- Location
- Okanagan Valley B.C.
2023 Marmot Control
- Thread starter skwerl
- Start date
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.
I had a .22-250; should have kept it. It did wonders on ground hogs! We used to be able to use up to 7mm (now in our area .270 or less) I loaded up sierra 100 gr HPs. Devistating!!, now, 6.5 x 55, and I could not be happier!!
- Location
- Okanagan Valley B.C.
I do see your point of spreading the remains , entertainment
is another benefit of good rodent control .
...skwerl
Many moons ago we use to have a huge groundhog population in south eastern Ontario until the coyote/brush wolf explosion. For many years I exterminated tens of thousands for local farmers. A cheap add in the local papers was all that was required but gained me a lifetime of property I couldnt possibly cover. More is better than not enough. Well a common occurence was GROUND HOG derbys put on by local hunting clubs or gun clubs. Sooh it became quite evident that weight was the prime objective and I soon realized that a big hog lying in the mouth of a burrow made an easy target for my 40XB 22-250. One inch below the critter would pop it up 3-4 feet in the air and not put a hole or lose any weight. Some of the locals thought I was trapping them until a buddy of mine told them. Not bragging but won every derby I ever entered. The clubs started limiting entrants to one prize. Got tired of 1,2,3 going to the same guy. Im not the sharpest tool in the shed but have a knack for bein good at killin things and loadin my own ammo that shoots very well. Not bragging but lucky to be good at something.
If you think you are good, you ought to test yourself against Southern Alberta gophers. They are 1/5 the size of a ground hog and they pretty much never sit still. They run and then stop and stand up. You need to get on it and get the shot in before the little bugger moves again. There is almost no time for marksmanship.
A gopher is approximately the size of a 600ml soda bottle when it is standing up.
A long, long time ago, in Grey-Bruce Ontario, a buddy of mine worked part time at a mink farm. Every saturday in the spring/summer they held tournaments. Every veihicle got a full tank of gas and a brick of .22 ammo; they had to bring the ground hogs back for counting. The car that got the most got another fill up of gas and a case of beer. They were skinned, the teeth knocked out and then ground for mink feed. (hides apearantly had sand and grit in them and along with the teeth were hard on the grinder. True storry.
I actually want to travel in the not too distant future to Saskatchewan for exactly this purpose. Have buddies that done it years ago and they ran out of ammo in two days. Hunted one field and said there was thousands of them. It’s sounds like so much fun.
^sorry skwerl=only photos of nice rifles/scopes allowed
Hope the next photo we see of that rifle is beside a marmot!The critters I saw in the mountains were notably smaller than a mature, Ontario groundhog so I'd have no issues shooting one with a 17HMR. I did spend a summer shooting a 17HMR at groundhogs after having a buddy tell me it's "all you need" for them. I've heard the same thing about 22LR being enough, heard tales of guys shooting them with non-PAL airguns, slingshots, etc. Lots of stories, but in my experience...17HMR does not anchor them reliably=even on -75 yard shots. 22WMR is a different story, and the bare minimum for reliably ethical kill shots inside of 125 yards. That opinion is born out of allot of hours shooting them with both, not trying to convince anyone.
For the "best" caliber, meaning, enough power/enough distance/lowest report? Easy, 17 Hornet.
.223 is great for them, .204 might be my favorite
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- Location
- Okanagan Valley B.C.
^sorry skwerl=only photos of nice rifles/scopes allowed
The critters I saw in the mountains were notably smaller than a mature, Ontario groundhog so I'd have no issues shooting one with a 17HMR. I did spend a summer shooting a 17HMR at groundhogs after having a buddy tell me it's "all you need" for them. I've heard the same thing about 22LR being enough, heard tales of guys shooting them with non-PAL airguns, slingshots, etc. Lots of stories, but in my experience...17HMR does not anchor them reliably=even on -75 yard shots. 22WMR is a different story, and the bare minimum for reliably ethical kill shots inside of 125 yards. That opinion is born out of allot of hours shooting them with both, not trying to convince anyone.
For the "best" caliber, meaning, enough power/enough distance/lowest report? Easy, 17 Hornet.
.223 is great for them, .204 might be my favorite
Hey I do get it ethical ,efficient & entertaining . Wow does a 338 LM leave a crater
of smoldering gush.
Being on the fringe of small town hobby farming and along the edge of
neighbors back fields , wanting a modicum of calm , we shoot only rimfire.
Also keeping the farm dogs from running off to the real hills.
The range to our Alfalfa field is 50 to 150 mtrs , we have a shooting bench set up
so therefore taking out the Left eye of a Marmot isn't an unreal challenge.
This is afterall varmint control ...
Great Groups ... skwerl
Actually this is another option for Marmot control , staying
within the rimfire realm .
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6.5 x 55; current loading for ground hogs is 85 gr Sierra JHP; but I think they are discontinued at the moment. It loves sierras in any weight, but does not shoot any Hornady bullets well. (I got sucked in a couple times due to price and availability.).
Late 70's I was out there with my cousins near Central Butte one cousin and myself went out to a community pasture armed only with some bricks of 22 mag shot shells a pair of Ruger Super Sixes, two oil pails, and a 12 pack. About an hour later, sitting in the hot sun, back to back and taking turns shooting, we had 247 dead gophers, and were so busy shooting we had not had time to crack a beer. Holes were 6" to 1' apart. Not a blade of grass on or arround the hill they inhabbited.
Magpies are very smart and a difficult target.
I grew up in Killdeer on the eastern edge of what is now the Grasslands National Park but back then was ranchland. Thousands of gophers. Went back last spring to shoot gophers and visited a friends ranch. His wife had 1500 gophers already and the fields were alive with running gophers. In a weekend we got 400 but it was overcast and cold. Ask a rancher and they would be glad to have you come and help them get rid of them.
I grew up in Killdeer on the eastern edge of what is now the Grasslands National Park but back then was ranchland. Thousands of gophers. Went back last spring to shoot gophers and visited a friends ranch. His wife had 1500 gophers already and the fields were alive with running gophers. In a weekend we got 400 but it was overcast and cold. Ask a rancher and they would be glad to have you come and help them get rid of them.
.22LRGUY
“All this talk of varmint hunting, but are they good eating? (=lol )”
Not really, a good meal for a starving man. My description would be to envision poor quality greasy chicken kolbasa. My brother and I ate one for the heck of it, wouldn’t do it again.
It’s been years since we shot them at a cousins ranch near cache creek. Used a .270 with 90? grain hollow points. They very often went airborne.
“All this talk of varmint hunting, but are they good eating? (=lol )”
Not really, a good meal for a starving man. My description would be to envision poor quality greasy chicken kolbasa. My brother and I ate one for the heck of it, wouldn’t do it again.
It’s been years since we shot them at a cousins ranch near cache creek. Used a .270 with 90? grain hollow points. They very often went airborne.
