ground hogs

[growalot]

Another site I'm on has a ground hog contest going...some of the guys are just hammering the hogs getting some big ones....I have trail cam pics of one that has been hanging in the clover plot right infront of the blind...thinking of getting the cross bow out for a run...that way I don't have to clean the gun...well may take the 22 down,,it would be a very close shot...

[ants]

A gun cleaning might be worth knocking one or two of those chucks out of your clover field. Don't waste an arrow. 

[Pygmy]

A round or two doesn't warrant gun cleaning unless you are shooting black powder or old military ammo with corrosive primers.Rimfires can be fired many hundreds of rounds without cleaning with no ill effect.

Even high velocity centerfires can be fired dozens of rounds without need for cleaning.

in many cases, wear from the cleaning rod is worse than leaving the bore dirty, within reason..

Take your .22 or your shotgun or your .243 and blow hell out of that cheeky rodent...<<grin>>...

[landtracdeerhunter]

Shot three woodchucks the other day. Skinned, cleaned, cut up and in the freezer. Seems like as quick as I fill in the holes, a new chuck moves in.

[Pygmy]

Shot three woodchucks the other day. Skinned, cleaned, cut up and in the freezer. Seems like as quick as I fill in the holes, a new chuck moves in.

So when are you going to invite us all over for a "chuck roast"..?

[fasteddie]

I havn't hunted any chucks in a few years . I shot some for farmers when I first retired then stepped up to a 223 . The most I ever killed in one season was 112 . If they made it to their hole , I didn't count them . I trapped a couple last week for an elderly woman from our church that will be 100 in a couple months . I have never eaten a woodchuck even though they are probably cleaner than a rabbit .

[Doc]

Back in the days when there were neighborhood hay lots and cow pastures, we had a lot of good woodchuck hunting. But I haven't seen a woodchuck locally for quite a few years. We have brush-lots and woods in the places where I last shot one of those critters.

[landtracdeerhunter]

So when are you going to invite us all over for a "chuck roast"..?

I make chuck pot pie. Roast are to small, LOL.

[dbHunterNY]

my parent's farm is 350 acres that's basically a small mountain top  (lowest point @ 560' and highest @ 1080' elevation).  most of their land is hay fields so they get a lot of woodchucks.   bought a savage chambered in 223 just for them.  I confirm them same as FastEddie.  if they aren't there laying outside or limp in the hole entrance I assumed I missed.  hay fields are getting knocked down finally.  weather held many behind.  hopefully i'll get out more. very busy the past few years and haven't gotten out to hunt them barely at all.  my harvest numbers have taken a dump.  harder for me now that I'm older, don't live there, and have other priorities. since 2012 I've taken only 117.

[jjb4900]

if it's a contest for the heaviest hog, I would fatten it up and kill it with whatever lets it retain the most body weight.........you certainly wouldn't want to blow it up with a big bullet.

[dbHunterNY]

if it's a contest for the heaviest hog, I would fatten it up and kill it with whatever lets it retain the most body weight.........you certainly wouldn't want to blow it up with a big bullet.

 

a backyard chuck with a 22lr to the head.  also If I was in a contest I'd look at old chuck holes or ones you saw cleaned out this spring that you never took anything off.  biggest/heaviest chuck I've taken was a monster in a 30 acres alfalfa field.  it's days were numbered.  it's top and bottom incisors didn't meet together to shear and wear like normal, like a beaver.  they missed each other with the top curled back into the mouth and the bottom curling up into it's snout.  I ate somehow because it had to have been the heaviest I've even picked up. 

[Deleted]

The farmers here are way behind with their first cutting this year due to all the rain, but they're making up for lost time now. My buddy was finally able to cut and bale a couple fields by my house, so I got out for the first time a couple days ago.

 

I got one, and couldn't get close enough to a couple others for a shot with my bow. It's the first hunting I've done since turkey season, and it was nice to get out. I'm looking forward to getting back out when the heat lets up a little.

 

 

[Jaeger]

Another site I'm on has a ground hog contest going...some of the guys are just hammering the hogs getting some big ones....I have trail cam pics of one that has been hanging in the clover plot right infront of the blind...thinking of getting the cross bow out for a run...that way I don't have to clean the gun...well may take the 22 down,,it would be a very close shot...

Would my dog count as a "permitted weapon" in this contest?

 

She got the one under the house yesterday!

[wildcat junkie]

A round or two doesn't warrant gun cleaning unless you are shooting black powder or old military ammo with corrosive primers.Rimfires can be fired many hundreds of rounds without cleaning with no ill effect.

Even high velocity centerfires can be fired dozens of rounds without need for cleaning.

in many cases, wear from the cleaning rod is worse than leaving the bore dirty, within reason..

Take your .22 or your shotgun or your .243 and blow hell out of that cheeky rodent...<<grin>>...

I clean my rifles at the end of the season, or I only run a dry patch through if I get caught in the rain. After checking zero before the season. I do not clean them. Bullets will strike a slightly different POI from a perfectly clean bore compared to a fouled bore. The bullet pushes out powder fouling W/each shot so there will be little difference in POI W/consecutive shots. Copper will not build up fast enough to affect accuracy until a lot of bullets are put down the barrel.

[SCbklyn]

I killed more chucks when I was a kid. Last one was with a Louisville slugger in PA. I was 12 or 13 at the time. Savage I know but I didn't have a gun.

[Twax10]

if it's a contest for the heaviest hog, I would fatten it up and kill it with whatever lets it retain the most body weight.........you certainly wouldn't want to blow it up with a big bullet.

 

I knew someone who stuck a handfull of splitshots up a turkeys bum to add weight. You could give that a go.