage Rats 2009 - Outdoor Callings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.outdoorblog.net\/outdoorcallings\/2009\/04\/06\/sage-rats-2009\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sage Rats 2009 - Outdoor Callings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The\u00a0time of year has arrived when mother nature\u00a0teases us\u00a0offering a\u00a0few warm days causing sage rats to\u00a0venture out for a little field play. 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