2012 OH groundhogs - Final Tally

[MrMajestic]

Re: 2012 OH groundhogs - dog days of mid summer

Congrats Nomad, thanks for sharing. Going to the Cabin this weekend and taking my 7mm RSAUM with 162 gr. A-Max loads. Shot it to 500 yds. last weekend to get my come-ups and hope for a long one! I will report if successful.

 

[Nomad47]

Re: 2012 OH groundhogs - dog days of mid summer

I'm hoping you get a REALLY long one, MrM. My friend with the 7SAC (6.5 Creedmoor necked up to 7mm) shot one at 1040 yards with a 162 AMax. My other long range friend got one at 1017 with a 243 wssm/105 AMax. And I have two at 1062 and 1017 yards with my 6XCs /105 AMax. Plus my 7SAC friend got one at 1025 with my 6XC.

This morning, I went back to the big alfalfa field where I got 9 two evenings ago. I was pleasantly surprised with 11 more. Which leaves me 21 shy of 400 for the summer.
After getting two at just over 300 yards, I had one pop up at 224 yards. I shot it, saw it get hit, and heard the 'smack'. Then a few minutes later, another appears at just about the same spot. Again I saw it get hit and the telltale tail spin. This went on four more times. And I saw some combination of impact, smack, and tail spin. But I'm starting to have my doubts - six groundhogs in the same spot?!?!
After shooting three more, it was past noon and I was getting hungry. Curiosity got the best of me and I had to see what was down there 224 yards away. There were six, two adults and four juveniles all laying within twenty feet of their holes.

 

[Dogbone]

Re: 2012 OH groundhogs - dog days of mid summer

Now that's what you call carnage! Nice shooting!!! Can't believe they all came coming back for more???

 

[lpreddick]

Re: 2012 OH groundhogs - dog days of mid summer

i thought my family portrait of only 4 was sweet, but 6!!! is this a national and world record? if nobody tops this, you have a documented national record for sure. the heat let up just a bit yesterday...85. and i got 2 which is ok for this area. dropped an 11lb 15oz female in the front yard of the landowner...he wasn't at home. another field's hay was so high i could only see the shoulder/head of one and drilled him thru and thru with an 80 gr fowler out of my 6x47 lapua...overkill but i was annoyed the hay was so high. waiting for the second cutting. congrats again.

 

[Nomad47]

Re: 2012 OH groundhogs - dog days of mid summer

i thought my family portrait of only 4 was sweet, but 6!!! is this a national and world record? if nobody tops this, you have a documented national record for sure. the heat let up just a bit yesterday...85. and i got 2 which is ok for this area. dropped an 11lb 15oz female in the front yard of the landowner...he wasn't at home. another field's hay was so high i could only see the shoulder/head of one and drilled him thru and thru with an 80 gr fowler out of my 6x47 lapua...overkill but i was annoyed the hay was so high. waiting for the second cutting. congrats again.

Maybe they've got a little prairie dog blood in them. They obviously were all living in the same hole. I've seen two adults in the same hole before, but never with 4 juvenile's that should have been out on their own two months ago.

BTW, I don't think 80's are overkill - I'm shooting 105's and they sure do anchor them well.

 

[Nomad47]

Re: 2012 OH groundhogs - 391 and ONE coyote

For the season: 391 groundhogs and ONE coyote.

I was out this evening sitting on the edge of a ten acre just mowed and baled alfalfa field. I shot the first 'hog at the far end at 276 yards. Then after a short light rain, I saw one at 160 yards that had come out of a watercourse and was munching on stems of alfalfa that missed the mower. I shot it, leaned over, placed the fired brass in the ammo box, picked up a fresh load, and looked up as I was placing the fresh load in the chamber. What is that at my groundhog? A quick look thru the scope found a coyote at my just killed groundhog. He was quartering away from me, so I placed the crosshairs at the end of his ribs. BANG. FLOP.
Then the skies opened up and I got rifle, binoculars, rear bag, etc put back in the truck just in time. I had to wait thru about 15 minutes of heavy rain before I could take any photos.
The first photo shows the condition of the alfalfa and surrounding area.

This next photo was taken before I touched either animal. The coyote was about to start munching on my groundhog kill. He must have been in the watercourse (where I couldn't see him) stalking the groundhog.

Here he is on my tailgate. A good sized male that appeared to be healthy, no mange. Bear in mind, it had just poured the rain for 15 minutes before the photo was taken.

My daughter took the last photo. I don't know what he weighed, but I couldn't hold him very long while the photo was taken.

 

[Dogbone]

Re: 2012 OH groundhogs - 391 and ONE coyote

Nice going! Is that a double the hard way? Sure hope one of those big ones shows up next week!

Looks like 400 + is a shoe in for 2012.

 

[MrMajestic]

Re: 2012 OH groundhogs - 391 and ONE coyote

Well done Nomad! I am surprised he hung around after the shooting. He must have been hungry! The Hunter shoots the Hunter! He won't be reducing your quarry's numbers for next year.

 

[lpreddick]

Re: 2012 OH groundhogs - 391 and ONE coyote

i love "piles" of dead varmints! once shot a very young ghog pup and in no time a CROW was eyeing my kill and sure enough, he walked over and starting eating! engage target, acquire target and send it....an 88 gr berger mef from a 243 ackley EXPLODED that crow and feathers were floating and parts and pieces settled onto the pup. out come the mom checking out the mess and you guessed it....engage, acquire, send it. WHAAACCKKK! didn't take a photo, but it was sort of like dead varmint art...red blood, pink entrails, green partially digested grass, black feathers, beak parts, all plastered over a background of horse poop and mud! gross!

 

[MrMajestic]

Re: 2012 OH groundhogs - 391 and ONE coyote

Dang! That's a Kodak mom ;Dent!

 

[CanusLatransSnpr]

Re: 2012 OH groundhogs - 391 and ONE coyote

We grow the coyotes big like that here in S.W. Michigan! My friend shot this one coyote that I held straight out to my side by the end of its tail and its nose touched the ground! It was all I had to hold that coyote out there like that and I'm not a little guy! On another note, I wish we had GHogs here in Michigan like you folks in Ohio do! Keep up the good work Nomad!!

Mike

 

[Nomad47]

Re: 2012 OH groundhogs - 391 and ONE coyote

Thanks, Guys.

Yes, I was real surprised to see the coyote at such a short range AND just after firing a shot. He must have had 100% of his attention on that groundhog.

Went out today from 10am to 2pm. Got chased back into the truck twice with brief rain showers. I thought the 'hogs would be out in full force after each rain shower, but all I could manage to see were three. But at least the quality (not quantity) was good. Got three with three shots. The first was a mere 157 yards, the second was 366 yards, and the third was 612 yards. And I had 3/4 MOA wind dialed in for the last one, so I felt real good about it.

 

[Dogbone]

Re: 2012 OH groundhogs - 391 and ONE coyote

Yeah, the rain usually brings them out in force. Way to reach out on that last one! Amazing shooting!

 

[lpreddick]

Re: 2012 OH groundhogs - 391 and ONE coyote

Nomad47: i am definitely jealous of your long shots...my best was 532 yds. what ballistic table are you using? i'm using the old hornady ballistic calculator table. their new one allows a lot more variables to be used in the calculations. thanks.

 

[Nomad47]

Re: 2012 OH groundhogs - 391 and ONE coyote

LP, I've got a used 6-284 barrel coming for my Savage 12BVSS - IF my money order ever gets to TX. So I would like to pick your brain about loads for it, sometime. By PM, I reckon.

For ballistics, I've done a lot of tinkering. I have a ballistics excel spreadsheet created by Prof Pejsa. First I run my data on the JBM Ballistics website, then I adjust the retard coefficient rate and standard atmosphere (because the program uses the G1 BC) until bullet drop and velocity match the JBM numbers at my longest yardage (1300 for the 6XC). I can email you the Pejsa spreadsheet if you have excel (MS office) on your computer. If you put in your bullet and velocity data, you should be fairly close.

Got three Saturday evening, so I'm sitting on 399 for the season. Dogbone is coming over tomorrow, so hopefully he will see #400. And I hope it will be at 600+ yards.

 

[Nomad47]

Re: 2012 OH groundhogs - Dogbone shoots OH hogs

Doug (Dogbone) and I spent the day BSing and shooting the occasional groundhog. IIRC, we saw a total of 8 (a little disappointing). Doug made attempts at new and very long range for him at 377 & 475 yards and barely missed sending both running for their holes. Doug ended up with a new persoanl best for him of 260 yards. He got another at 106 and both were head shots. I shot three bringing my season total to 402.
Tomorrow we try for more groundhogs and probably some steel at 500 yards.

 

[Dogbone]

Re: 2012 OH groundhogs - Dogbone shoots OH hogs

Nomad is being modest. He shot the first at 710, second at 250 and the last at 728 yds. Some real precision shooting! And he let me shoot his 6xc. He set it up and I squeezed one off at 1000 yds hitting a frisbee sized patch of dirt on the far side of the field we were hunting. I credit the gun for the hit, not the shooter!

 

[Dogbone]

Re: 2012 OH groundhogs - Dogbone shoots OH hogs

Spent two full days touring the beautiful OH countryside where Nomad47 hunts his groundhogs. He took me to his favorite spots, showed me where he made his amazing long range shots and let me shoot his 6xc at steel and ghogs.

We had a great time talking about shooting, motorhomes, our past lives at work and where we spend our time.

He worked up a range card for my 243 and taught me how to use the target turrets to reach out and shoot ghogs at long distance. At least for me.

In those two days I shot ghogs anywhere from 106 yds to 260 yds with my 243 using 58 gr V-Max factory ammo. My all time longest shot. Also shot steel at 550 yds, but could not get on with my gun. Nomad let me shoot his 6xc and I hit the steel three times in a row, including once in a right to left wind that moved the shot six inches left.

And while we were shooting steel, I managed to get two ghogs. One at 244 (my next longest shot) and another at a distance I can't remember at the moment. Both were shot at a fairly steep downward angle.

All in all we had a great time and I want to thank Nomad for his time, his expertise and his hospitality. Looking forward to doing it again next spring when we both return from our winter abodes.

Here are the pictures of some of the ghogs I shot during the two day hunt. By the way, I did miss at 360 and 475, but Nomad says not by much as he watched the shots through is long range scope. Going to have to back to the range and re-zero the gun. Nomad suggested that I zero at 100 and then use the target turrets to range from there.

The 260 yd shot. That 58 gr V-Max does an awesome job.

The 106 yd shot. He poked his head up right below where our benches were set up.

A 190 yd shot. Zippered him right up the back.

The 244 yd with Nomad's 6xc

And Nomad's 710 yd shot. Big hog!

Headed home today. Might be able to get to the range tomorrow, or maybe just hit the fields to see what's going on.

 

[WyleWD]

Re: 2012 OH groundhogs - Dogbone shoots OH hogs

Great story and pics. Hope to be in that general area after the chucks in the next few days..... WD

 

[Nomad47]

Re: 2012 OH groundhogs - Dogbone shoots OH hogs

Doug, you are too kind. I really enjoyed the last two days and the camaraderie.

My Savage Target Action 6XC is right on the money. Doug and I were 5 for 5 hitting the 8" steel plate at 550 yards. But my 12BVSS 6XC has something going on with it, not sure what at the moment. I need to shoot a couple different loads/groups at 100 yards & over a Chrony. Velocity should be no more than 3165 fps, but I had three of the 105 AMax's that I suspect went 'poof'.

My 6mm284 barrel is supposed to arrive tomorrow. I spent the day prepping 200 pieces of brass for it.

Hope your drive back to NJ is safe and uneventful, Doug.