A Morning Fireball Walkabout

[Happy Jack]

It's that time of year again when my lady rancher calls for some rockchuck elimination at her small ranch here. As the place is small with nearby neighbors, I again took my Cooper M38 Phoenix in 221 'Furball' for the low noise factor. Being a small place, ranges seldom go much farther than 200 yards. Another Furball qualifier.

With sage rat shooting just now tapering down somewhat due to crop length (can't shoot what you can't see), the chucks offer a bit more shooting before the grass gets any longer, and the days get hotter causing all the varmints to bail into their dens to escape the heat above. But like a complete putz, I lolly-gagged too long this year, and today I had to pass up three shots on large adult chucks as laying prone with a bipod, the grass was just high enough to make shooting about impossible, and no high spots were available to take advantage of either. I won't make that mistake next year, and I know better.

Seen here before, the eastern slope of the Cascade Mtns peeking through the junipers as seen from the little ranch:



One of the rock piles that always houses some rockchucks. They're hard to define there because of the mottled sun/shade, so I always take my time glassing this one.



How the rock pile looks from about 50 yards:



So I'm doing the ninja thing, skulking around sagebrush and junipers trying to find a spot I could lay prone to shoot, and right there, a very slight rise in the ground with an opening in the grass that's just enough to sneak out a rifle barrel through. Glassing, I saw the head of a chuck peeking over a rock in the dim shade so took the shot. I walked over to retrieve the chuck, and crap! It was a small juvinile that I normally would not shoot. He was in the shade and hard to tell his size with just his head/neck above the rock. The 40gr Varmageddon really shredded the little guy:



I did some more walking (actually old man faux ninja sneaking) to glass the largest rock pile on the property. This one always has a good population with lots of large adults. This time did not disappoint, as an old boy was half exposed sitting up in the sun on a large lava rock at 188 yards. At the shot there was no doubt of a hit, as the "thunk" was audible and I could see him flip through the scope (love the Furball for that).



Looking at that nasty unforgiving lava rock, one can see why I prefer my synthetic-stocked rifles for this work. The chuck was down in the rocks after a solid hit. Note to self: Leave that rifle against a tree, and do not try to hold it while navigating the lava boulder pile! Don't ask me how I know this.





During all this time, I had what would have been very good shot opportunities on large adult chucks, but all three of them were foiled by the grass height, dangit! So the morning tally was only two chucks and the unluckiest sage rat in the county that met up with one of those 3,100 fps 40gr Varmageddon's at 101 yards. His rat-o-batics got a chuckle out of me, it was epic:



On the way home I pass by my "chuck barometer" that's near home on HS property. No shooting of course, but there's always the local residents offering photo ops. They're dug into a large sloping bank under the soccer field. I park along the curb on the opposite side of the road, get my Nikon DSLR w/300mm ready and shoot out the widow on a dog-gone-good window bag. This guy got wise, bailed into his den, then peeked out waiting for the intruder (me) to leave:



Anther one surveying his domain:



Not far away, this little pup was out of his den, scratching away, oblivious to any danger (of course we seldom get shots like this when we're out hunting them!):



Then a short hop to home, unload, lunch, clean rifle, then a welcome hot shower. This is how I always imagined retirement.....sleep till six, stroll out mid-week with a favorite rifle for a casual rockchuck walkabout in the sunshine and fresh air. Highly recommended.

For those interested:
Rifle is a Cooper M38 Phoenix 221FB w/Jard 10oz trigger, Leupold VX3 LR 6.5-20X 40mm VHR w/M1 Elevation
Come-Up Chart made from my load data using Sierra Infinity 6 Ballistic program
Load is the 40gr Nosler Varmageddon, A2200, Rem 7-1/2 @ 3,125 fps, Nosler Case

Man I'd love to come out west and shoot with y'all!! Thanks for the pics and write up

 

[jds holler]

I shot one on Groundhog day one year.

And by the way, the tails have some great applications for fly tying. I like to replace deer hair with rock chuck hair on some patterns where durability is more important than buoyancy.

Chucks were a pretty big deal for me when I was a kid. The hills above our neighborhood were bumpy volcanic burps which provided a major chuck den on every one. Also many long tailed digger squirrels, which may be even more cagey than the chucks. I spent countless hours watching for the glimpse of a chuck head - even an ear to pop up far enough to put a 22 in it. Many of my shots were brainers.

It's kind of funny how things work out -- now I've kinda got a soft spot for them. jd

 

[danny]

Good question there jwv. Rockchucks here can be found from 2,900'~ elev up to above timberline in the Cascades around 7,000'. I've found them on rock outcroppings in alpine meadows sunning themselves. They are much more plentiful in the ag areas lower though. The ranch shown in this post is right at 3,700' elevation.

At 78 yrs old now, into 'geezerhood', humping the high elevations is something I did in my youth. Too old now for such activities (these mountains are steep!), but have very fond memories of those high country alpine hunts years ago.


"Sit up for the shot?" Not so much. I have the ability to do a very loud 'chirp', and it works for ground squirrels. But I have found over the years that when I do it for rockchucks, it must be a danger signal to them, as when done, they immediately bail down into their den. So 'no', it does not work for these varmints.

I've glassed a family of rockchucks on their rock dens and have seen one sense danger, emit a loud 'chirp', and the entire fam all does the magical disappearing act down their dens. So a human 'chirp' mimicks their danger signal IMO, and acts as the "bail signal" to them. Human chirp: No bueno for these guys. Another lesson learned.




Good story Phillip, thanks for the positive comment.

I'm very familiar with the eastern groundhog, have shot them in TN and VA with a good friend who lives in TN and comes out and shoots ground squrrels here with us on occasion.

Our rockchuck or Yellow Belly Marmot is the western cousin of the eastern woodchuck. Ours have much more color as can be seen on the large old boy pictured below, primarily orange underbelley, tail and a bit more grey on their backside compared to all brown for the eastern chuck.



But one thing for sure, wheather in the east or west, we've got some interesting and great varmint opportunities to take advantage of. It helps when ranchers call for their elimination too.

They are also in at least Austria and Southern Germany.

Murmeltier

Danny

 

[Rick in Oregon]

They are also in at least Austria and Southern Germany.

Murmeltier

Danny

And I bet there's a lot of them too, as with all the restrictions there, they probably don't get hunted.

 

[danny]

And I bet there's a lot of them too, as with all the restrictions there, they probably don't get hunted.

There are.

Danny

 

[jwv2001]

I shot one on Groundhog day one year.

Did spring come early that year?

 

[jds holler]

Did spring come early that year?

Now that, I don't remember. Around here, we typically have three or four more months of winter after Ground Hog Day. jd

 

[danny]

Now that, I don't remember. Around here, we typically have three or four more months of winter after Ground Hog Day. jd

Winter waited a really long time to leave in my area, longer than I ever remember. I think it's the global warming doing that.

Danny

 

[jds holler]

Around here, spring is the worst. We get a lot of 30-30 weather --
30 degrees, at 30 miles per hour. jd