Mystic Precision
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Summerland, BC
Building or buying the perfect gopher setup
- Thread starter Yotarunner
- Start date
I want to kill as many gophers in a day as I can. I've been shooting gophers in S Alberta for over 20 years. I've seen a field so polluted w gophers that they had denuded it of grass and were resorting to cannibalism. We shot so much and so fast in that field that my single shot, straight taper target rifle got hot to the touch. Not warm, HOT. I piled up a pile of 6 or 7 gophers as I shot each one that ran out to try and eat the dead ones. Some friends and I racked up over 1000 gophers in a single day in a single field. I've been there and done that and cans say without a doubt that a target rifle is the way to go. Unless you are gonna carry around a big bag of pre-loaded mags all day, the single shot is more than fast enough to keep up, while the SA shooter is reloading mags.
Comparing only the rifle itself, a built 10/22 can produce good accuracy but the target bolt action will always beat it. My biggest problem with the semi-auto is that it does not promote good marksmanship. One time I got behind a 10/22 I could feel my marksmanship go out the window. Subconsciously you know there is a whole mag full of ammo ready to go and the need to make the best shot goes away.
I actually converted a very good 10/22 shooter away from his semi-auto to a high end target rifle because he was tired of missing and wasting ammo and he wanted to raise his hit ratio.
FWIW marmots are prob 4 or 5 times the size of a gopher. A fully grown gopher is approx the size of a 600ml water bottle, when it stands erect.
Alberta has 3 kinds of ground squirrels that I know of. On the prairie are Richardson ground squirrels. At a little higher elevations are Colombian ground squirrels usually in the foothills or the bottom of mountain valleys. To me they seem a little bidder than Richardsons squirrels. At just bellow tree line are 3 line ground squirrels, they are smallest of the bunch.
I don’t think anyone shoots chipmunks. If you want to see fat yellow bellied marmots watch the car show “Rust Valley Restorers” there are marmots living on and in the old Rasta-blasta hippie’s bone yard.
I don’t think anyone shoots chipmunks. If you want to see fat yellow bellied marmots watch the car show “Rust Valley Restorers” there are marmots living on and in the old Rasta-blasta hippie’s bone yard.
In my travels in S. Alberta, it's been about 99.9% Richardson's. There is one field (only) where I've seen a few "13 Stripe" ground squirrels, very nervous/restless things. I've seen Columbians too, but closer to/in the mountains. Saw a couple of what I imagine are marmots in the mountains too, very pale in color-not yellow-y at all.
We only shoot the Richardson's, highest populations are in the pastures/seeded fields where property owners don't want them.
I've heard the same thing. Never met anyone who could confirm such.
- Location
- North-central Saskatchewan
There are regularly spectacular exceptions to that rule.
The wheat field in my back yard is a good one.
- Location
- Edmonton Area Ab, Candle Lake Sk
I've seen canola fields eaten down to bare dirt in places
I have all three, single shot, bolt repeater and semi auto. By far my modded Ruger SR-22 is my favourite, match barrel and Kidd trigger. You just have to test several types of bulk ammo to see which performs best. I tend to get the best accuracy from the Win. HP bulk stuff vs Federal bulk HP. At 50 yards it will group 3/4 inch out of my BRNO 452 or my SR-22. I prefer hollow points, better performance. In stock form the 10-22 is nothing great, but put a good barrel and trigger on and it may change your mind. Yes I do tend to go through more ammo with the semi auto but you also get the advantage of a quick second shot if you do miss or wound one.
^I've heard the same, never thought I'd see one and I'm still not sure I have. One day I was hunting the SE part of the province (very south) with my nephew and we saw what we thought was a prairie dog. Way bigger than a gopher, same color, didn't look or move exactly like one though. Been hunting groundhogs in S. Ontario for almost a decade, I fully understand what marmots/groundhogs look like. Wasn't that.
I've been pining to get back to that spot for a host of reasons, that's one of them.
Definitely. But not so far south in my experience. Far East Central Alberta, straight east of Red Deer, nearly in Sask.
My friend Jim was wide-eyed when he first described them to me as, "giant gophers!"
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Gopher shooters never "miss"... We fire "warning shots".
In fact many gopher shooters often manage to hit more than one target with a single shot.
My latest outing I had a few "doubles" and even one "triple".
That's right folks... Three solid hits with one round. (.17HMR)
I will say though I don't think the triple had much to do with my unworldly marksmanship skills, but rather the three gophers lack of tactical awareness.
Multiples are more common when the babies first emerge. They will all stand up in a burrow, so it's just a matter of patience to wait till they are all standing in the right orientation. I once managed a quad. That was a once in a lifetime shot. Doubles are way more common and triples are a real possibility.
OP, I'm kinda surprised the 17 bullet didn't fragment to the point where the third was untouched. Good shooting regardless. All mine were done w 22 LR, which doesn't exactly fragment.
This yeas was slower than normal. I shot about 1000 over 3 part days with the 22lr and a couple hundred with the hornet. The hornet is a lot of fun and I can reload it cheep. (I’ve lots of old components) . I’ve a 17 Rem but use it less, but it excels on crows and ravens. I still maintain a quality accurate rifle pays for itself in more hits and pride of ownership. Best of luck.
'You callin' me a liar..??!!
Nope.
I thought that 17 HMR did fragment like a proper frangible varmint bullet.
