Gopher time

Can't find any place to shoot gophers in Southern Manitoba. Bought a brand new cz varmint 17 hornet and haven't used it yet. One place I knew of is now under new ownership and they take care of them on their own now. Sucks...I enjoy blowing up those walking pizza pops lol
 
Just got back from southern Alberta. 3&1/2 days shooting, over 4000 rds from 2 of us. Rifles 2 CZs, a Brno, and VQ 10-22. CZ did the yomans work. Had a couple badgers get in range as well. Played with a few different bullets, Win, AE, Fed, Rem YJ, and mini mags. Best effect was the yellow jackets and mini mags. It was a pleasure to shoot the mini mags, accurate and hard hitting. Really enjoyed driving around the prairie and pasture. A side note, there are way fewer gophers this year. All the ranchers noticed it too. Too much wind for 17 Rem and 222 for longer range. All In all, a great time.
 
a j cave said:
Just got back from southern Alberta. 3&1/2 days shooting, over 4000 rds from 2 of us. Rifles 2 CZs, a Brno, and VQ 10-22. CZ did the yomans work. Had a couple badgers get in range as well. Played with a few different bullets, Win, AE, Fed, Rem YJ, and mini mags. Best effect was the yellow jackets and mini mags. It was a pleasure to shoot the mini mags, accurate and hard hitting. Really enjoyed driving around the prairie and pasture. A side note, there are way fewer gophers this year. All the ranchers noticed it too. Too much wind for 17 Rem and 222 for longer range. All In all, a great time.
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Yah, I've been noticing this. The winter kill on them looks to have been brutal. Winter came early, was colder than normal, and stayed very late. It's more about the "stayed late" as the mamas and their litters would have been under snow for an extra couple of weeks - almost a month longer than normal, really. Took forever for the snow to clear.

This year is going to be all about the 452 and reaching out for precision. High volume semi shooting isn't in the cards.
 
The wife and I were out for 4 hours on Sunday, ~225 or so. Dang seagulls were swooping in and out of the gopher patch chasing some kind of bug (I guess) so the little fellas were a bit spooked and keeping a low profile. We have been shooting down south here for 2 months or so and have found a couple good fields but you have to drive to find em. Our count is about 1200-1500 for the year so far.
Still using the CZ .22 rim fires with CCI mini Mags for now as the little guys are out will move up to the higher velocity cartridges once they get a bit smarter.
 
Ridersfan said:
I bought a gopher call yesterday... now to find out if it works or was a waste of $25 lol.... we shall see on the weekend
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metalbender said:
The call does work, gets them to pop up to have a look. Don't overdo it though.
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I have one. I find it works best (for me), if you see them scuttling in the grass. 1 quick chirp (the one I have, you inhale, so I "cluck" my tongue to get one short, sharp call), and they stop and stand up, making for an easy shot.
 
grelmar said:
I have one. I find it works best (for me), if you see them scuttling in the grass. 1 quick chirp (the one I have, you inhale, so I "cluck" my tongue to get one short, sharp call), and they stop and stand up, making for an easy shot.
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Perfect, thanks for the advice... I bought the pen style that says to inhale
 
Just got back from over 9 days in Alberta shooting gophers, and those calls do actually work. I might add, simply whistling works allot of the time too..but I think for different reasons. The calls sound allot like a gopher squeak and seem to get the attention of the youngest ones, best. A loud whistle (guessing) provokes a "curious look" response, and projects a greater distance too.

If my cell hadn't been stolen at the Calgary airport, I could upload some interesting photos. Here's hoping I understand how iCloud works. :(
 
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