Me and @steve garrett went on our annual rock chuck hunt this weekend.
I've had a lot of adventures. I've had a lot of fun. I've seen a lot of amazing scenery. I've driven many, many thousands of miles of dirt without seeing another person. I've had a lot of really good rock chuck shooting. I've had a lot of challenges with getting a vehicle through, or in and out of some tough spots. I've experienced trips with perfect weather. I've experienced great food every night on trips like this. I've experienced laughing my ass off because my friend is so damn funny many times.
Never had a trip that checked all the boxes as strongly as this one.
We made the trip this year a few weeks later than usual. For the specific purpose of getting into a big area we have failed multiple times to reach in the past, due to wet spring conditions. So, first time into this area. And it did not disappoint. The scenery was national park quality. I mean, drop dead, slack jawed, amazing scenery. But we had all of it to ourselves. On Memorial Day Weekend - we had it ALL TO OURSELVES. Drove almost three days without seeing another person. Didn't start seeing the SxS crowd until we were on our way out on the last day. The amount of 'chuck infestations and just wildlife in general was unreal. We saw bobcat, coyotes, deer, pronghorn, 'chucks, squirrels, red fox, every kind of bird. Oh, and a bunch of rattlesnakes!
I am completely deaf to rattlesnakes. Can't hear them. At all. No matter how close I am. I know there are a bunch in the canyon rim country we were filtering through. So, I stuck close to Steve, letting him walk in front. Because he CAN hear them. Let me tell you... When your snake checker dude jumps higher than you thought he could jump, and uses language he doesn't often use - AND, he is NOT effing with you - that get's your attention. Happened several times.
Shot an embarrassingly huge number of rock chucks. Most, picked off between 300 and 500 yards with precision rifles. Steve mostly used his BAT .243 Ackley. I mostly used my Nesika 6/284. But we mixed in one of my .22BR's and actually ran out of a very plentiful supply of ammo for Steve's .17 Fireball. That Fireball is appropriately named, with script engraving, Lil Poppa. Holy crap it's easy to pick an eyeball within 200 yards with Lil Poppa. And, I got my little P365 in on the action, we killed 15 'chucks with it, plus about a dozen ground squirrels. Furthest chuck with the 9mm was lasered at 52 yards after the shot. That's a bonafide varmint pistol! I think the longest shot of the trip was Steve with his BAT .243 AI at about 525 yards.
My 6/284 is actually a calling rifle, with a heavy sporter barrel in a McMillan Rem. Classic stock and a Zeiss Conquest 4.5x14 without knobs. It's accurate enough to make reliable hits on 'chucks out to about 400 yards with no adjustments. And it's pure filth on 'chucks. Sends them skyward in an invisible blender. I dearly missed my old .22-250AI though. Sent it off to LRI a long time ago with a new Brux barrel blank to be chambered. For four months now LRI hasn't answered their phone or responded to an email. I can't get any form of communication out of them at all. I deeply regret sending it there now and will never use them again for anything. Just purely hoping my rifle comes back someday, whenever that will be, close to what I specified. But I have grave doubts... Live and learn I guess. But do yourself a favor, and don't send your favorite 'chuck rifle off to LRI for a chambering job.
Picture dump!
The P365 varmint pistol!
We took Steve's truck, affectionately known as the F1-Jeepy, into places an F-150 really should NOT go. A couple of the places we took it, were so hairy, we wont' take there again, even though the canyons were infested with 'chucks.
This spot above. The picture doesn't come close to doing it justice. Trust me, to go one or two more inches away from that rock would have been bad, bad, BAD. Way steeper than it looks, and we've done that barbeque before and it ain't no fun. We literally could not steer away from that jagged rock that was less than an inch from the sheet metal and absolutely certain to make hard contact whether we tried to go forward or back.
We come prepared though. I had my prospecting rock hammer and Steve and a little mini sledge and a hardened punch. And we chipped about three inches off that rock and gave ourselves about 3/4" to spare driving on by.
Which, upon successful passage beyond, gave us access to a 'chuck infestation that kept our barrels hot.
- DAA
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