Sunburnt, footsore, and feeling my age.

Rustydust

Active member
Spent Friday and the better part of Saturday down in the whereabouts of Paradise Valley Nevada. My new protégé Matthew (Matlock) and I went down there in his cushy driving F-150 truck. Nice change from my 22 year old Nissan. We set up in a spot that look promising but shortly after setting up our benches we began to wonder if we picked such a great spot or not as the squirrel pickings were a bit slim. We decided to wait for the monstrous and lumbering center pivot irrigation rig to make its oh so slow pass and...man! What a good decision that turned out to be. After it went by those Beldings came out in force! I shot my .17 Rem until the barrel was too hot to hold and swapped to the .204 until it got too hot to hold and then back to the .17 again. Matthew was plugging away with his new Savage .223 and using his .22 rimfire on the closer ones. After a couple of hours we went out to survey the carnage and being the morbid soul that I am I took a plastic shopping bag with me and filled it up with desert rat remnants. Carrying it back towards the shooting benches later I had to swap hands on occasion as the plastic handles were cutting into my fingers a bit. After getting back to the bench vicinity I dumped the contents on the ground in a mound and after setting my M700 .17 Rem next to it for scale took some pictures of it. Then, we went back to shooting. We took few breaks.

Later in the day a couple of crows came down to feast on some of the fresh meat. They made a mistake doing that while we were still out there. Not one that they will make again I assure you.

We hit Winnemucca a few hours later and had a barbecue dinner that could not be beat (Matt picked up the check to make it even more unbeatable) had a good nights sleep at an ancient mom and pop motel and after waffles, eggs, bacon and coffee the next morning we headed back out again. This time Matt and I separated a bit as I found some rats that were 500+ yards away that I wanted to shoot at with my .243 AI. Belding ground squirrels are bigger than the squirrels in my area but not quite a big as most prairie dogs are. But with my Sightron SIII 8-32X I as able to see them well out past 500 yards. Hitting them was a different story. I only had 55 grain Nosler Varmageddons loaded in this trip and they took a bit of holdover at the "outchonder" ranges but after a few shots I was able to connect on one guy at 580 yards. I was pleased as that was my longest kill with that gun since I put it together. Sure was nice having a muzzle brake on it so that I could see my hits and (ahem!) misses. I later got another one at around 515 with my .204 using those excellent 39 grain Blitzkings.

Matthew came over to try some long ones but was having a bit of trouble spotting them in his 15X scope at that distance. I (wisely!) brought along my 20-60X Sightron spotting scope and tried in vain to tell him where some were but he just had too much trouble seeing them. He did finally did manage to see one right at 500 yards and after a couple of shots to get the range (factory Federal 50 grain HP ammo) he missed one by that much.Tossed dirt all over the rodent and he decided not to make himself available for another attempt and took off. Saved his life no doubt.

Anyway after a while the wind started to pick up and we had a good 4 hour drive back home so we decided to pack the truck up (a bit forlornly to be sure) and head back. Was a fine two days. Young Matthew was a fine companion and enjoyed having him along. He seemed to enjoy himself quite a bit.

I am feeling my age today and my feet still hurt from wearing new boots for two days and a fair amount of tromping around. But in a day or two I think that I will be thinking about those wonderful and colorful tosses and my long shots and starting to wonder when I can go back and do it all over again.

Anyone want to come along? Anyone out there?
 
Thanks Blue

They are an annoyance to the rancher and he wanted them to be shot as pest. I helped him out. Hey- his ranch. I'm just a guest.
 
Originally Posted By: bluehaze

Caution, crows are a protected bird, I know they are terrible but protected by the Feds just the same.

crows are not a federally protected bird. not yet at least. there may be seasons and other regs set by the states though.
 
What a fun trip, thanks for the write-up,
I'd join you but to many miles twix us, & have to conjure up another young'n to carry my stuff too.

ps: Thought ravens were protected but not crows, big difference.

In GA, crow season runs November 5 - February 28, no limit
 
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Rusty, I'll be in Orovada Next Monday for our annual trip. Last year we shoot the last pivots to the northeast in Paradice Valley for 2 1/2 days then moved to Kings river. Some people in that area say those Squirrels are Richerdsons. The ranchers up there sure need help cleaning out some of the squirrels. I know one rancher puts adds in the Winnemucca paper for squirrel shooters. The last time I was in Winnemucca we ate at the Hog Trough, that is some good food!

Joe
 
Well, this is what the squirrels looked like:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belding%27s_ground_squirrel

Of course, this is the "before" picture.
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And good luck in Orovada, Joe. Bet you get your fill of shooting there too. I'm guessing that you will keep us posted.
 
Glad you got out and got some trigger time!

Crows ain't protected. Never seen one with a bullet proof vest or a body guard yet.

Many states have seasons on them. Many states treat them like varmints - kill 'em all if ya can. Many states that do have seasons, allow damage control on private property at any time. Etc, etc, etc. Bottom line, it's perfectly legal to kill the crap out of them in many places at many times.

Ravens, very different story. And most people in my life, don't know the difference. But there's a big difference in physical attributes as well as legal status. I don't know why people can't tell the difference. They don't look anything alike to me. But the old saying around here has always been, "how to you tell the difference between a crow and a raven? the dead ones are all crows".

- DAA
 
Yes sir me and my ole buddy Roger will be west bound next summer. Look forward to chatting with you again Russ I promise I haven't forgot about you. Busy as a one legged man in a butt kicking contest here. Glad you guys had a great trip and hopefully more to come
 
Originally Posted By: bluehazeI think the 1972 amendments to the 1918 Migratory bird treaty act added the American Crow to the protected species.

you think wrong.
 
Originally Posted By: SlickerThanSnotOriginally Posted By: bluehazeI think the 1972 amendments to the 1918 Migratory bird treaty act added the American Crow to the protected species.

you think wrong.
Then that makes at least two of us. Please show where the 1972 amendment adding "Corvids" (crows, jays, magpies) to the Federal law was repealed. It is up to the states to set seasons that they can be hunted - but with a maximum number of days per year, set by the Feds (180, possibly?). Can't kill a crow here from Mar. 15 through June - 15, and then only on Fridays through Sundays the rest of the year; no limits. However, most states do offer exemptions for landowners in forms of depredation permits, which are usually pretty easy to come by, as most WOs, game wardens, etc. know that crows are varmints that actually kill/eat more "good" baby birds, take over nests, and destroy crops. While Law Enforcement might agree the law is stupid and might let some violators off with a warning wink and nod, they could get pissy about it if they feel something else about a hunter doing so is shady.
Great story by the OP, by the way!
 
Thoroughly enjoyed breaking in the new Savage 12 .223 in Paradise Valley with Russ. And the view was pretty amazing...

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Ready to go back again.
 
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