I took the afternoon off yesterday to hunt groundhogs on a farm. This particular piece of land is a strip about 1 mile long (north to south) and about 1/3 mile wide. right in the middle of it, is a strip of forest, about 200 yards (north to south) and about 50 yards wide. (I call it the 'Island".)On the west side of the property is a river, on the east side, a road.
Most of the field is newly planted corn. The plants are only about 1-2" high, so the land looks like flat dirt. But on the far southern part is wheat....which is already about 12" high. I decided to walk along the river, which has trees and tall grass which make about a 50" strip in between the crops and the river. Using my binoculars, I would stop every 50 yards and look ahead 200-400+ yards for groundhogs.
I walk along the whole west side of the land, along the river and see nothing. I get all the way down to where it changes from corn to wheat, and wonder if I should continue considering the grass and wheat are so tall. But I turn to look to the north east, and I see, about 500+ yards away, some animal crawling from the island towards the road to the east....right out there in the middle of flat dirt. I confirm with my binoculars, it's a ground hog. At 500+ yards away, and with only shooting sticks and a 223...that's beyond me. (I'm an under 250 yard shooter.) So I star jogging/running as best I can with a rifle, sticks...etc, trying to get closer to the groundhog so I can take a shot before it gets to the road. But I'm trying to keep things calm, knowing the faster I run, the faster my heart will be beating when I try to take the shot. Not a good thing. I must have looked pretty funny trying to run across the field with all my gear, chasing after a groundhog.
After about 30 seconds of me running, the hog sees me and starts running faster. Looks like it's going to get to the road before I can take a shot. But I make sure I remember where it goes when it meets the road. Looks like a bush of some kind. So I don't know if the bush is being used as cover, or if there's a hole there. I get close (less than 30 yards) I see that the bush is not being used for cover, there must be a hole there. I quietly go up, and yes, I see the hole. So I back off, maybe 25 yards, about 8 feet away from the road and sit down and wait. After about 5 minutes and a few whistle calls from me, the hog pops it's head up. I'm already in the sitting shooting position, so it's minimal movement on my part (so as not to spook the hog) to bring the gun to my eye. I know at this distance the POI will be 1.5" below POA. So I put the crosshairs on the lower neck (as it's standing up) and fire. Can't miss at that distance in the sitting position.
Just like my first one of the season (about 40 yards):
Did I hunt? Yes
Did I have a challenging shot? Not in the least. For these past two hogs, I would have been satisfied with my 17hmr. (Heck, I could have taken either one with a shotgun.)
About 5 minutes after I started walking back to the car, the farmer comes down the road in his pickup. He give me a ride back to my car.
Love my left handed Savage:
Most of the field is newly planted corn. The plants are only about 1-2" high, so the land looks like flat dirt. But on the far southern part is wheat....which is already about 12" high. I decided to walk along the river, which has trees and tall grass which make about a 50" strip in between the crops and the river. Using my binoculars, I would stop every 50 yards and look ahead 200-400+ yards for groundhogs.
I walk along the whole west side of the land, along the river and see nothing. I get all the way down to where it changes from corn to wheat, and wonder if I should continue considering the grass and wheat are so tall. But I turn to look to the north east, and I see, about 500+ yards away, some animal crawling from the island towards the road to the east....right out there in the middle of flat dirt. I confirm with my binoculars, it's a ground hog. At 500+ yards away, and with only shooting sticks and a 223...that's beyond me. (I'm an under 250 yard shooter.) So I star jogging/running as best I can with a rifle, sticks...etc, trying to get closer to the groundhog so I can take a shot before it gets to the road. But I'm trying to keep things calm, knowing the faster I run, the faster my heart will be beating when I try to take the shot. Not a good thing. I must have looked pretty funny trying to run across the field with all my gear, chasing after a groundhog.
After about 30 seconds of me running, the hog sees me and starts running faster. Looks like it's going to get to the road before I can take a shot. But I make sure I remember where it goes when it meets the road. Looks like a bush of some kind. So I don't know if the bush is being used as cover, or if there's a hole there. I get close (less than 30 yards) I see that the bush is not being used for cover, there must be a hole there. I quietly go up, and yes, I see the hole. So I back off, maybe 25 yards, about 8 feet away from the road and sit down and wait. After about 5 minutes and a few whistle calls from me, the hog pops it's head up. I'm already in the sitting shooting position, so it's minimal movement on my part (so as not to spook the hog) to bring the gun to my eye. I know at this distance the POI will be 1.5" below POA. So I put the crosshairs on the lower neck (as it's standing up) and fire. Can't miss at that distance in the sitting position.
Just like my first one of the season (about 40 yards):
Did I hunt? Yes
Did I have a challenging shot? Not in the least. For these past two hogs, I would have been satisfied with my 17hmr. (Heck, I could have taken either one with a shotgun.)
About 5 minutes after I started walking back to the car, the farmer comes down the road in his pickup. He give me a ride back to my car.
Love my left handed Savage:
