Global warming is starting! Gophers are out!

kjohn

kjohn

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Super GunNutz
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Location
SE Sask.
Smoked five of the cute little critters this afternoon. It was on a patch of ground that was cleared of snow a week or so ago. At least it's a start.
 
We've been shooting them for well over a month west of Calgary. Gave the 375, 30-06 and 17HMR a good workout in the wind today.
 
sheephunter said:
We've been shooting them for well over a month west of Calgary. Gave the 375, 30-06 and 17HMR a good workout in the wind today.
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Don't forget, Saskatchewan is always behind us.;) Brother was in Hudson's Bay last week and says there's still 3 ft. of snow there.

Grizz
 
I scored about 10-12 on friday. I think Im up to about 35 now for this year.

Trying to hold off till they have the little ones, but its hard to watch them run around without a care in the world. :p
 
Well on my Grandmothers farm she had 1 small corner just for them once they crossed the fence line she would pop them was kind of funny because for 2 generations they wouldn't cross that line but every third generation would they would get shot and the cycle would continue. She figure the hawks in the area needed to eat too so she didn't want to wipe them all out because unless they went in the field with the cows they didn't cause a problem.
 
Went out yesterday with a buddy and our kids, great day other than the wicked wind! Made shooting a little tricky but it was great fubn for all.
 
I just uploaded a couple pics from my phone and thought I would throw this up here.

On friday I was shooting some paper and gophers with my Savage hrm. My best group so far... Had one flyer but still happy happy happy!
17group_zpsf024de26.jpg


Waiting for a nice day to stretch her out some
 
Gopher dead on first shot, shooting ghosts after that?? Or, cold bore flyer, missed gopher, next shots hit home before he fell. Just pokin fun, I'm a happy camper 'cause I got to scratch the itch on some gophers.
 
I just moved out in February. Living in Islay and working in Lloyd. Got permission from a landowner yesterday about 5 minutes from the house and went out and whacked 17 of the little beggars with my brand new Ruger #1 in 22.250. What a hoot. I only brought one box of ammo with me, wish O had brought more! I am sure I could have shot 5 boxes off in no time. The place was overrun with them. The landowner sure seemed happy to let me after them. First I have shot at since the summer I spent working in Calgary when I was 17 and then all I had was my cooey, lol!
 
the spank said:
I just moved out in February. Living in Islay and working in Lloyd. Got permission from a landowner yesterday about 5 minutes from the house and went out and whacked 17 of the little beggars with my brand new Ruger #1 in 22.250. What a hoot. I only brought one box of ammo with me, wish O had brought more! I am sure I could have shot 5 boxes off in no time. The place was overrun with them. The landowner sure seemed happy to let me after them. First I have shot at since the summer I spent working in Calgary when I was 17 and then all I had was my cooey, lol!
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Still remember the first time my brother in law came "Out West" .:p He couldn't believe it. Cleaned up about a hundred of the buggars in one afternoon.

Grizz
 
Grizzly Adams said:
Still remember the first time my brother in law came "Out West" .:p He couldn't believe it. Cleaned up about a hundred of the buggars in one afternoon.

Grizz
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It is alot of fun for sure! Last time I shot one was the summer of 1981 and then I may have shot maybe a dozen tops with my .22lr. I can't wait to go back out again. The landowner told me I was welcome back any time I wished, just call ahead and handed me his phone number! Woohoo!!
 
Finding prime gopher territory is like hitting the lotto jackpot for me. I have access to a FULL SECTION, any time I want... just drive on and start blasting. The best part is it's only 15 minutes from my door!

Sadly, I was a bit too ambitious about 7 years ago and wiped out too much of the population. I remember one morning where i whacked OVER 500 (no joke) without even moving my truck ONCE. 10 babies huddled around a hole... whack em down with my 10/22 like bowling pins. Now that was fun! Now there aren't nearly as many, but still a blast.

Also interesting note (for those that might not know) - especially at this time of the year, gophers are ruthless, savage cannibals. If you see two 'fighting' and chasing eachother, within SECONDS of blasting one, the other guy will be chomping on his carcass, intestines dripping from his mouth. It's kinda shocking since most people think gophers are cute little buggers.
 
Ya, one of the dangers of hitting gopher fields hard at this time of year before the females have had their young is that you can quite literally wipe out a population on a field. If it's a field that I want to keep shooting year after year, I wait till mid June before shooting it.
 
sheephunter said:
Ya, one of the dangers of hitting gopher fields hard at this time of year before the females have had their young is that you can quite literally wipe out a population on a field. If it's a field that I want to keep shooting year after year, I wait till mid June before shooting it.
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The downside to waiting too late (at least where I shoot) is that the grass gets too long in June. There is a smaaaaalll window of 'primetime' where the grass is short and green. Right now it's still tough to see the buggers without magnification as they hide pretty well in the brown grass. The landowner doesn't want me to wait until babies show up for obvious reasons, so I have to balance their needs and my own. ;)
 
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