2018 Trip #3, Nevada “RAT SHOOT”

2018 Trip #3

Nevada “RAT SHOOT”, April 15 – 19, Five friends from Denver, and Myself

Wasn’t a great “Rat Trip” this year.  Six of us left Denver Sunday the 15th for a 13 1/2 hour road trip to Battle Mountain, Nevada.  It was a beautiful Spring day in the West, sunny, bright, and no WIND.

We were all tired from setting in the trucks and bouncing around all day.  I had checked the weather before we left and the forecast wasn’t bad, just not great.  After arriving in Battle Mountain that forecast had changed.  Now it was going to be cloudy, cooler than the day before, with winds 10 – 15 mph.  It wasn’t cooler the next day, it was COLD.  The wind was up around 15 mph and brisk.

After breakfast we headed to the ranch we were shooting on for the next three days.  More changes, OH! how a year can change things.

2018 Trip #3 was about in the toilet 

The rancher had decided not to start watering his alfalfa fields, he was going to “rip them up” and replant grass or grain.  After several shooters and some poison the squirrels were still winning and he was loosing to much of his alfalfa to them.  What it means to “rip them up” is to till them 36 inches deep with a very large tilling machine.  That’s going to destroy a lot of the squirrels, which is his plan.  Of his 4 best fields he had finished 1 until after we left.  You couldn’t drive on the field that was tilled.

The good thing, of the 3 fields he left we could drive on them all we wanted.  That saved out trip, except for the weather.  Each day we shot a little better.  Managing to shoot 5, 895 (approximately).  I’m sure we lost count a few times.  Last year 4 of us had shot nearly that many.  But we had much better weather and taller alfalfa.  Almost to the extent we had a hard time seeing the squirrels until they stood up.

As with last year we all shot 22 LR and 17 HMR rifles for the complete trip.  We shot from our benches and the trucks.  So we kept busy even tho the weather wasn’t the greatest.  We shot on (3) 600 + acre fields driving on the fields themselves.