Too Many Gophers

manbearpig said:
?? :eek:
where do you shoot? all i can think is that the groundhogs there may be smaller.
the ones where we shoot are frikken huge, nearly the size of raccoons.

good luck vaporizing something this big with the sub-.30 cals that are allowed :(
groundhog_phil.jpg


the closest we come is with varmint rounds in a .243, it makes them do cartwheels and transports their guts to about 10 feet behind them. still, turning them inside out is a long way from vaporized. the entire groundhog is still there, its just all over the place.
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They've been talking about "gophers" on this thread, or more accurately known as Richardson's Ground Squirrels. They are much small than the ground hogs you guys have in Ontario, but there are literally millions of them on the prairies. Still... they are completely different species.
 
i thought about mentioning the groundhog/gopher/ground squirrel distinction but that was posted by Whitbyman... which i automatically assumed is Whitby Ontario.... if hes out west i can understand now.

i shoot groundhogs every year in Ontario and many are frikken monsters. they are not all that huge but i have shot some as big as the one the guy is holding.
 
manbearpig said:
i thought about mentioning the groundhog/gopher/ground squirrel distinction but that was posted by Whitbyman... which i automatically assumed is Whitby Ontario.... if hes out west i can understand now.

i shoot groundhogs every year in Ontario and many are frikken monsters. they are not all that huge but i have shot some as big as the one the guy is holding.
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I wish we had those big buggers out here in Alberta!
 
theyre getting scarcer and the land we used to hunt on is getting bought up by yuppies so we have to search around more every year to find good shooting grounds :(
nowadays its almost like we spend more time driving around than we do actually shooting. last time we drove around for hours and i walked over 30 miles, and i was lucky to use up a box and a half of ammo. my friends didnt even use up one.

id kill for your situation out west where you just sit in a field and actually have to worry about overheating a barrel you shoot so much :)

the grass is always greener... or i should say the groundhog is always fatter on the other side :)
 
So then I should not tell you about the day where 4 guys with 1 10/22 a 10 shot bolt and 2 singles went through 4000+ rounds of 22 in 12 hours.
 
Woodsman said:
Where are all your birds of prey and yotes?
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WHERE DO YOU THINK! HERE'S THE ####ING DEAL. GODDAMN YUPPIES AND THEIR MIND ####ED WAY OF DOING THINGS IS WHY THERE ARE NO BIRDS OF PREY, OR SOON WON'T BE.

POISON THE CUTE LITTLE BUGGERS THEY SAY. Well what the HELL do the Raptors eat!!! Basically we are screwed. GUNS ARE BAD PEOPLE DON'T YOU KNOW THAT BY NOW.

One year here in the city of DEADMONTON, we had a GOPHER explosion, and I got the old dusty .177 pellet gun out and got 40 Kills that summer in my back yard. Well I tell you what, I was very nervous thinking at any moment the EPS Tact unit was going to storm my position. IT REALLY SUCKED, worrying about some yuppie SEEEING A GUUUNNNNN..... AND calling 911. BLOODY RETARDS...

Later that summer what did the city do... POISONED THE WHOLE AREA. Great now my dog had no fields to run in for fear of ####ING DYING, AND THE WHOLE LUFTWAFFE FLEET OF RAPTORS THAT HAVE BEEN NESTING IN THE AREA FOR THE LAST 7 YEARS, DID NOT RETURN THE NEXT SUMMER... WTF!

THANKS YUPPIE RETARDS....AND LANDOWNERS ARE BRAIN WASHED TOO, FORGET ABOUT ASKING THEM TO HUNT THEIR LAND,,,
 
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Hey K98Action, please tell us how you really feel, just let it out man, too much supressed emotion isn't good for you...

quote:
"LANDOWNERS ARE BRAIN WASHED TOO, FORGET ABOUT ASKING THEM TO HUNT THEIR LAND,,, SCREW THEM TOO.."

Your post is an excellent example of the reason why some landowners don't allow some shooters on their land!!!
 
Ok

Longwalker said:
Hey K98Action, please tell us how you really feel, just let it out man, too much supressed emotion isn't good for you...

quote:
"LANDOWNERS ARE BRAIN WASHED TOO, FORGET ABOUT ASKING THEM TO HUNT THEIR LAND,,, SCREW THEM TOO.."

Your post is an excellent example of the reason why some landowners don't allow some shooters on their land!!!
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Oh, c'mon get real!

My outburst is a result of personally going out there and trying to get permission to hunt private property. “In my alter ego”, I am actually a very polite individual, but after spending a few weeks prior to bird hunting season and the first half of the season trying to find a land owner within 1 to 2 hours of Edm that would let me and my dog walk their property for chickens, it was sheer ignorance and lack of comprehension of what I was even doing in their driveway. I have excellent hunting ethics and really just wanted to get out and work my dog. Permission to enjoy myself on a nice sunny October day was all I sought, but the land owners I encountered would have nothing of it.

If you are a land owner and are reading this and thinking BS, I am not like that, then I challenge you to either say so publicly or contact me personally at wleonard67@shaw.ca and then you will cure me and others of stero-typing as some of you have done to us.

Just remember one thing, yes there are ignorant and irresponsible hunters out there that ruin your trust. Then instead of banning us all, simply record who these goofs are, put their names on this forum so we all know who the #######s are, and continue to let honest people hunt your land. In fact you will benefit from having honest hunters on your land as we would control varmints and pest, but more importantly we will likely report to you any strange or abnormal findings on your land while we are out there.

One thing is guaranteed, if this rift between landowners and the hunting community continues only bad things are going to happen. Personally I too, “like another nutter suggested earlier”, would like to start some kind of liaison web-site between land owners and responsible hunters so that we could work together.

Is the will there to even attempt this idea? Who knows, one thing is for sure, if we continue to let Liberal Yuppie, what ever you want to call it … THINKING continue to strangle our sport and way of life, then outburst the likes of which I posted will likely not stop anytime soon.

But I do have a question, if a land owner Post' his land "NO HUNTING" Are they still allowed to hunt it them selves?
 
Whoa-too much fun on this forum fer sure! I was just talking to one of my buddies about this very thing. I live in Vancouver and from what I have been told BC is not known for chuck busting. I am originally from Ottawa area and have hunted the big mothers for years with a Cooey semi 22lr with fair success and a 30-40pounder is no joke. Seen them big as coons. Suggest you might post something in the local co-op where only farmers shop. Have not checked but they may even have a site of their own. Yippee Ki Yay. Count me in. Have a 4x4 F150 that seats 4 and a midget. Bring it on.
 
Put an ad in your local paper describing your interest in helping farmers.
Then buy a day planner and several bricks of .22 ammo.

Also find a use for the Gopher fur and meat...there must be a market for it.

I'm sure Farmers will get in touch with you.

Also don't forget to clean up after yourself...brass casings etc.
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What have you been smoking?

Do you want to eat gopher? Do you want to skin hundreds of little furry rats? What makes you think anyone else would? How exactly do you suggest the recovery of hundreds upon hundreds of small brass casings spread out over a few hundred acres of grassland?

Why not STFU about something you clearly know nothing about?
 
Well Supitin, I dont know what you been smokin but I pick up my brass cuz I reload. And I can load so they dont go kaboom if I want to eat or skin. That is what it s about after all. Groundhogs are definitly NOT good to eat-I tried some years ago. Ground squirrels might actually be good to eat. I try not to kill anything I do not plan to eat but varmints can be on a per case basis although I might actually try. I do not use a rimfire but currently have a 223 and a bucketload of brass and bullets to load up. Might be a fun experiment. Let ya know if it comes about. FYI squirrels of many kinds are a menu item for US hunters as well as coon so I am willing to give it a shot.
 
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about the only market for fur these days is the extemely well-to-do- the rest of us have gone to nylon and synthetics long ago- my grandmother had a coat made from squirrel,( which she claimed was expensive ) -there's also no note from our native "brothers" on what to do with gophers that i've seen- and they were pretty good at utilizing whatever the land gave them-meaning they didn't eat them- but there is a note about plague - that's enough to scare me off handling them-
as far as the brass goes, suputin was referring to the fact that almost everybody out here uses the 22rf , typically a semi or repeater of some type - i have for over 40 years- we used to be able to just go out the back gate, up the alley, and we were in gopher country- not so now
 
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Lionhill said:
Cool. Registered. Thanks for doing that so fast.

Now how do we get this out to farmers? Are their coop forums, or places where farmers chat online?

This is a great idea, so please promote this to get it rolling.

:cool:

LH
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http://www.agriville.com/default.shtml

Try posting something here, might get you on the right track.


If your really into hunting gophers I hear there is a rancher that holds a massive gopher shoot in the spring in a town called Hazenmore, Saskatchewan(near Swift Current) complete with barbecue and prizes. I don't know any other details other than that, but if your willing to travel it would be good action.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by manbearpig
i thought about mentioning the groundhog/gopher/ground squirrel distinction but that was posted by Whitbyman... which i automatically assumed is Whitby Ontario.... if hes out west i can understand now.

i shoot groundhogs every year in Ontario and many are frikken monsters. they are not all that huge but i have shot some as big as the one the guy is holding.

I wish we had those big buggers out here in Alberta!
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SottN...There ARE groundhogs here in Alberta. Right up around Valleyview and Fox Creek I saw 3 fighting on the side of the road as I drove by. Admitedly this was about 10 years ago, but there surely must still some there.
I lived in Ottawa and shot those big buggers as well with a .22 long rifle. (I'd love to see what a .204 with 40gr Vmax's trucking out at 3900 fps would do to ol' Whirerton Willy. ;)) Now I live in Edmonton and blitz the gophers with my .204 and I pride myself being a member of "The Red Mist Club" :cool:

I also just forwarded the "pest control site" address to the "customer service" for all the UFAs (United Farmers Association) in Alberta. With a little luck, they'll spread the link to ALL the stores.
http://www.ufa.net/index.html
 
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