2026 17HMR hunting pictures.

[Sieg]

Also, the number of times we've hammered 100+ sage rats in the 70-140yd range and took a break to walk the field of fire and inspect the carnage only to find less than 50% of the KIA are above ground. Those cannibals are very stealth too; we (4 or 5 of us) don't observe that many body-snatchers in the act.

 

[Rick in Oregon]

Also, the number of times we've hammered 100+ sage rats in the 70-140yd range and took a break to walk the field of fire and inspect the carnage only to find less than 50% of the KIA are above ground. Those cannibals are very stealth too; we (4 or 5 of us) don't observe that many body-snatchers in the act.

Yup, seen the same thing in the rat patch over the years.

There's another reason we always don't see the carnage. Sometimes the rat being mortally wounded still gets to their hole, but not really intact:



Then other times we've seen this.....he made it to his hole, but left some critical body parts outside in his rush to bail inside:



I hate to see any animal suffer, even the lowly sage rat. Quick exploding hits with a nice high launch factor is where it's at.



It seems they enjoy eating their moribund buddies, and it not, the raptors make short work of whatever's left. Cleanup on aisle six!