Hunting Groundhogs with Hungry today

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A friend of mine, Hungry and myself went groundhog hunting today. My first time hunting and it was a blast especially going with a seasoned hunter and great guy like Hungry and my buddy Lucas. Here's some pics of the one groundhog Lucas managed to get.


LucasandHungry.jpg
 
ha ha ha LOL, There we are! Life is good! Keep on rockin' in the free world!! :evil:

Carmovies: I had a fantastic time watching the Blackberry action while waiting for the earthpigs to show up! :D
 
.22 is not an ideal round for the job the odds are higher that the animal will be wounded, but I'm sure someone will come on here and justify the use of .22lr as groundhog medicine...
 
Before the brain virus decimated them in our area, we used to kill as many as 150/year with 22's from 2 ft. to 75 yds. and occationally out to a 100. Good stalks and plenty of four postion practise-- standing, kneeling, sitting and prone. We often worked deals with farmers .25 cents a tail there holes are hard on cattle legs and equipment so kills were required. Over a season some burrows would give up as many as 10/summer. We'd make feed piles out of the carcasses and shoot crows and sh$thawks over them and any cat that appeared. The first year the virus hit every fencerow had a dead or near dead ground hog from spring to fall, now in the areas we used to hunt you can walk a 1000 acres and maybe see 1 too bad it used to keep a bunch of youngsters busy, happy and healthy! all the best just an old fart art.h
 
I used to employ a .22LR shooting YellowJackets (Remington) out of a Ruger 10/22. Yes, I like the light package to carry. No bipod. Lots and lots of position practice. Killed many via headshots ONLY! Body shots? The earthpig would crawl away or slide down the hole :eek: No body, No kill policy ruled our circle of friends! :(

So FWIW, a .223 is more fun, humane, and entertaining. And of course, a .22-250 is more dramatic!! :D

:cheers:

barney
 
LuckyLuc82 said:
.22 is not an ideal round for the job the odds are higher that the animal will be wounded, but I'm sure someone will come on here and justify the use of .22lr as groundhog medicine...
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You can't be serious LuckyLuc82. I've shot many many groundhogs with the 22LR and it kills them! It doesn't toss them around like a centrefire 22 will, but it does work!

Cheers
Jay
 
Jay, I agree with you that it does work, I just hate to see animals suffer, and whenever I can I always try to encourage a bigger caliber, especially for newbies. Can you imagine if all the mall and mirror ninjas came out to the country and started to knock on farmers doors asking for permission to hunt with their 10/22's 50 round drum mags. How long before one of those "experts" shoots the wrong way and hits a car or a house or even worse a person.

Shooting groundhogs is a fun time, I'm with you guys about .22 being a very capable round I just think there are far better choices.
 
wow guys that looks epic!!! groundhogs are huge!!! ive never seen one before! we just have gophers in alberta, they are much smaller!

By the way Hungry, you must be the coolest high school teacher ever!!! haha
 
LuckyLuc82 said:
Jay, I agree with you that it does work, I just hate to see animals suffer, and whenever I can I always try to encourage a bigger caliber, especially for newbies. Can you imagine if all the mall and mirror ninjas came out to the country and started to knock on farmers doors asking for permission to hunt with their 10/22's 50 round drum mags. How long before one of those "experts" shoots the wrong way and hits a car or a house or even worse a person.
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I don't understand your argument. You can't be an expert with a .22? Or if a person is irresponsible and negligent enough to "shoot the wrong way ", they should use a bigger caliber?

LuckyLuc82 said:
Shooting groundhogs is a fun time, I'm with you guys about .22 being a very capable round I just think there are far better choices.
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Sure it's not the best choice for long range varmint shooting, but sometimes a .22 rimfire is the only choice. The shorter range and low report make it ideal for groundhog hunting in areas with smaller farms.
 
Forcedair said:
I don't understand your argument. You can't be an expert with a .22? Or if a person is irresponsible and negligent enough to "shoot the wrong way ", they should use a bigger caliber?


Sure it's not the best choice for long range varmint shooting, but sometimes a .22 rimfire is the only choice. The shorter range and low report make it ideal for groundhog hunting in areas with smaller farms.
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I agree man, longer range higher velocity rounds are more dangerous in a farm environment, with farms often within 5k in every direction, a .22 is a sure safe caliber to use! (shotguns are fun too :p)
 
I guess what I meant to say larger calibers cost more $$$$ and have magazine limits unlike rimfire. Therefore if you shoot larger calibers you put the game down quicker and make your shots count.

I guess I'm just a .22 snob. Point well taken guys.
 
I was out checking my groundhog spots. Seen quite a few. This little bastard is atleast 5 years old (if its the same one) he's eluded me the last couple of years. He lives on the neighbours property but comes into the soy bean fields I have premission but I can never seen to get him before he gets back to the safe side.

I was about 10 feet away from him when I took the pic on the road lol

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If you're not worried about taking trophies, or the aforementioned 'no body, no kill' policy, then using a 6.5 by 55 Swedish Mauser is a hell of a good time.
 
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