Carnage at the Orchard!

[Guy Miner]

The call for assistance had come in earlier in the week. An orchardist along the mighty Columbia River was having trouble with invaders again this spring. Hordes of illegal rock chucks were swarming through and under his deer fence, into the cherry orchard! A call to arms!

Acting on the latest intel, young M700 Junior and I arose at the crack of dawn. Well, maybe by 0800 or so... Drove out to the orchard and quietly stalked forward, where we could see the disputed no-man's land between the orchard and the slopes above. The rock chucks had the high ground and terrific natural camouflage. All we had was a pair of smallish caliber rifles and the guts to stand steady in the face of this grave onslaught of predatory vermin.

M700 Junior giving Dad's new .204 a try. He still prefers his tried and true 6mm Remington.

No man's land, aka The Killing Fields. The chucks held the high ground, but rather than staying content with that, they have been invading the orchard below:

Young M700 Junior on post with his 6mm Remington, preparing to send 75 grains of hollow point downrange. Yes, I reminded him to put the ear muffs on before touching off the round...

This chuck thought he was safe under his fortress boulder. He hadn't counted on the flat trajectory of the 6mm Rem!

Triumph! Another attack beaten back. Here M700 Junior is next to a chuck fortress inside the fence line!

Tally for the morning: three chucks to the .204, three to the 6mm, a dead tie, and the orchard was saved for another season of cherries!

 

[JD338]

Guy,

Thanks for the good story and pictures. Glad to see both you and your son out having some fun! That 6mm Rem really puts the smack on those rock chucks.

JD338

 

[owenv]

Nice! Looks alot more fun than playing golf in 104 degree weather like I did today. Whew weee man it is hot here!

 

[Greg Nolan]

It's nice to know I can sleep with confidence knowing that my future cherry pies are safe from agression. "Never in the course of human history have so many own so much to so few"! Winston Churchill.
Thank You :wink:
Good Hunting
Chuckhunt :grin:

 

[cloverleaf]

Guy-
A memorable expedition!! The smile says it all!! you guys should hire out as "Chuck Mercs" !! Cherry sauce anyone?!?!? CL

 

[FOTIS]

Awesome story. I laughed my buns off,

 

[honkeetonkin]

Private honkeetonkin vollenteering for duty SIR! pick me pick me pick me pleeeeeeeeeese :twisted:

 

[SJB358]

That is great! Man, I need to find some farmers with a woodchuck problem and get me and my son in there for some practice. Great story and pictures. Scotty

 

[Guy Miner]

Popping varmints is likely the most fun my son and I have ever had together with rifles... He likens it to catch & release fishing when the fishing is hot... Non-stop action! We saw three times as many chucks as we shot, they were scurrying around, on and off boulders so quick we couldn't get on 'em - partly because we were laughing at each other quite a bit. Good fun!

He always puts a lot of pressure on himself when we're deer hunting, to do everything right. He enjoys it, but not in the same semi-silly way we enjoy varmint shooting.

This wouldn't have been nearly as much fun without him along!

Guy

 

[lefty315]

Guy, I am a little disappointed that you don't have him crawling through the grass with a K-Bar in his teeth to get those buggers. Looks like you had a blast or three. Unfortunately the wet side of the state doesn't hold any four legged critters we can pop, on a regular basis, only the two legged kind. But society tends to frown upon that so keep the stories coming.

 

[Greg Nolan]

Yah Really! Where's the Ghilly suits?
Everyone should have such fun with their sons and or daughters.
Take the Hill :twisted:
Good Hunting
Chuckhunt :grin:

 

[JDMAG]

Man I miss ground hog huntin! (thats ky hillbilly for "rock chuck")
Good job getting the young man out guy. I'm headin back to east KY this week end, maybe I need to take the #1 with me and check out some bean fields! :grin:

 

[DrMike]

Guy,

Great pictures and a neat telling of the story. Sounds as if it was great fun. It is good to know that those low-life varmints won't be invading that orchard again.