Groundhawg Hotel

[HeathSexton]

Some of the farmers around here have really started laying down the hay and the whistle pigs are out in force. The field we watched today has a lot in it every year, this year they have moved to the center of the field and have started a ground hawg hotel. There are 7 holes in about a 20'x20' area. We started off with the guy I was with missing at 130yds. I got a crack with my .223 next at 187yds, from a crap rest I whizzed on by it's ear. So far 0 for 2, not good. Scanning around in the field I see 2 heads at 117yds, 1 took a 55gr Vmax to the shoulders, boom..THAWHACK. I reload and vermin #2 is wondering why his buddy is taking a dirt nap. Boom...THAWHACK, he takes a 55gr Sierra BTSP through the shoulders. There are a bunch more out there, we just ran out of time today.

Looks like the Hornet is next up to bat.

 

[DrMike]

Sounds like fun. Too bad time intruded on your play! :lol:

 

[257 Ackley]

Heath -
that sounds like a lot of fun. Do most of them dive for cover once a couple of their buddies take a whack? I have only had a chance on singles, so I wasn't sure what the reaction would be with multiples. If they do dive for cover, is it for an extended period of time or just a few minutes?

 

[SJB358]

Heath, that is what I am talking about! I used to think woodchucks were riflesman best friend where I grew up. I spent alot of gas money, leg work and just plain old glassing over alfalfa fields for woodchucks. Loved to hunt them. I shot a bunch of them with the 7RM and 140gr PT's before I discovered the 22-250 and 52gr Speers! What a great experience it was. Need to get my son out in Virginia with his 243 and 22-250 and see if we can help the woodchuck population a little! Scotty

 

[JD338]

I have only killed singles. That would be a lot of fun!

JD338

 

[HeathSexton]

Out there it kind of varies with multiples. There have been as many out as 5 at a time, one shot and the rest are gone. The next day you will see 2, smoke one and the other never moves. Smoke him and another will stand up, it's weird. If you miss sometimes they hit the woods and then pop back out in a couple of minutes or the one you miss may not show back up until the next day. The 2 missed shots we had yesterday were probably 1 minute between rounds, he was shooting a .308 Win and I had a .223 Rem. He had no more than finished cussing himself for missing and the one I missed stepped out and I missed. So it didn't bother it at all.

By myself 3 years ago I killed either 17 or 19 ground hogs and 3 coyotes out of that field through the in July and August, that is not counting what my 3 friends that hunt it did to them also. I have never been to another place around here like it, one little section about 10-15 acres is just absolutely eaten up with them.

 

[Guy Miner]

Fun stuff. The best rock chuck shooting I ever had was on a ranch in southern Idaho. Alfalfa fields surrounded by very porous lava rock... They were getting FAT on the alfalfa, and there were hordes of 'em living in the lava rock. My rancher buddy was losing a serious chunk of his crop to the doggone rock chucks and I felt it my duty to help him out... :grin:

The rancher and I mowed about 20' around the edge of his field, he set up for the close shots with his .22 and I used the 6mm Rem for the longer shots. Dang we piled up some chucks... I had 100 rounds of 6mm ammo and went through it all in two or three days. Those things would cross from the rocks to the alfalfa, but we started hammering 'em in the mowed zone. If they made it to the alfalfa, they were pretty safe, too tall to see them. In the mowed zone, it was carnage... And fun.

There were a few cottontail rabbits and jack rabbits too, but mostly chucks.

Regards, Guy

 

[HTDUCK]

Ground hog? Hell I've never even seen one other than on TV.

To much time in Texas I guess.................

 

[FOTIS]

Gotta Love it!

 

[IdahoCTD]

I hunted a field a few years back that the chucks mowed on their own. For about 15 yds around the edge of the field nearest the rock piles they had wiped out the alfalfa. We also use to hunt a wood pile that was the remnants of a old barn. you could walk around it and see the chuck dung all around it. I bet we killed over 100 of them off that wood pile in a couple days. You'd see them peaking through the slats off wood one minute and launching off the top the next :twisted: . .30-.338's and .30-8mm Mags with 150gr ballistic tips is hard on them.

 

[Gm weatherby man]

I remember 20 years ago shooting gophers in the nabours field when the company I was working for got bought out, three months of severance. I was depressed, but getting paid. I spent a whole month shooting them with a old couey 22 lr, open sights. It started out easy for the were literally hundreds of them, then they got smart. They started looking out for me, I had to resort to hiding in the tall grass on the fence line.By the end of that month I was resorting to 200 yards shoots, some times taking at least five shots to get her done. I believe it help me keep my sanity for that dark time,though now I know better. :?

 

[Guy Miner]

My son and I like this photo from a couple of years ago. A rock chuck had a tunnel/den under the rock, and would barely peek out of it. The rock was at the edge of a cherry orchard, and the orchardist had asked us to help him thin out the chuck population. Young M700 Junior waited patiently for the chuck to stick his nose out just a little far from his rocky fortress, then hammered him with a 75 grain hollow point from the 6mm Remington. It was a little juicy inside that tunnel...

 

[257 Ackley]

Love that picture Guy!! Nothing like learning patience at a young age.

 

[SJB358]

Great picture Guy! Scotty

 

[DrMike]

I'll bet it was a bit juicy inside that chuck hole! Teach those young'uns early that stealth and deception always overcome youth and strength. Good job, Guy.