Trust me, you'd only want one as a pet until the little ground dweller bit ya'! Then my guess would be that it would somehow fall victim to your favorite .22lr!
Gopher hunt stories
- Thread starter 10mark22
- Start date
Trust me, you'd only want one as a pet until the little ground dweller bit ya'! Then my guess would be that it would somehow fall victim to your favorite .22lr!
Farlsincharge
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Saskatchewan
My dad had one when he was a kid, said it always would climb the drapes. He had it for about two weeks and then he said it went missing. I always figured grandma probably had something to do with the missing part.
Sweet! I've caught them live before, never without being bitten! After the first time I was bitten, I used leather work gloves to grab 'em with. Most times I would let them go, other's became POW's that were judged by the firing squad (my two brother's and I)!
Mystery meat?
338! I thought you got 20 ft with .223. All the same, that was probably more than 20 feet! It kind of looked like Superman (or gopher) taking off to save Lois Lane. ROFL!
Update: I have set a new personal best for gopher air time with my .223!
Using a Federal 40 grain HP at close range (about 30 yards) a headshot sent him soaring at least 10 feet high and double that in distance. It was a little one.
Using a Federal 40 grain HP at close range (about 30 yards) a headshot sent him soaring at least 10 feet high and double that in distance. It was a little one.
- Location
- British Canuckistan
AGREED!!! that was a hoot and did make me laugh!
No gun big enough for gophers
Over several summer a couple buddies and I would make our reguler trek into the flatlands of southern Alberta. We frequented a rpair of roads we nicknamed "The CCR"...aka, the Clearwater Road...aka, "The Creedence Clearwater Revival Road, which also connected on the leg home to the Long Valley Road. It was absolutely loaded with gophers. We would normally take our 22's and would also load what ever happened to be laying about the house at the time. This would be either a 40 Cal Flintlock custom built long gun, or 50 cal percussion Hawken, M-1 Garand, M1873 Winchester, 38-40. Or the best of the best...either an 1874 Italian made Sharps 45-70, or a Shilo Sharps 45-2 4/10 (45-90).
On one afternoon of note I had the 45-70 Sharps with factory 405 smokeless ammo(needed the empty brass for relaoding). We were driving an old Dodge Royal Monaca with which earlier in the day we out ran an antelope in the middle of slough bottom. We were crusiing down the CCR when a crazy rodent crossed road in front of us...I put the RM into a 4 wheel lock up and skidded to a stop in a cloud of dust, all the whille kicking the door open to get the long barreled Sharps out of the car. The gooph stopped in the ditch to watch the cloud go by and all I had to do was drop a round in the chamber and let fly. Upon impact the gopher seperated into three distinct pieces all of of which were airborne...the crater was testimony to the devastation the 45-70 did to the critter. All is well though as there were more gophs to find.
On the last leg home (Long Valley), we once again had the RM wound up on the gravel, when another large goph crossed the road. The skid to a stop went well as this time the cab of the car was completely filled with road dust, owing to the extreme drought we had that year.
The gopher seemed to have disappeared across the road, but I knew it was not far. There was a an approach with a metal cattle gate at the last spot the critter was seen at. I positioned myself on the gate by balancing on the metal pipe grating and could see the gopher in the bottom of the gate dug-out. I carefully inserted the muzzle of the Sharps between the pipe grating (there was about a 3" space) and squeezed off a shot. Immediately the lights went out and I could hear this fit of laughter coming from what may have been the direction of the car. I couldn't tell since I could not see the car, the gate, the fence, the sky, or even the Sharps I was holding...I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. It took about a minute for the dust to settle when all the above came into view. It seems the dugout under the gate was nothing but powdered dust and dirt. When I fired the shot the muzzle blast of the 45-70 blew all this dust out from under the gate. As was related afterwards by my bud in the car..."You were standing there cussing the gopher...then you fired the shot...and a cloud of dust billowed up around you and you completely disappearred...all I could hear was WTF!!!!" "Then, when the dust cleared you were standing there covered in dust...you looked like a ghost with a white dusty Sharps." This was related between fits of laughter. It took about htree hours to clean all the dust out of that Sharps. BTW...the gopher got away...the sneaky bugger slipped out under cover of dust, and was probably snickering about it too.
Lesson to be learned...Do not shoot into the dugout of a cattle gate with anything larger then a 22!!!!
Over several summer a couple buddies and I would make our reguler trek into the flatlands of southern Alberta. We frequented a rpair of roads we nicknamed "The CCR"...aka, the Clearwater Road...aka, "The Creedence Clearwater Revival Road, which also connected on the leg home to the Long Valley Road. It was absolutely loaded with gophers. We would normally take our 22's and would also load what ever happened to be laying about the house at the time. This would be either a 40 Cal Flintlock custom built long gun, or 50 cal percussion Hawken, M-1 Garand, M1873 Winchester, 38-40. Or the best of the best...either an 1874 Italian made Sharps 45-70, or a Shilo Sharps 45-2 4/10 (45-90).
On one afternoon of note I had the 45-70 Sharps with factory 405 smokeless ammo(needed the empty brass for relaoding). We were driving an old Dodge Royal Monaca with which earlier in the day we out ran an antelope in the middle of slough bottom. We were crusiing down the CCR when a crazy rodent crossed road in front of us...I put the RM into a 4 wheel lock up and skidded to a stop in a cloud of dust, all the whille kicking the door open to get the long barreled Sharps out of the car. The gooph stopped in the ditch to watch the cloud go by and all I had to do was drop a round in the chamber and let fly. Upon impact the gopher seperated into three distinct pieces all of of which were airborne...the crater was testimony to the devastation the 45-70 did to the critter. All is well though as there were more gophs to find.
On the last leg home (Long Valley), we once again had the RM wound up on the gravel, when another large goph crossed the road. The skid to a stop went well as this time the cab of the car was completely filled with road dust, owing to the extreme drought we had that year.
The gopher seemed to have disappeared across the road, but I knew it was not far. There was a an approach with a metal cattle gate at the last spot the critter was seen at. I positioned myself on the gate by balancing on the metal pipe grating and could see the gopher in the bottom of the gate dug-out. I carefully inserted the muzzle of the Sharps between the pipe grating (there was about a 3" space) and squeezed off a shot. Immediately the lights went out and I could hear this fit of laughter coming from what may have been the direction of the car. I couldn't tell since I could not see the car, the gate, the fence, the sky, or even the Sharps I was holding...I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. It took about a minute for the dust to settle when all the above came into view. It seems the dugout under the gate was nothing but powdered dust and dirt. When I fired the shot the muzzle blast of the 45-70 blew all this dust out from under the gate. As was related afterwards by my bud in the car..."You were standing there cussing the gopher...then you fired the shot...and a cloud of dust billowed up around you and you completely disappearred...all I could hear was WTF!!!!" "Then, when the dust cleared you were standing there covered in dust...you looked like a ghost with a white dusty Sharps." This was related between fits of laughter. It took about htree hours to clean all the dust out of that Sharps. BTW...the gopher got away...the sneaky bugger slipped out under cover of dust, and was probably snickering about it too.
Lesson to be learned...Do not shoot into the dugout of a cattle gate with anything larger then a 22!!!!
great
Great stories guys, keep them coming. I too have gotten 3 in one shot, it was a couple of years ago and it was in the spring just after the babies started coming out. Just so happened I got 3 lined up and pulled the trigger on my Ruger. By the time the hollowpoint made it to the 3rd one, it must have been huge, as the 3rd one was just mangled. My nephew was a witness and to this day I haven't been able to do it again. I was out shooting on my favorite local pasture and the farmer's neighbor came over and told me about a barley field that was being decimated. I went a looked and had never seen that much crop missing due to gophers. The patch that was chewed down to the ground was probably the size of a football field. Me and a buddy spent days in that field, all you had to do was sit and shoot. Great times, shooting rodents is a great escape from the trials and tribulations of the daily grind. Thanks guys, Later.
Great stories guys, keep them coming. I too have gotten 3 in one shot, it was a couple of years ago and it was in the spring just after the babies started coming out. Just so happened I got 3 lined up and pulled the trigger on my Ruger. By the time the hollowpoint made it to the 3rd one, it must have been huge, as the 3rd one was just mangled. My nephew was a witness and to this day I haven't been able to do it again. I was out shooting on my favorite local pasture and the farmer's neighbor came over and told me about a barley field that was being decimated. I went a looked and had never seen that much crop missing due to gophers. The patch that was chewed down to the ground was probably the size of a football field. Me and a buddy spent days in that field, all you had to do was sit and shoot. Great times, shooting rodents is a great escape from the trials and tribulations of the daily grind. Thanks guys, Later.
Cattle farmers near us used to ask us to shoot groundhogs for them. Cattle stick their legs in a groundhog hole and that's the end of a 2000 pound cow. You don't know the meaning of 'dead weight' until you try to get a 2000 pound dead cow out of a muddy field. I'd lie down in the trees with sandbags at 200 yards with a 30-06 using hollowpoint. Groundhogs were turned inside out. Obviously they died quick. Never missed a groundhog.
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.303 vs Varmints....
On the topic of the mighty .303 versus the brown menace:
One occasion using factory Igman 180gr ammo I went prone with the No.5 and fired at a gopher about 50yards away. When the dust settled, there was the target, still sitting in his hole. With WTF on my mind, I worked the bolt and proceeded to close distance. When I got to the hole, there was the gopher, still sitting peacefully. Giving him a nudge with my foot, the top half of the carcass flopped over to form an inverted V in shillouette. The round had split him neatly in half.
On another occasion, I conected with a gopher about six feet away with a .303 loaded with a 100gr Hornady XTP over a Lee #2.8 scoop of H4895. As the gopher was just peeking out of the hole, there was no aerobatics. However, from his feet to his hips was pulled out of the hole. The rest was a grease spot on the grass. Highly gratifying in every way (barring ###ual, of course)
On the topic of the mighty .303 versus the brown menace:
One occasion using factory Igman 180gr ammo I went prone with the No.5 and fired at a gopher about 50yards away. When the dust settled, there was the target, still sitting in his hole. With WTF on my mind, I worked the bolt and proceeded to close distance. When I got to the hole, there was the gopher, still sitting peacefully. Giving him a nudge with my foot, the top half of the carcass flopped over to form an inverted V in shillouette. The round had split him neatly in half.
On another occasion, I conected with a gopher about six feet away with a .303 loaded with a 100gr Hornady XTP over a Lee #2.8 scoop of H4895. As the gopher was just peeking out of the hole, there was no aerobatics. However, from his feet to his hips was pulled out of the hole. The rest was a grease spot on the grass. Highly gratifying in every way (barring ###ual, of course)
Classic.
I was successful launching an unsuspecting earthpig off a large limestone (Niagara Escrapement) rock last Wednesday. He had his back to me and was sunning himself. My spotter buddy just verified and ID'ed the target for me and we were good to launch. Distance was about 100 steps or a little more. Not much drop for a 100m zero'ed .223 LTR Wannabe M700 SPS....
I placed my crosshairs of the Mark4 M1 Leupold Duplex 4.5 x 15 x 50mm just under his belly where it meets the lighter colored Ontario limestone.
We sent that earthpig up about 4' or 5'. After walking over to the rock, all I found was pink mist / vapor / liquid all over the rocks. Then I ID'ed the bullet strike directly under the unfortunate earth pig, the 50gr VMAX went off like a grenade beneath that groundhog. Then I found a fist sized ball of partly digested vegetation ( I gutted that earth pig with the VMAX bullet... .223 of course) among a 3' Square patch of entrails and feces.
No body, but the entrails, stomach contents will confirm that this escaped corpse ain't gonna last too long.
Peace be to journey
I placed my crosshairs of the Mark4 M1 Leupold Duplex 4.5 x 15 x 50mm just under his belly where it meets the lighter colored Ontario limestone.
We sent that earthpig up about 4' or 5'. After walking over to the rock, all I found was pink mist / vapor / liquid all over the rocks. Then I ID'ed the bullet strike directly under the unfortunate earth pig, the 50gr VMAX went off like a grenade beneath that groundhog. Then I found a fist sized ball of partly digested vegetation ( I gutted that earth pig with the VMAX bullet... .223 of course) among a 3' Square patch of entrails and feces.
No body, but the entrails, stomach contents will confirm that this escaped corpse ain't gonna last too long.
Peace be to journey
