long range groundhog hunting

[JEFFPPC]

On the other hand.....When your hunting along side the many miles of
vineyards and orchards we have along the lake, gut shooting brings up
two more opportunities. It's better bait to bring in the crows and yotes.
We had 3 crows working over one we shot the evening before. We took
one and left it with the chuck's remains, The following morning, the crow
and chuck were gone. Tracks around that spot looked more like fox came
in and carried the carrion off to the dens.

That has nothing to do with gut shooting. Most of the head shots are gone in less than 48 hours also. Last summer I had a big Redtail on one with bulging eyeballs in minutes. It's the same bait.

 

[Charlie-NY]

One of the farmers, whose property I used to hunt, asked if I could kill off some of the groundhogs that were around a little summer camp they built for family fun with the kids. It had a few cabins, fire pits and some swings and things for the kids. It was LOADED with groundhogs which ate at the bordering fields of soybean. All the shots were 100yds and under, so I built a rifle in 17HMR which was rather quiet and fun to shoot. However, big fat groundhogs seemed to often make it back to their holes after a hit. I decided that moving to the 221 Fireball and a 40gr B-Tip was the way to go. The camp was never the same. LOL

 

[284winner]

back in the late 60s and 70s and into the 80s the guys up williamsport way hunted groundhogs at real long range out to 1000 plus yards with big magnums of 6.5 30 cal and 7mm caliber.these were based on 300 weatherby cases and the 300 winchester magnums to name a couple.my question is what are they using now?i see that the bullets have evolved into vld types so i assune you may not need the bigger cases.
thank you for your time...
gary

I use my 6.5-284 in Ohio for those shots and longer. Son shoots his 260 at same ranges. Both shooting 140 grain bullets. Berger or Hornady. One shot is most times all you get on those pasture poodles. We don't always get them with the one shot but we have a pretty good record of it. It's to me a lot like hunting mule deer or elk and even pronghorn. Glassing for the animal you want, waiting for the shot and knowing you'll probably only get one shot. I use my deer rifles for shooting ground hogs. What a better way to get intimate with them for a hunt than shooting them year round like yo would at big game animals. 80 grain bullets at 3550 fps from my 22-250 AI does the trick also but it's not one I take to the deer woods so it only makes the ground hog trip as a back up. It's my coyote gun mostly

 

[maddysdad]

thank you all for your imput

 

[Uncle Bruce]

You cannot shoot across property lines

You just have to have permission

 

[drags]

Years ago I was talking to a famous gunsmith at the time (Howard Wolfe) and he told me his long range groundhog rifle was a 7x300 wby. and his long range deer rifle was a 30x378 wby. My Brother had a 30x378 Wby. smithed by Howard Wolfe. and we were shooting in a reclaimed strip mine near Rockton Pa. At 1500 yards there was a square rock about the size of a dryer with little wind that morning we were hitting the rock on a regular basis, a groundhog came out at the base of the rock and it was my turn to shoot. We only had one round left and I took the shot the elevation was perfect but as luck would have it the shot went about 10" to the right. Back then we shot the 168 gr. SMK in the 7x300 and 200 gr. SMK in the 30x378 with good results. I will agree that the groundhog numbers are down but there is still huntable numbers you just have to look a little harder. I have been hunting groundhogs for 65 years and have used centerfires cartridges from a .17 Rem. to a 7x300 wby.but my favorites now are a 8 twist .223 and a custom 8 twist 22x47 Lapua.
Drags

 

[maddysdad]

thoughts on the new 7mm prc with a 28 inch barrel and 168 grain vld bullets .barrel will have a 1 in 8 twist.

 

[450BM]

You cannot shoot across property lines

I’ve never heard this before and have done it many times. Source?

 

[450BM]

No alfalfa, no groundhogs. Grass only holds so many.

We didn’t have any alfalfa, we and 3 adjoining neighbors had beef cows. Our farm, 120 acres, was 99% pastured as was the 180 acre farm behind us. The other two farms were 40 or 50 acre each and probably 90% pasture. Woodchucks were everywhere the cows were.

 

[bobinpa]

back in the late 60s and 70s and into the 80s the guys up williamsport way hunted groundhogs at real long range out to 1000 plus yards with big magnums of 6.5 30 cal and 7mm caliber.these were based on 300 weatherby cases and the 300 winchester magnums to name a couple.my question is what are they using now?i see that the bullets have evolved into vld types so i assune you may not need the bigger cases.
thank you for your time...
gary

It looks like you bring this subject up every few years.... If you don't mind me asking, why is that? It seems like the answers to your questions don't change too much. I'm just curious.

 

[284winner]

No alfalfa, no groundhogs. Grass only holds so many.

We shoot them where it's mostly bean fields very little alfalfa. Alfalfa sure helps especially having both but if you have beans, you'll have ground hogs as well. Our best spots do have both.

 

[C.E.Smith043]

Long range groundhogs hunting is and far as you can make a reasonable percentage of headshots. I grew up hunting groundhogs with this rule. Only headshots count and 200 yds and in offhand only. I still cringe seeing groundhogs with a string of guts hanging out of them. That's not precision shooting. So for me depending on which gun my limit is about 600yds. I would prefer one 506 yard head shot to a dozen with half of them , or more, gut shot. Just not the way we ever, did it.

Oh now come on, 200 yard off hand headshot on a ground hog. I call BS!!!!

 

[WyleWD]

I’ve never heard this before and have done it many times. Source?

It's rarely an issue for a few reasons, but in 2013 I heard it straight from both a Game warden and Deputy Sherrif in east central Ohio. JME. WD

 

[JEFFPPC]

Oh now come on, 200 yard off hand headshot on a ground hog. I call BS!!!!

Call it what you want. We use to have regular 100 yd best center matches. There were a half dozen guys who seldom ever had a shot out of the 1.5 inch white center. To win you had to be inside a dime most often touching the exact center. We moved eventually to the 100 yard NRA target. The last two end of year matches for a side of beef was a 20 shot match won with scores of 195x200 and a 196x200. The 195 was mine the 196 was a buddies who passed away last year. So because of your lack of skills/experience it might not be good to show your ignorance of what competent offhand shooters can do. So here is another one for you. At one of those matches on a cold winter day with a foot of new snow on the ground after ten 3 shot rounds we took a coffee break as the covered shooting area had an old furnace we wood fired and an electric outlet for a coffee pot. Across the top of the 100 backstop a chipmunk appeared. One of the guys said I will shoot him. The critter posed while he was missed twice. Then the chipmunk started running out the rail. I picked up my Kimber .223 varmint and shot. Chippy disappeared. I said I hit him in the stripe oh his shoulder, because that's where the dot was when the trigger broke. So my son who was around 12 at the time and one of the shooters went looking. They came back with it shot, yes, right in the strip on the front shoulder. So if you came to Central Pa in those days shooting for lunch money, it was best to bring a sandwich with you. They took my picture that day holding the chippy, I have it somewhere, If I run across it I will post it. Best not to sound off about thing you have no expertise in Mr Smith.

 

[snert]

I recall being about 14 and my cousin and his friend were shooting a lot of CF and RF silhoutte at Ridgeway and McDonald. We were hunting groundhogs and the landowner stopped over to watch. A groundhog appeared at over 200 yards but under 300. Cousin's friend asked my cousin "Easy way or hard way?" meaning off a rest or offhand. Cousin said "easy way", so Eddie stood up and popped groundhog offhand. The farmer grunted and walked away shaking his head.

 

[hogpatrol]

Even with good 17HMR hits, I've had a few crawlaways. I attribute it to the GMO soybeans. That stuff must be some kind of superfood creating mutant groundhogs.

 

[jghoghunter]

I'm a groundhog hunter from Central PA just like Jeff. I shot one of two ways either I lay down shot prone or I shot them off hand. I despise the kneeling position worst position ever as far as I'm concerned. I've shot far too many groundhogs off hand out to 500 yards to consider it to be luck. But the one thing you have to remember is this is all I did every day after work every Saturday I hunted groundhogs with some other friends almost all the shots were witnessed by other people. Can I do it now I absolutely not. But back then wouldn't even hesitate. I've run into a lot of people that just because they can't do it means nobody can do it. Ran into a bunch of naysayers over on Long Range hunting in the early 2000s saying that we couldn't be shooting at prairie dogs at 3500 yards you can't even see them. First question I asked have you ever tried most of them shut up and turned around and walked away. You just have to be careful of what you make fun of and who you make fun of for it.

 

[C.E.Smith043]

I'm a groundhog hunter from Central PA just like Jeff. I shot one of two ways either I lay down shot prone or I shot them off hand. I despise the kneeling position worst position ever as far as I'm concerned. I've shot far too many groundhogs off hand out to 500 yards to consider it to be luck. But the one thing you have to remember is this is all I did every day after work every Saturday I hunted groundhogs with some other friends almost all the shots were witnessed by other people. Can I do it now I absolutely not. But back then wouldn't even hesitate. I've run into a lot of people that just because they can't do it means nobody can do it. Ran into a bunch of naysayers over on Long Range hunting in the early 2000s saying that we couldn't be shooting at prairie dogs at 3500 yards you can't even see them. First question I asked have you ever tried most of them shut up and turned around and walked away. You just have to be careful of what you make fun of and who you make fun of for it.

So youre saying that you and Jeff are capable of head shots on ground hogs at 200 yards standing free hand shots and never missing and wounding one??? I highly doubt it.

 

[jghoghunter]

So youre saying that you and Jeff are capable of head shots on ground hogs at 200 yards standing free hand shots and never missing and wounding one??? I highly doubt it.

I never said I never miss. But more often than not I didn't miss. Like I said it happened too often to be luck. Also like I said I can't do it today I haven't shot off hand for years. It's a skill you can master if you do it constantly if you don't you will lose it. Also like I said just because you can't do it doesn't mean someone else can't do it. Also just like on Long Range hunting I'm not going to argue with you I'm just going to ignore you.

 

[C.E.Smith043]

I never said I never miss. But more often than not I didn't miss. Like I said it happened too often to be luck. Also like I said I can't do it today I haven't shot off hand for years. It's a skill you can master if you do it constantly if you don't you will lose it. Also like I said just because you can't do it doesn't mean someone else can't do it. Also just like on Long Range hunting I'm not going to argue with you I'm just going to ignore you.

Sling enough lead and you will eventually hit something at some point. But off hand free standing head shots on ground hogs at 200 yards and never wounding one is just simple B.S.