Rock Chucks

Sprinkman

Sprinkman

Well-known member
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I've been able to get out a few times for some chuck hunting. All local within two or three miles of home. I tried getting up into the higher elevations but got stooped two-thirds of the way up the mountain by a snow drift. Then, it rained like made here and snowed like crazy in the mountains. It's gonna be a while before I can get up to the good chucks.
Anyone else able to get out yet?

Here are a few pictures of what I've done so far.
24 Rocky 2-2-24 209.jpg

209 yards

24 Rocky Down 2-20-24 194.jpg

194 yards

24 Rocky Down 2-24-24 184.jpg

184 yards

24 Rocky Down 2-24-24 191 & 193.jpg

191 yards & 193 yards

The next two are kinda lame, I hit the chucks but they got back down their holes.
This one was at 440 yards:
24 Rocky Down 3-16-24 440.jpg


This one was 330 yards:
24 Rocky Down 3-20-24 330.jpg


That's it so far. Hopefully there will be more to come.
 
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Nice! Ive seen a few out here lately, but none while I’ve had the opportunity to shoot. Mostly along roadside while traveling. Seems there’s more in town than in the farm fields and pastures.
 
Traveling threw S. Idaho, down threw Wendell, Jerome, going down to Twin. there always a lot of FAT Hogs along Hwy. taunting you to stop.... LOL
.
 
22magnum22 said:
Tell us about your rifle, optics, etc.
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22 mag, the painted rifle is a 6.5 Grendel by Atheris Rifle Co. It has a Vortex 5 x 25 x 56 FFP Strike Eagle scope. At the range I'm good with it out to 550 yards on steel. That's the longest target they have. Hunting I'm good with it out to 400+ yards on Mule Deer and 400+ for Rock Chucks. I've used it for coyotes but it does a lot of damage, so not to pelt friendly.
The other rifle is a PSA 5.56 with a 20" barrel. It has a Vortex 6 x 24 x 50 FFP Diamondback scope. I'm good with this one to 300+ yards. I haven't shot it any further than that. I use it mainly for Rock Chucks and occasionally coyotes. I have a Ruger 5.56 that is my coyote gun. It does very little damage with 55 grain soft points and is good for me out to 250.
 
So, I got out to do some whistle pig (ground squirrels) shooting today. Weather sucked, really windy and overcast with light drizzle, but better that than weed eating, lol. Ended up only seeing three whistle pigs, got two shots and missed them both.
A little bit latter a badger came walking through, here he is:
Badger 5-4-24.jpg
 
No rock chucks here, but I am curious about the distances you reference in the pics. Are they that wary, alert that long shots are the norm?:unsure:
 
22magnum22 said:
No rock chucks here, but I am curious about the distances you reference in the pics. Are they that wary, alert that long shots are the norm?:unsure:
Click to expand...
Good question. Two reasons really, the first is terrian. Where I hunt is mostly rocky crags elevated from 50 to 100 feet. It's easier to shoot from distance. The second reason is I find it more challenging. 150 yards and in is pretty easy, not that I don't ever miss, but not too often. I got out a week or two ago and shot one at 305 yards and missed another one by two or three inches left at 459 yards.
For me, it keeps me in practice for deer season where most of the shoots we get are 300 to 400 yards. Besides, it's more fun shooting afield than banging steel at the range🤠.
 
I was able to get off work a little early today, so went rock chucking.
I was able to get two out of the 5 I saw. Here they are:
This one was 147 yards
24 Rocky Down 5-10-24 147.jpg


This next one was 182 yards
24 Rocky Down 5-10-24 182.jpg


Plan on heading up into the mountains next week.
 
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On Sunday I took my wife and we spent the day in the mountains. While she was napping I was able to sneak off for two hours.
Only saw 5 rock chucks, but I was able to get one of them plus some bonus ground squirrels.
This first picture has a story to it, so.... I was glassing the area and not seeing much of anything when I finally spotted one. I ranged it at 250 yards, then moved around from the back of the truck and set up in front. I adjusted the scope for 250 and squeezed off a round. Watching in my scope, I could see the darn thing turn its head as the bullet wizzed by. What the heck, so I squeezed off another round and the exact same response. At this point I figured, okay, I'm shooting over it, so I aimed about 1" under it. Squeezed off the round and bam, hit! I walked over to where it was and found out that it wasn't a rock chuck, but instead a little squirrel. I also rechecked my distance and was only 232 yards, so of course I was shooting high because I didn't bother to re-range it when I moved from the back to the front. I'm still a rookie....

24 Squirrel 232 5-26-24.jpg.jpg


After this one, I glassed some more and found 4 chucks on a rock outcrop 407 yards away. I missed one and then hit this next one at 407 yards (406.8, to be exact).

24 Rocky Down 407 5-26-24.jpg


After this I moved and proceeded to miss two more at 283 yards... sad, I know. So I took my frustrations out on another poor squirrel at 85 yards.

24 Squirrel 85 5-26-24.jpg


Overall, it was a beautiful sunny warm day spent well with the wife.
 
I got out yesterday afternoon and ended up only seeing three rock chucks. The first ones were skylined on a rock so I waited for them to move. Finally after five or so minutes one of them disappeared behind the rock, but the other one moved closer to me. When it finally stopped, I got the crosshairs on it and squeezed the trigger. It was about 305 yards out. No sooner did I pull the trigger than the chair I was sitting in decided to self destruct. The rifle jumped, I went backwards and the rock chuck got away. Fortunatley, it's one of those low chairs....
0604240941.jpg

After this I kept glassing and saw another one behind me. It was skylined as well, so I moved to a different spot.
I was able to use the hood of my old truck for a rest and got the shot off successfully at 229 yards.

24 Rocky Down 229 6-3-24.jpg

Rock Chuck "season" is starting to wind down. Mainly because the grass, sage and other plants are just getting too tall to see much.
 


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