Annual Groundhog tally for 2011
- Thread starter Flyrod1
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Fitch
New member
Two this morning. Both were little guys, doubtless born this spring. It was a nice cool morning (69F @ 0530 when I got up), so when the horses were fed I went back to Tim's new alfalfa field.
Walking into the field, just as it came in view between the pig pen and sheep pasture I spotted motion about 10 yards out in the alfalfa. It resolved into a ground hog. So there I am, chair over right shoulder, rifle over left shoulder. I froze and took a minute or so to study this critter and get in synch with his movements. I estimated he was about 50 yards away (which turned out to be 57 yards when measured), decided this was going to be a standing off hand shot with the chair still hanging from my right shoulder (didn't want to chance the movement to lower it to the ground).
Moving slowly when his head was down, freezing when it was up, I got the rifle off my shoulder, set the AO to 50 yards, moved the power to minimum (4.5X), got the rifle (CZ527 American .223 sporter) to my shoulder, snicked the safety off, got the cross hairs on him and gently pulled the trigger the first time they were centered on his body (I've discovered there is some "art" to standig off hand shots which involves not waiting too long, practice the gentle pull the first time is on the crigger or dry fire target and it becomes almost easy out to almost 100 yards even on ground hogs).
The impact resulted in major disassembly - not a suitable picture subject.
I moved farther into the field and set up in the shade along a fence behind the farmer's daughter's house. In a relatively short time I spotted another one grazing in the alfalfa field in front of a "break" (tree covered rocky ridge in the field). Range finder said it was 233 yards which is a little beyond PBR for my rifle, but a dooable shot. More or less steady breeze of about 5 mph left to right.
So I contorted myself a bit to have my right elbow jammed against the back support frame for my little folding chair with the rifle on the shooting sticks. That position is not quite as steady as being on a bench, but I had no trouble at all keeping a good sight picture on the critter.
I waited till he did a "push up" with his nose upwind (which put him pretty much at broadside to me), placed the horizontal cross hair level with the top of his head, the vertical on his nose, and squeezed.
The rifle moved enough that I didn't see what happened, only that he wasn't there when I reacquired the area in the rifle scope. I waited half an hour on the theory that if I'd missed, he'd reappear. When he didn't, I decided to go back to the Jeep, drive on the roads around the field, and enter it from the other end which would give me a much closer set up on the same location, also sitting in the shade.
Once the move was done, I was glassing the area and saw a ground hog lying very still in the alfalfa. When it didn't move at all after a minute I was pretty sure it was the one I'd shot at. Got up, walked the 100 yards over to it, and sure enough, there he was.
This is a picture taken (iPhone) with the ground hog at my feet, looking back toward where I shot from. I annoted it to show the location and bullet path.
Looking down this is the ground hog near my feet.
I annotated the picture just for fun to show the shot path, wind direction, and where the cross hairs were on him when the shot was taken (though I was seeing him from the other side of course).
A good morning. This brings my total for the year to 30, 11 of which were taken in that same alfalfa field. My best year ever is 31, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to exceed that by quite a bit. I have the rest of July, all of August, and most of September to hunt them, though they get harder to find as fall approaches because they move back into the woods from the fields. Hunting them in the dense woods under growth here is pretty much a non-starter.
Fitch
Walking into the field, just as it came in view between the pig pen and sheep pasture I spotted motion about 10 yards out in the alfalfa. It resolved into a ground hog. So there I am, chair over right shoulder, rifle over left shoulder. I froze and took a minute or so to study this critter and get in synch with his movements. I estimated he was about 50 yards away (which turned out to be 57 yards when measured), decided this was going to be a standing off hand shot with the chair still hanging from my right shoulder (didn't want to chance the movement to lower it to the ground).
Moving slowly when his head was down, freezing when it was up, I got the rifle off my shoulder, set the AO to 50 yards, moved the power to minimum (4.5X), got the rifle (CZ527 American .223 sporter) to my shoulder, snicked the safety off, got the cross hairs on him and gently pulled the trigger the first time they were centered on his body (I've discovered there is some "art" to standig off hand shots which involves not waiting too long, practice the gentle pull the first time is on the crigger or dry fire target and it becomes almost easy out to almost 100 yards even on ground hogs).
The impact resulted in major disassembly - not a suitable picture subject.
I moved farther into the field and set up in the shade along a fence behind the farmer's daughter's house. In a relatively short time I spotted another one grazing in the alfalfa field in front of a "break" (tree covered rocky ridge in the field). Range finder said it was 233 yards which is a little beyond PBR for my rifle, but a dooable shot. More or less steady breeze of about 5 mph left to right.
So I contorted myself a bit to have my right elbow jammed against the back support frame for my little folding chair with the rifle on the shooting sticks. That position is not quite as steady as being on a bench, but I had no trouble at all keeping a good sight picture on the critter.
I waited till he did a "push up" with his nose upwind (which put him pretty much at broadside to me), placed the horizontal cross hair level with the top of his head, the vertical on his nose, and squeezed.
The rifle moved enough that I didn't see what happened, only that he wasn't there when I reacquired the area in the rifle scope. I waited half an hour on the theory that if I'd missed, he'd reappear. When he didn't, I decided to go back to the Jeep, drive on the roads around the field, and enter it from the other end which would give me a much closer set up on the same location, also sitting in the shade.
Once the move was done, I was glassing the area and saw a ground hog lying very still in the alfalfa. When it didn't move at all after a minute I was pretty sure it was the one I'd shot at. Got up, walked the 100 yards over to it, and sure enough, there he was.
This is a picture taken (iPhone) with the ground hog at my feet, looking back toward where I shot from. I annoted it to show the location and bullet path.
Looking down this is the ground hog near my feet.
I annotated the picture just for fun to show the shot path, wind direction, and where the cross hairs were on him when the shot was taken (though I was seeing him from the other side of course).
A good morning. This brings my total for the year to 30, 11 of which were taken in that same alfalfa field. My best year ever is 31, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to exceed that by quite a bit. I have the rest of July, all of August, and most of September to hunt them, though they get harder to find as fall approaches because they move back into the woods from the fields. Hunting them in the dense woods under growth here is pretty much a non-starter.
Fitch
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selemdog
New member
Finally got a few spare minutes. Here are some pics of the 24th.
1st one is pretty boring. I went back to the farm where I have been getting some distance shots and went straight back to the alfalfa field to see if I could get a long shot back there. Well it didn't work out that way. I took out Leytra this time because she hasn't been out this year after any Ghogs yet. She is also a .204, but a bolt gun. First shot was downhill towards my truck so I didn't feel to safe about it but I took it anyway. It was behind the trees. On impact he rolled and I forgot I had to crank the bolt back to shoot again. He started hobbling back to his hole but I wouldn't take another shot because it was closer to my truck. Anyway enough story telling. I made a crappy shot. Here is his hole he ran back in. There were flys but no blood. I hope he's still alive.
I don't even know how far the shot was.
Next, I went to the back side of the property and setup on a fence row, with a view of a hole out in the hay field. Nothing came out of thea hole but one came out from teh fence row. 77 yd chip shot. DRT.
Looking back at my setup.Alomst dead center of the picture.
Gun pose and DRT
So I worked my way around the hay field and didn't see anything else until I was getting back up to the front. I was following a mowed path between the trees and see one stroll across and I didn't get setup. I waited for him to come back across, but when he did he looked like he was running for his life, no shot. I was done with the hay field and went up to the bean field in the front. The beans are almost to high but where I setup, it overlooks the field so I can see there heads when they stand up. So I waited to see if any would cross the entrance path to the property to see if I could get a shot before they walked into the beans. Nothing, so I was glassing across the beans and I see a head pop up. Little guy was pigging out. I watched him for a bit to figure out how I could find him if I shot him while in the beans. Then all of a sudden he pops out at the edge of the beans and this is my chance so I send it.
View from prone setup.If you look just to teh right of my gun that is the tree in the pic where I got my longest shot of the year.THis one was 217 yds. Longest shot with this gun on a Ghog.
Gun pose. He was a fat rat. He had gorded himself.
Gore pose, he was turned 180 when I hit him.
I let him lay there for a bit to see if anything else came out. I know a couple more holes that are along that entrance path. Nothing showed up, so I decided to glass back the other way and I sspot one out in a little clearing in the bean field.
I get setup and fire off, dust flys and I missed at about 260. I decided to to creep up to my truck, becasue he seemed to be working hard out there. I setup in the back of my truck and fire off again at about 208 yds. Roled him and see the flag go up so I thought he was done. I get up to the hole and he is gone. He waddled into his hole. I did find some blood and a lot of flys in his hole so he is probably gone.
Pic from shot setup.
Here is his hole. There was a trench leading to his hole. He had been working away.I am having a hard time with recoveries this year. Last year I recoverd all of them except one. Of course my longest shot was only 168 yds.
Sorry for the novel.
1st one is pretty boring. I went back to the farm where I have been getting some distance shots and went straight back to the alfalfa field to see if I could get a long shot back there. Well it didn't work out that way. I took out Leytra this time because she hasn't been out this year after any Ghogs yet. She is also a .204, but a bolt gun. First shot was downhill towards my truck so I didn't feel to safe about it but I took it anyway. It was behind the trees. On impact he rolled and I forgot I had to crank the bolt back to shoot again. He started hobbling back to his hole but I wouldn't take another shot because it was closer to my truck. Anyway enough story telling. I made a crappy shot. Here is his hole he ran back in. There were flys but no blood. I hope he's still alive.
I don't even know how far the shot was.
Next, I went to the back side of the property and setup on a fence row, with a view of a hole out in the hay field. Nothing came out of thea hole but one came out from teh fence row. 77 yd chip shot. DRT.
Looking back at my setup.Alomst dead center of the picture.
Gun pose and DRT
So I worked my way around the hay field and didn't see anything else until I was getting back up to the front. I was following a mowed path between the trees and see one stroll across and I didn't get setup. I waited for him to come back across, but when he did he looked like he was running for his life, no shot. I was done with the hay field and went up to the bean field in the front. The beans are almost to high but where I setup, it overlooks the field so I can see there heads when they stand up. So I waited to see if any would cross the entrance path to the property to see if I could get a shot before they walked into the beans. Nothing, so I was glassing across the beans and I see a head pop up. Little guy was pigging out. I watched him for a bit to figure out how I could find him if I shot him while in the beans. Then all of a sudden he pops out at the edge of the beans and this is my chance so I send it.
View from prone setup.If you look just to teh right of my gun that is the tree in the pic where I got my longest shot of the year.THis one was 217 yds. Longest shot with this gun on a Ghog.
Gun pose. He was a fat rat. He had gorded himself.
Gore pose, he was turned 180 when I hit him.
I let him lay there for a bit to see if anything else came out. I know a couple more holes that are along that entrance path. Nothing showed up, so I decided to glass back the other way and I sspot one out in a little clearing in the bean field.
I get setup and fire off, dust flys and I missed at about 260. I decided to to creep up to my truck, becasue he seemed to be working hard out there. I setup in the back of my truck and fire off again at about 208 yds. Roled him and see the flag go up so I thought he was done. I get up to the hole and he is gone. He waddled into his hole. I did find some blood and a lot of flys in his hole so he is probably gone.
Pic from shot setup.
Here is his hole. There was a trench leading to his hole. He had been working away.I am having a hard time with recoveries this year. Last year I recoverd all of them except one. Of course my longest shot was only 168 yds.
Sorry for the novel.
wahoowad
Member
Sounds like a nice farm with lots of different opportunities.
Surprising (to me) you are seeing so many runoffs from hits given the calibers you are throwing at them. I had a problem with runoffs last year when I was predominantly using a 22 magnum and think it was due to trying shots at the upper end of the distance that cartridge is suitable for and also because I was using a tall bipod. That tall bipod is just shakier so I was probably not connecting in vital areas. I upgraded to some more powerful and accurate cartridges and have been anchoring them far, far better. And been able to use the short bipod (although that is changing due to the vegetation growing taller as summer advances). In fact, except for a few misses, almost all 40 of mine this year have been bang-flop dead with zero movement. The 22 Hornet, 17 Fireball and 243 have been getting it done. Maybe 1 I drug up out of it's hole. Maybe you guys just have tougher groundhogs out your way! We'll find out how tough your football team is when Virginia comes to Bloomington to play Indiana in a month or so!!!
Surprising (to me) you are seeing so many runoffs from hits given the calibers you are throwing at them. I had a problem with runoffs last year when I was predominantly using a 22 magnum and think it was due to trying shots at the upper end of the distance that cartridge is suitable for and also because I was using a tall bipod. That tall bipod is just shakier so I was probably not connecting in vital areas. I upgraded to some more powerful and accurate cartridges and have been anchoring them far, far better. And been able to use the short bipod (although that is changing due to the vegetation growing taller as summer advances). In fact, except for a few misses, almost all 40 of mine this year have been bang-flop dead with zero movement. The 22 Hornet, 17 Fireball and 243 have been getting it done. Maybe 1 I drug up out of it's hole. Maybe you guys just have tougher groundhogs out your way! We'll find out how tough your football team is when Virginia comes to Bloomington to play Indiana in a month or so!!!
Fitch
New member
Originally Posted By: wahoowadSounds like a nice farm with lots of different opportunities.
Surprising (to me) you are seeing so many runoffs from hits given the calibers you are throwing at them. I had a problem with runoffs last year when I was predominantly using a 22 magnum and think it was due to trying shots at the upper end of the distance that cartridge is suitable for
I had problems with crawl offs using the .17HMR. IMO it just isn't enough gun for 9+ lb ground hogs unless one gets a perfect shot. Small ones, or shots at 50 to 75 yards it is acceptable, but out in a farm field it's just not the gun to be using. The bullet is fast and flat for 115 yards, or maybe a few yards farther, but then it drops like a rock. Must have the ballistic coefficient of a ping-pong ball. Buyt it's quiet so I use it in my backyard here on the farm where shots are 90 yards or less.
That said, I don't want to use a lot more gun than I need. I've had good experiences with the .22 Hornet, the .17 Remington, and the .223 Remington cartridges. Of the 30 so far this year, 4 (13%) were with the .17HMR, 8 (~26%) were with the .22 Hornet, the rest were with the .223. I find the .223 shooting a 40g Nosler BT @ 3650 fps to be a death ray for ground hogs anywhere from the muzzle to ~300 yards.
I have a .22-250 that shoots 55g Nosler BT with holes touching at 100 and a .243 that does the same thing with 55, 75, and 95g bullets in the safe if I get a farm that allows for longer shots.
Until this year my big problem has been even seeing ground hogs farther away than 150 - 200 yards. I'm getting better at that this year having spotted 3 at ranges in excess of 400 yards - alas I had no shot on any of them, and wasn't equipped to make it if I did. I'm working on gettng permission to hunt a big farm not too far away that hasn't been hunted for almost 10 years. It has some 1,000 yard long fields which should give me a chance to try out the .243 and .22-250.
Until then, the CZ527 .223 will be the go-to rifle for ground hogs unless I know the Hornet will do where I'm hunting that day. The Hornet is a fun cartridge to hunt with - I've dropped GH out to 167 yards with it, bang-flop-DRT.
Fitch
Surprising (to me) you are seeing so many runoffs from hits given the calibers you are throwing at them. I had a problem with runoffs last year when I was predominantly using a 22 magnum and think it was due to trying shots at the upper end of the distance that cartridge is suitable for
I had problems with crawl offs using the .17HMR. IMO it just isn't enough gun for 9+ lb ground hogs unless one gets a perfect shot. Small ones, or shots at 50 to 75 yards it is acceptable, but out in a farm field it's just not the gun to be using. The bullet is fast and flat for 115 yards, or maybe a few yards farther, but then it drops like a rock. Must have the ballistic coefficient of a ping-pong ball. Buyt it's quiet so I use it in my backyard here on the farm where shots are 90 yards or less.
That said, I don't want to use a lot more gun than I need. I've had good experiences with the .22 Hornet, the .17 Remington, and the .223 Remington cartridges. Of the 30 so far this year, 4 (13%) were with the .17HMR, 8 (~26%) were with the .22 Hornet, the rest were with the .223. I find the .223 shooting a 40g Nosler BT @ 3650 fps to be a death ray for ground hogs anywhere from the muzzle to ~300 yards.
I have a .22-250 that shoots 55g Nosler BT with holes touching at 100 and a .243 that does the same thing with 55, 75, and 95g bullets in the safe if I get a farm that allows for longer shots.
Until this year my big problem has been even seeing ground hogs farther away than 150 - 200 yards. I'm getting better at that this year having spotted 3 at ranges in excess of 400 yards - alas I had no shot on any of them, and wasn't equipped to make it if I did. I'm working on gettng permission to hunt a big farm not too far away that hasn't been hunted for almost 10 years. It has some 1,000 yard long fields which should give me a chance to try out the .243 and .22-250.
Until then, the CZ527 .223 will be the go-to rifle for ground hogs unless I know the Hornet will do where I'm hunting that day. The Hornet is a fun cartridge to hunt with - I've dropped GH out to 167 yards with it, bang-flop-DRT.
Fitch
Fitch
New member
Originally Posted By: selemdogFinally got a few spare minutes. Here are some pics of the 24th.
1st one is pretty boring. I went back to the farm where I have been getting some distance shots and went straight back to the alfalfa field to see if I could get a long shot back there. Well it didn't work out that way. I took out Leytra this time because she hasn't been out this year after any Ghogs yet. She is also a .204, but a bolt gun.
Thanks for the good story and the pictures.
That looks like a mighty nice rifle. IMO the .204 Ruger and similar cartridges like the .20 Practical, .20 Tactical, are pretty close to the best 300 yard and under GH cartridge on the planet, if they aren't the best. I happen to have a .223 and it works extremely well, but has a bit more wind drift. I'm surprised you are getting so many crawl offs. I haven't had any that I remember with the .223, I've had 1 this year with the Hornet but he only crawled about 3'.
Is there a chance the scope is loose?
Second question, where did you get the stock sock ammo carrier that holds .204 ammo? I need to get one like that for my .223 CZ and my .22-250 Savage.
Thanks
Fitch
1st one is pretty boring. I went back to the farm where I have been getting some distance shots and went straight back to the alfalfa field to see if I could get a long shot back there. Well it didn't work out that way. I took out Leytra this time because she hasn't been out this year after any Ghogs yet. She is also a .204, but a bolt gun.
Thanks for the good story and the pictures.
That looks like a mighty nice rifle. IMO the .204 Ruger and similar cartridges like the .20 Practical, .20 Tactical, are pretty close to the best 300 yard and under GH cartridge on the planet, if they aren't the best. I happen to have a .223 and it works extremely well, but has a bit more wind drift. I'm surprised you are getting so many crawl offs. I haven't had any that I remember with the .223, I've had 1 this year with the Hornet but he only crawled about 3'.
Is there a chance the scope is loose?
Second question, where did you get the stock sock ammo carrier that holds .204 ammo? I need to get one like that for my .223 CZ and my .22-250 Savage.
Thanks
Fitch
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Originally Posted By: marcoIs it the +V or The TNT two different rounds there.Thanks
Marco
Its this ammo http://www.cci-ammunition.com/products/detail.aspx?use=1&loadNo=0059 I don't know what you mean by two different rounds they have a +V and Vmax the +V is loaded with a 30gr TNT HP the Vmax is loaded with a 30gr polymer tip. I was shooting the Remington ammo but this is grouping better at 100 yards.
Marco
Its this ammo http://www.cci-ammunition.com/products/detail.aspx?use=1&loadNo=0059 I don't know what you mean by two different rounds they have a +V and Vmax the +V is loaded with a 30gr TNT HP the Vmax is loaded with a 30gr polymer tip. I was shooting the Remington ammo but this is grouping better at 100 yards.
No the +V is loaded with the STD 30gr. HP its just like the CCI MAXI Mag 40gr. round only its 30gr. The TNT is just 30gr. TNT bullet, all together different bullet. Down here we call the TNTs Flying ash trays! Thanks anyway, I can see you are shooting the +Vs love that little round and they go over 2,300fps Ive chronoed them many times.
wahoowad
Member
I've been hitting them pretty hard all season but between the heat and my hunting pressure things are starting to slow down for me. I've made several trips lately where I ended up with no 'hogs sighted or shots fired
. I did pop this one with the 22 Hornet at around 100 yards. He was being super sneaky and took quite awhile to get a clear head shot. The alfalfa was high so I had to use my tall bipod which I do not like.
Yesterday was another bust but I did find a fantastic 500 yard shot that I hope to take in the near future. I spotted a flock of turkeys at 600 yards at the far treeline in the below picture. They worked their way down the hill and a groundhog came out of the treeline behind them. I needed to relocate to get a shot and found this ideal, shaded spot. Unfortunately the turkeys went back into the trees while I was setting up and they spooked the groundhog. I sat there an hour with a perfect setup and no wind but he never materialized. The distance is 514 yards and I hope I can pull it off next time with my Savage 243. Maybe I can take a metal target back out there and see if I have my drop figured out.
Yesterday was another bust but I did find a fantastic 500 yard shot that I hope to take in the near future. I spotted a flock of turkeys at 600 yards at the far treeline in the below picture. They worked their way down the hill and a groundhog came out of the treeline behind them. I needed to relocate to get a shot and found this ideal, shaded spot. Unfortunately the turkeys went back into the trees while I was setting up and they spooked the groundhog. I sat there an hour with a perfect setup and no wind but he never materialized. The distance is 514 yards and I hope I can pull it off next time with my Savage 243. Maybe I can take a metal target back out there and see if I have my drop figured out.