No Off Season just finished filming a sage rat hunt with Scott Haugan for an upcoming episode of his show, Game Chasers, on the Outdoor Network. Scott and Tiffany Haugan with their two sons, Braxton (9) and Kazden (7), and their cameraman, Travis Ralls, came to southeast Oregon this week to film the episode. Scott was focusing on the opportunity to start young shooters and train with multiple weapons for other hunting endeavors. They also spent a lot of time documenting the damage caused by sage rats and the need to control these destructive varmints.
The weather was terrible the day they arrived. Ice cold winds of 25 mph were the order but the kids as well as the adults were able to get some decent shooting in between warm-ups in the truck! The second day was much better with sunshine and only a moderate breeze. The looks on the boys’ faces as they whacked ‘rat after ‘rat was priceless. Although they may have to edit it out of the final cut, the boys giggling as they made a good shot or the sage rats did acrobatics just makes me happy! (There were a few giggles out of the adults too!)
They all shot with everything from .22 single shots to AR15’s. Scott and Tiffany as well as the boys did quite a bit of archery shooting with Judo points and they even did a little shotgun shooting off sticks to get the kids ready for upcoming turkey hunts. These boys have literally hunted all over the world. Braxton shot a zebra and Kazden shot his first wildebeast in Zimbabwe last year but both of them thought the sage rat hunting was over-the-top for volume and action!
They all enjoyed just hanging out and experiencing ranch life. Two of the local buckaroos roped a couple bull calves that my brother, Todd, needed to castrate–just impromptu entertainment on a working ranch. A game of horseshoes whiled-away some time while Scott and Travis filmed and did interviews. (I had to sign a “Model Agreement” for Travis to use some interview footage. If you saw my old, fat butt, the last thing you’d expect is for me to sign a “Model Agreement”!)
They stayed in the B&B on the ranch and we fed them BBQ and dutch oven desert but they never required nor asked for (and didn’t receive) any special treatment. Although I didn’t know what to expect going into this project, the Haugan’s are just a neat family with very well-mannered kids. I dealt with Scott in the planning and throughout the filming and never saw him make a bobble with me or his family–just a genuinely nice and very likeable guy.
The weather just kept getting better with warming temperatures and less and less wind They made some shots at over 200 yards with the centerfire rifles and plenty of close range shots that kept the kids interested. We missed an opportunity at a badger on the final morning. It left the field before Scott could get on it.
It was an enjoyable hunt for everyone. The episode will air next March on Scott’s show Game Chasers on the Outdoor Channel.
No Off Season and sage rats are going main stream! Stay tuned!