2023 Marmot Control
- Thread starter skwerl
- Start date
All this talk of varmint hunting, but are they good eating? (=lol 
)
Beautiful rifles guys, safe shooting this spring...hope you put some down! Out of curiosity, anyone care to clarify what (in BC) you're referencing when you mention marmots? I hunt groundhogs here in Ontario (also marmots) but from what I've read/seen, they're larger than what you guys call "marmots" in BC. When I was in the mountains of S. Alberta, I did see some groundhog-looking critters popping up among the rocks here/there. Pale fur (grey/tan) vs. our rusty-brown, hay/alfalfa-eating groundhogs here.
...and they weren't gophers.
)Beautiful rifles guys, safe shooting this spring...hope you put some down! Out of curiosity, anyone care to clarify what (in BC) you're referencing when you mention marmots? I hunt groundhogs here in Ontario (also marmots) but from what I've read/seen, they're larger than what you guys call "marmots" in BC. When I was in the mountains of S. Alberta, I did see some groundhog-looking critters popping up among the rocks here/there. Pale fur (grey/tan) vs. our rusty-brown, hay/alfalfa-eating groundhogs here.
...and they weren't gophers.
Bunjee cord thet thar ker-pow tuh thuh frame and gitter backpalck stylin.
Vermin kawntroll is a fabyewluzz way to spent time in the outdoors.
Right lawk yer kahpellah and shewt till yer suspenders'old yer pantelones up.
- Location
- Okanagan Valley B.C.
All this talk of varmint hunting, but are they good eating? (=lol
Beautiful rifles guys, safe shooting this spring...hope you put some down! Out of curiosity, anyone care to clarify what (in BC) you're referencing when you mention marmots? I hunt groundhogs here in Ontario (also marmots) but from what I've read/seen, they're larger than what you guys call "marmots" in BC. When I was in the mountains of S. Alberta, I did see some groundhog-looking critters popping up among the rocks here/there. Pale fur (grey/tan) vs. our rusty-brown, hay/alfalfa-eating groundhogs here.
...and they weren't gophers.
Some of us call them 'chucks , Wood/chucks they are larger than the Ground Squirrels / Gophers of the Prairies .
Most are protected such as the Vancouver Island Marmots , where there is only 200-300 .
If they are causing damage on private property
as distroying farmers crops they are a pest and can be controlled.
- Location
- Okanagan Valley B.C.
Nice looking rifle. 17HMR would lift them out of their hidey holes.
My 22LR rig for whistle-pigs. Can't wait for them to be out sunning themselves around the barns
Hey Paul , we'll have to meet out at the range some sunny day plus 10c or better.
Come now skwerl; I thought I was going to see a Model 52 or a 44 1/2 in .25-25 or some-such!
:-(
:-(
Sounds like a plan.
IMO marmots are wasted on 22 rimfire. For something as large as a marmot I'd want to use a high speed centre fire with lightweight VMAX or Ballistic Tip bullets, in order to maximize the "M80 in a bag of pea-green soup factor."
Years ago I had the opportunity to shoot a few marmots in BC with a 22-250. The impact WHOMP noise and absolute explosion of green soup guts was epic.
The smallest round I'd choose for marmots would be my 17 Fireball, but something like a 22-250 or even a 243 with lightweight varmint bullets would be the most entertaining choice for those big, fat rodents.
Someday I'd love to get out and shoot marmots again. This time I'd bring my 6BR with 70gr Nosler Ballistic Tips. Those'd blow up marmots good.
Years ago I had the opportunity to shoot a few marmots in BC with a 22-250. The impact WHOMP noise and absolute explosion of green soup guts was epic.
The smallest round I'd choose for marmots would be my 17 Fireball, but something like a 22-250 or even a 243 with lightweight varmint bullets would be the most entertaining choice for those big, fat rodents.
Someday I'd love to get out and shoot marmots again.
This time I'd bring my 6BR with 70gr Nosler Ballistic Tips. Those'd blow up marmots good. 
22 hornet is probably the very best round for marmots.
Very clean, instant kills. No suffering and even non center shots do incredible damage.
35-40gr hornady soft tips... POP POP POP.
Marmots are a royal PITA. They top even all the coyotes we have around here on the annoying pest scale. If you own anything nice in BC, there's a marmot looking to wreck it. I bought the hornet rifle just for them.
Very clean, instant kills. No suffering and even non center shots do incredible damage.
35-40gr hornady soft tips... POP POP POP.
Marmots are a royal PITA. They top even all the coyotes we have around here on the annoying pest scale. If you own anything nice in BC, there's a marmot looking to wreck it. I bought the hornet rifle just for them.
Years ago, the Ontario variety was hunted with a Remington 40XB HB in 6 mm Remington with a 12X Unertyl 2" Ultra Varminter.
The rifle was mistakingly identified by a local farmer as a "White Barreled Shotgun". They were familiar with shots at 50 yards until I shot one in front of a half dozen at 200 yards.
In the Cariboo I was invited by ranchers to control populations and I went out with 2-6mm's, a 22-250 and a 222 and 20 rounds for each. I might have missed one.
Went out later with my son and we cleaned off another 60. The wood piles were alive with them.
One rancher believed they polluted the ground to such an extent that everyone shot by June was worth 100 pounds of beef in the fall.
Another rancher was told by his hired hand that if he could kill a marmot at some distanced he would eat it. Eat it he did but said he would not make that deal again.
My son had the patience to wait for the young ones to crawl onto a rock and one two occasions made two-for-one shots with the 222.
The rifle was mistakingly identified by a local farmer as a "White Barreled Shotgun". They were familiar with shots at 50 yards until I shot one in front of a half dozen at 200 yards.
In the Cariboo I was invited by ranchers to control populations and I went out with 2-6mm's, a 22-250 and a 222 and 20 rounds for each. I might have missed one.
Went out later with my son and we cleaned off another 60. The wood piles were alive with them.
One rancher believed they polluted the ground to such an extent that everyone shot by June was worth 100 pounds of beef in the fall.
Another rancher was told by his hired hand that if he could kill a marmot at some distanced he would eat it. Eat it he did but said he would not make that deal again.
My son had the patience to wait for the young ones to crawl onto a rock and one two occasions made two-for-one shots with the 222.
I would be conscious of BC laws related to shooting marmots. Not the first time this has come up on the forum or HBC
Now elsewhere shooting and eating marmots is not only legal but seemingly popular
[youtube] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i8e8m6DExBA[/youtube]
Also done in CH but hard to find references to it on google for some reason
I know they are usually soaked in milk and cooked and apparently quite tasty. A strange hybrid of sheep and rabbit hunting
Austrian sight advertising marmot hunting in Tyrol;
https://www.jagd-stmk.at/wildtiere/murmeltier/
Some vids of guys who sound Bavarian doing it as well but I could be off on the dialect
Now elsewhere shooting and eating marmots is not only legal but seemingly popular
[youtube] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i8e8m6DExBA[/youtube]
Also done in CH but hard to find references to it on google for some reason
I know they are usually soaked in milk and cooked and apparently quite tasty. A strange hybrid of sheep and rabbit hunting
Austrian sight advertising marmot hunting in Tyrol;
https://www.jagd-stmk.at/wildtiere/murmeltier/
Some vids of guys who sound Bavarian doing it as well but I could be off on the dialect
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Have not had any issues using 22LR on Marmots out to 100 yards. Head shots- clean kills. Last outing I was using 40 grain SK Standard Plus ammo. 1070fps muzzle, 945 at 100yd.
We're shooting around barns and the closest farmhouse is about 1/2 mile away so the 22LR vs my 17HMR is a better choice.
You can shoot yellow-bellied Marmots if they are on private land and destroying property, and boy do they like to destroy property.
We're shooting around barns and the closest farmhouse is about 1/2 mile away so the 22LR vs my 17HMR is a better choice.
You can shoot yellow-bellied Marmots if they are on private land and destroying property, and boy do they like to destroy property.
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All this talk of varmint hunting, but are they good eating? (=lol
Beautiful rifles guys, safe shooting this spring...hope you put some down! Out of curiosity, anyone care to clarify what (in BC) you're referencing when you mention marmots? I hunt groundhogs here in Ontario (also marmots) but from what I've read/seen, they're larger than what you guys call "marmots" in BC. When I was in the mountains of S. Alberta, I did see some groundhog-looking critters popping up among the rocks here/there. Pale fur (grey/tan) vs. our rusty-brown, hay/alfalfa-eating groundhogs here.
...and they weren't gophers.
I used to shoot Groundhogs years ago and take them to a buddy's Dad and he used to roast them up . not kidding . Raccoon's also .
I wasn't suggesting the 22LR couldn't kill marmots, only that it lacks the entertainment factor of a large centre fire round exploding a marmot as if it had swallowed a grenade.
None of the varmint bullets I mentioned are going to bounce or ricochet after impact with an animal or the ground. They are all designed to come apart violently. I shot a small marmot with the 17 Fireball and there was no exit wound. A 20gr VMax bullet going at 4000 fps is absolutely deadly.
In reality if you were concerned about bullets bouncing, the 22LR is one of the worst for that. It is going too slow to disintegrate the bullet on impact and they tend to skip off the ground.
Fair enough - that's why I use 17HMR for rabbits. Opposite side of the head from entry wound is generally completely missing
