2024 Groundhog Thread - the game is afoot. (Page 1 of 3)
Posted: 2/2/2024 12:52:52 PM EDT
[Last Edit: shotar][Edited]
While I know we are about a month away from seeing chucks in any number, It is fitting on this most important of national Holidays, to kick off our 2024 Groundhog thread. 
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Trusting your life to the benevolence of an armed criminal is not a strategy, it is stupid!
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Originally Posted By FZJ80: It has been unusually warm. If the trend continues we may get some shooting in early this year. Working on setting up a .17 Fireball for chucks. I'm hoping. Will be going to the range tomorrow to zero my new .22. Maybe something will show up? |
Trusting your life to the benevolence of an armed criminal is not a strategy, it is stupid!
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Originally Posted By FZJ80: Saw my first Wood Chuck today, and went for a bit of a scouting walk and saw a dozen or so fresh excavations. So, things are looking promising. Saw a dead one in the road, but nothing in the fields or around structures. It's going to be warm this week, so I think we will see some. Probably while I'm working and can't do anything about it. |
Trusting your life to the benevolence of an armed criminal is not a strategy, it is stupid!
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Originally Posted By rgaper: Shit man, still working on the coyotes here... seen my first road killed groundhog of 2024 this week though. I keep thinking I'm going to hunt Coyotes, have a caller and an AR equipped with a Sightmark Wraith. I never go out and do it though. |
Trusting your life to the benevolence of an armed criminal is not a strategy, it is stupid!
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We have beaucoup movement around the farm here, fresh holes, including one under my old garage slab. Weather has turned cold, and I think they will hole up again for a few days. Waiting on die bushings for the .17 FB and then I'll get some loads together. In the meantime, the old Winchester 72 is loaded up with CCI .22 Quiet. |
"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."
L.P. Hartley
L.P. Hartley
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Attached File Winchester Model 72 and CCi Quiet at 30 yards. The stock on this rifle is not attractive, but this rifle has become one of my favorites. Tube mag holds lots of ammo and no mags to lose. |
"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."
L.P. Hartley
L.P. Hartley
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Originally Posted By FZJ80: https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/434728/IMG_6585_jpeg-3156973.JPG Winchester Model 72 and CCi Quiet at 30 yards. The stock on this rifle is not attractive, but this rifle has become one of my favorites. Tube mag holds lots of ammo and no mags to lose. I love these old winchesters. Just picked up a prewar 69a. |
Trusting your life to the benevolence of an armed criminal is not a strategy, it is stupid!
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Attached File #2 and 3. |
"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."
L.P. Hartley
L.P. Hartley
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Attached File #4 |
"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."
L.P. Hartley
L.P. Hartley
| Won’t see chucks her til May or so. Back when we had a garden and burned firewood I had one that made his burrow under the woodpile (on pallets) he would peek out from under the woodpile. One day when I caught him peeking, my Henry Golden Boy barked and he was no more. The “thunk” of the lead hitting his forehead/nose/face was music to my ears. He went under ground and never saw him again. Iron sights from 50 yds! |
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I had a ground hog burrow under my metal out building. I kept filling the holes and blocking entry with concrete blocks. With warmer weather he got more active. A couple days ago I was going out around noon to fill his last hole he dug. I saw him looking out of his hole but he couldn’t see me because his head was behind a tree. My 17 HMR got a solid body hit and he made back into the hole. I filled the hole and covered it with another concrete block. Unless you can get a solid head shot they seem to always make it under ground. I don’t think I’ll see that critter again and maybe his friends will stay away. |
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#3, all I could see above ground was ear and eyeball. Man this Savage walmart special .22mag is wickedly accurate with 30gr vmax. There are most certainly prettier hunting rifles, but damned few more accurate. 
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Trusting your life to the benevolence of an armed criminal is not a strategy, it is stupid!
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Attached File #5, 20 gauge 870 off the porch with my sparrow and starling load of #7 steel shot. |
"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."
L.P. Hartley
L.P. Hartley
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Originally Posted By dirtyboy: You can shoot prairie dogs all fucking year, suns out, dogs are out, even when below zero. Unfortunately poisoning season is over until October. Woodchucks are more solitary creatures. Once mature, they go their own way. It's fairly rare to see more than two or three in the same spot. That said, there's one hole near the edge of a bean field where I've killed 8 over the last two seasons. Seems the new Tennant can't figure out why there's a vacant apartment in prime real estate.
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Trusting your life to the benevolence of an armed criminal is not a strategy, it is stupid!
