The 12th Annual Rat Rodeo - 204 Style
Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 9:45 am
Been gone for a while down in N. California for our 12th Annual Rat Rodeo, held at a friend's 2,800 acre alfalfa ranch that's infested with our little friend, Skippy and his pals. This is no small matter, as this rancher looses over $200K a year to the squirrels, so removing them is his (and our) prime directive. As he says every time we arrive "kill 'em all!"
Our first setup was on a hill we shot from last year that overlooks rich rock chuck habitat via a huge acient rock outcropping, and many acres of fresh-cut alfalfa and cattle pasture grass. We use "surgical shooting techniques" in order to shoot near or around the cattle, as nobody wants hooves pointing skyward the next morning.
To start the fun, I used my Cooper M21 VT "Rosa" in 223 Rem with 40gr Nosler BT's over my pet 223 load of 27.5grs H335 & Rem 7.5 in Norma cases for right at 3,700 fps.
Matt working over the squirrels with his M700 VS in 223 and 40gr BT's. He got the rifle when in high school, we estimate it's killed over 8,000 squirrels in the 17 years he's been shooting it:
Only bummer about this trip was it was freakin' HOT! Temps ranged from 88*F to 94*F in the shade, so keeping our barrels cool was a real chore. I ruin a nice hat sweating in no time, so it was "bandana-boy" for me the entire trip. Skippy didn't seem to mind a bit.
Because of limited targets this year as a result of late cut and lousy wet weather, we had to split up into small shooting groups to ensure everyone got decent shooting. Here's Rat Force Once by himself in a vast squirrel infested new alfalfa pivot...talk about lots of room...
That next day, my nephew Matt and I decided to shoot "the pennsula"on the lake to take advantage of the breeze off the water to cool us down. It also has a nice high hill for an elevated shooting positon (USMC style), and a good population of squirrels.
From our sniping hill, we had a great view of Mount Shasta to the west:
My Cooper MTV or "Wicked Wanda" in 204 was up for this longer shooting using 32gr SBK's over 26.5grs of RL-10X for 4,030 fps. We worked on some rats on the opposite shore of the lake at 528 yards, and both Matt and I got first shot hits using our come-up charts and SBK's.
This is the view at 528 yards to the other shore:
A squirrel's eye view of our benches up the hill through the wild flowers:
What post would not be complete without some action pics of Skippy learning to fly? Well, here's some shots of his efforts. Skippy can be seen standing in the grass low right of the sprinkler head prior to his liftoff:
Liftoff:
Set glide path, prepare for landing:
Back in camp in the evening, our host entertains Rat Force One and Futuretrades telling tall tales of cowboy stuff:
Yours truly the next day out on the point looking for more targets of opportunity with Wicked Wanda close by my side. In all, I only fired 260 rounds during this shoot, about 1/3 the usual amount, all due to lousy spring weather and too much rain. It still beat being at home by a long shot though!
A parting shot of Skippy traveling in all directions at the end of the shoot.
Skippy's Revenge: The wind came up 10 minutes prior to tear-down, and it blew Matt's brand new sunshade ($119) half way to the lake. It was toast, so he had to stand in the 94*F hot sun for his final cleaning....it appears Skippy got partially even....partially anyway.
We're already looking forward to next years shoot, but we'll plan that one earlier for better conditions at the ranch. Hope you enjoyed tagging along.
Now to get all those nice shiny 223 and 204 cases out of the tumbler and get started all over again. Good stuff!
Our first setup was on a hill we shot from last year that overlooks rich rock chuck habitat via a huge acient rock outcropping, and many acres of fresh-cut alfalfa and cattle pasture grass. We use "surgical shooting techniques" in order to shoot near or around the cattle, as nobody wants hooves pointing skyward the next morning.
To start the fun, I used my Cooper M21 VT "Rosa" in 223 Rem with 40gr Nosler BT's over my pet 223 load of 27.5grs H335 & Rem 7.5 in Norma cases for right at 3,700 fps.
Matt working over the squirrels with his M700 VS in 223 and 40gr BT's. He got the rifle when in high school, we estimate it's killed over 8,000 squirrels in the 17 years he's been shooting it:
Only bummer about this trip was it was freakin' HOT! Temps ranged from 88*F to 94*F in the shade, so keeping our barrels cool was a real chore. I ruin a nice hat sweating in no time, so it was "bandana-boy" for me the entire trip. Skippy didn't seem to mind a bit.
Because of limited targets this year as a result of late cut and lousy wet weather, we had to split up into small shooting groups to ensure everyone got decent shooting. Here's Rat Force Once by himself in a vast squirrel infested new alfalfa pivot...talk about lots of room...
That next day, my nephew Matt and I decided to shoot "the pennsula"on the lake to take advantage of the breeze off the water to cool us down. It also has a nice high hill for an elevated shooting positon (USMC style), and a good population of squirrels.
From our sniping hill, we had a great view of Mount Shasta to the west:
My Cooper MTV or "Wicked Wanda" in 204 was up for this longer shooting using 32gr SBK's over 26.5grs of RL-10X for 4,030 fps. We worked on some rats on the opposite shore of the lake at 528 yards, and both Matt and I got first shot hits using our come-up charts and SBK's.
This is the view at 528 yards to the other shore:
A squirrel's eye view of our benches up the hill through the wild flowers:
What post would not be complete without some action pics of Skippy learning to fly? Well, here's some shots of his efforts. Skippy can be seen standing in the grass low right of the sprinkler head prior to his liftoff:
Liftoff:
Set glide path, prepare for landing:
Back in camp in the evening, our host entertains Rat Force One and Futuretrades telling tall tales of cowboy stuff:
Yours truly the next day out on the point looking for more targets of opportunity with Wicked Wanda close by my side. In all, I only fired 260 rounds during this shoot, about 1/3 the usual amount, all due to lousy spring weather and too much rain. It still beat being at home by a long shot though!
A parting shot of Skippy traveling in all directions at the end of the shoot.
Skippy's Revenge: The wind came up 10 minutes prior to tear-down, and it blew Matt's brand new sunshade ($119) half way to the lake. It was toast, so he had to stand in the 94*F hot sun for his final cleaning....it appears Skippy got partially even....partially anyway.
We're already looking forward to next years shoot, but we'll plan that one earlier for better conditions at the ranch. Hope you enjoyed tagging along.
Now to get all those nice shiny 223 and 204 cases out of the tumbler and get started all over again. Good stuff!
I found a new field that's just crawling with the little buggers. 
Hey, when you get back over the hump to that new field, don't leave us out....remember your camera!