[rec.hunting] Sand Rats

brian%nosun.uucp@RELAY.CS.NET (Brian Vandewettering) (05/30/91)

I just got back from eastern Oregon where I had the opprotunity to 
shoot a few sand rats.  The sand rat or ground squirrel looks like 
a cross between a squirrel and a rat.  They infest range lands in 
the arid portions of Oregon, Idaho and Washington much like the 
praire dog, creating the same problems for grazing cattle.

Using a .22 rimfire with peep sights certainly added to the challange.  
These little critters are tough!  Good body hits with CCI mini-mags 
did not stop them.  Hollow-point .22s would be much more humane and 
a .22 Hornet or .223 ideal.  A scoped sight of 4x or better would
also be a good idea as the sand rats are hard to pick out once they
stop moving.

All in all great fun and practice for deer season.

-- 
Brian Vandewettering - NRA, NRA-ILA, OSSA  -- Opinions are MINE!!!
Motorola Inc., Computer Systems Division - Beaverton, Oregon
brian@pdx.csd.mot.com                 . . .  tektronix!nosun!cvedc!mcspdx!brian

u714092@eagle.larc.nasa.gov (prichard devon ) (05/31/91)

brian%nosun.uucp@RELAY.CS.NET (Brian Vandewettering) writes:

   I just got back from eastern Oregon where I had the opprotunity to 
   shoot a few sand rats.  The sand rat or ground squirrel looks like 
   a cross between a squirrel and a rat.  They infest range lands in 
   the arid portions of Oregon, Idaho and Washington much like the 
   praire dog, creating the same problems for grazing cattle.

geez, with the damage livestock do to our Nat'l Forests and BLM land,
seems like anything which causes a problem for livestock ought to be
encouraged, not discouraged.  might leave our "public" lands usable
for outdoor sports, as opposed to clearcutting, livestock overgrazing,
and such.


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 | Devon Prichard                "The atrocious crime of being a young  |
 | u714092@eagle.larc.nasa.gov,   man... I shall neither attempt to     |
 | prichard@ias.larc.nasa.gov     palliate nor deny."                   |
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