Best Day So Far 2012

[Dogbone]

Returned late yesterday afternoon from a wedding in FLorida. Cell phone message from the golf course when we landed - a nine will be closed tomorrow, come on in. ;D Turns out it's the one nine with the longest yardage holes and is separated from the other two nines by a stream and thick woods. I bring the 223 for exercise. Grab a cart and start cruising. Here's a few shots of the golf course.

First opportunity is a big one a 355 yds. I miss. He presents again at 180. I miss.

Second opportunity is @ 10 yds. Opened his gut like a zipper and he still tries to make it back to his hole. Check it out. The flip side is too graphic.

The next one is about 12 yds and opened a hole in its side.

On the way back to check on the first one, another is out along the woodline. 50 yds. A through and through.

Set up and wait on the first one @ 225. Miss twice. He runs across the fairway, into a ditch. I drive over, check out it's hole. No blood. No evidence of a bullet hit. What is going on??? I follow his retreat and figure he runs under the cart path bridge. As I walk across the bridge he runs six feet behind me and into the woods. Never see him again for the rest of the day. Next time he's mine! 8)

On the way back to the cart I spot one off to the side of the downhill fairway. 180 yds. I go prone for the shot and pull the trigger. Smack! Drops with no movement at all. Yeah! My longest so far this year and with the 223. Entrance wound. No exit.

The fourth one shows up on the parallel fairway @ 206. Go prone. Pull the trigger. Another miss. :-[ A minute later it shows up on the other side of a pine tree in front of a bunker, left of the first shot. 220 yds. Pull the trigger. Miss again. I'm ticked!!! One more time. It goes back to where we started. 206 again. Take my time. Pull the trigger. Finally!!! Hog down. Another personal best for the day. Wow!!! Entrance wound. No exit again.

I realize that all the misses were my lack of experience shooting long distance with a breeze blowing. Never figured the wind could blow the bullet that much. Now I know better. Don't know how to dope the wind, but will wait for the breeze to stop the next time I get into a similar situation.

Number six is grazing on the side of a hill at 50 yds. I use the windshield of the cart to rest the gun. Pull the trigger. DRT.

Number seven is back where I shot number one, but as I approach it runs under a pine tree. I back the cart up just far enough to see, but with a rise between us. Need to take a pee. As I sit back in the cart I find the hog is back out and moving below my line of sight. I pull forward just enough to get a bead on it and as I get the crosshairs squared up it stands up and I put it down. 50 yds. Exit wound. Can't find an entrance.

Needed to get home to cut the grass and go to a wake. Out of bullets anyway. Mixed feelings about my shooting. Disappointed with the misses. Need to figure out the wind. Happy with my longest shots so far!!!

 

[Nomad47]

I do all my windage by adjusting my target turrets. But I usually have plenty of time when the hogs are out past 300 yards.
Before target turrets, I used to hold on the windward side as I expected the bullet to drift some.

 

[Dogbone]

I do all my windage by adjusting my target turrets. But I usually have plenty of time when the hogs are out past 300 yards.
Before target turrets, I used to hold on the windward side as I expected the bullet to drift some.

My question would be (using the drift method) how do you know how much hold over is required. Is it a guess, does it come with experience or is there a formula you can use as a basis for establising hold over?

 

[floydj]

I have always wanted to find a golf course that would let you shoot the critters. I would also like to be there to see the look on the golfers faces the next day when they see that blood trail.

 

[CaptainMal]

Look foreward to your golf course stories.

You did not disappoint. Good shooting.

 

[rain164845]

Looks like fun! I shoot at 200 on a regular basis with my .223. I shoot 75 grain Hornady hollow point boat tail bullets. They don't drift much over 3 inches even in a pretty good breeze, but I'm sure they aren't frangible enough for your purposes. When I'm just casually shooting targets such as water bottles, I usually hold an inch or two to the upwind side on a slight breeze, but if the wind is blowing, I'll line up the vertical crosshair with the side of the target. Works well enough most of the time. Practicing on 20 oz bottles and 2 liters is great practice.

 

[Nomad47]

I do all my windage by adjusting my target turrets. But I usually have plenty of time when the hogs are out past 300 yards.
Before target turrets, I used to hold on the windward side as I expected the bullet to drift some.

My question would be (using the drift method) how do you know how much hold over is required. Is it a guess, does it come with experience or is there a formula you can use as a basis for establising hold over?

Back then it was pretty much a guess. If it was breezy (and crossing), I waited for his nose to point into the wind and hold on the tip of his nose. And I would hope the wind wasn't strong enough to push the bullet all the way to his guts.
Now I have a wind meter and a drift chart.

 

[MrMajestic]

DB, The "rule of thumb" is square the range in 100's for a 10mph full value wind. So 200=2X2=4 in. for a 10 mph wind from 3 or 9. 300=3X3=9, 400=4X4=16, etc. Holds out as good as my wind value guessing, learned by using my Kestrel and watching the grass/bushes/trees! This is very easy to modify in your head quickly. When I have time Bryan's Applied Ballistics app on my Droid comes out!

 

[Dogbone]

Thanks guys! Great stuff! Will give your suggestions a try the next time I need to dope the wind. Love the math!

 

[Nomad47]

Jeez. Talk about math. My drift chart is simply for a 10 MPH wind every 50 yards. So lots of math to get to scope correction.
For example. Drift for my 6XC at 600 yards is 22" in a 10 MPH wind or 2.2" per MPH. So a 7 MPH wind would have 15.4" of drift. And to get to scope correction, that drift must be divided by the hundreds of yards (6). Which makes the scope turret setting 2.5 MOA. And invariably as soon as I get all that figured out the wind either picks up or lets off by a couple MPH.

 

[K22]

Dogbone,

Was out Thursday - a new farm I never hunted. I took a position over a field of soybeans which are still quite low to the ground.

At 3:30 saw one emerge from a tree line and start working over the soybean leaves. When it turned board side, I fired my 223 Weatherby Supervarmint master and the 50 grain Nosler hit perfectly just behind the shoulder. The hog filled over and rolled down the hill about ten yards but was down. Range, 158 yards. Nothing to brag about, but a good start.

Twenty minutes later another appears to my left from a patch of weeds under a transmission tower. A monster hog. I waited and waited and he wouldn't turn broadside so I took the shot with him facing me. I missed, shot over top of him. He spun around 180 degrees but didn't run into his hole - I was shocked - he just remained frozen in place but now turned broad side to me, I fired and flatted him. Range 168 yards. Wasn't happy about the first shot miss - but I got another chance. I was lucky, normally the big guys run for cover.

Thirty minutes later I saw another one in the soybean field, a pup, I fired and missed, shooting over him. I'm really rattled now - I normally don't miss under 200 yards and this guy was only 155 yards out - albeit a smaller target being a pup. He ran back into the tree line. Being a pup, I was sure he'd come out again and ten minutes later he emerged. This time I got him. Still not feeling too good about my performance or lack thereof.

The field went silent and about 7:00 pm so I moved to the opposite side so I could watch a tree line next to a hay field. At seven thiry one popped up in the field, about 170 yards away, standing. I nailed him. Nice clean shot - instant kill. Feeling a little better.

At about ten to eight, the shot of the day presented itself, one came rolling out of the far tree line at 240 yards and started munching. This is a long shot for me, off the shooting cross sticks made worse by the fact that it was up hill from me requiring me to angle up which always causes me problems in getting a steady hold on the sticks and being able to rest my elbow on my knee. I got into the best position I could manage and waited. When he turned broadside I fired and I heard the classic "thump". He started spinning around in circles, got his feet under him and ran into the tree line. I just sat there dumbfounded but knew from experience that I had placed the shot too far to the rear. I'm really feeling bad now.

The field went cold and the dusk was settling in so I called it a day. Just out of curoisity I walked up the tree line to investigate. Could find no blood. I laid my rifle, shooting sticks and sportsman's chair down and walked inside the tree line to see if I could find the hog's hole. Within two yards inside the tree line I found the hog, dead. As I had suspected, I made a bad shot, it was too far back but it was a mortal wound. He was a old male, very large.

It wasn't my best day shooting wise - I just wasn't in the zone. We all miss, at least the honest varminters!

Went out this morning to the range to try to regain my confidence. As I suspected the problem was me, not the rifle. I three shots within a 1 1/2 inch circle at 100 yards off the sticks. Moved the target to 200 yards and placed four shots well inside a 3 inch circle at 200 yards again shooting off the sticks.

Heading back out Monday evening to "Hog World" determined to shoot better if I get the chance.

 

[Dogbone]

Moral of the story is that everybody misses and it's usually our fault for some reason. Realizing it is and recognizing the problem is what makes us better shooters and keeps us coming back for more.

Good narrative and good shooting despite the misses. Need pictures from your next outing.

 

[K22]

Moral of the story is that everybody misses and it's usually our fault for some reason. Realizing it is and recognizing the problem is what makes us better shooters and keeps us coming back for more.

Good narrative and good shooting despite the misses. Need pictures from your next outing.

Never figured out how to post pictures - would like too but I'm somewhat computer challenged. Also, I carry a rifle, shooting sticks, sportsman's chair, binoculars, range finder, ammo pouch, small tree saw in holder on my belt (need sometimes to create firing lanes) so carrying a camera is not something that I relish doing. Still, I would like to show results of some of my HOG Safaris. I really enjoy your pictures.

Heading out Monday - the weather here as been really rough - mid 90's and high humidty but have to go when the hay is down or wait till the next cut. Besides, I go into "hog withdrawal" if I wait too long to get out into the field - you guessed it, I'm addicted to ground hog hunting.

Body count this season to date - 60. I try not to shoot anything under 100 yards unless it's the only possible shot and even then I usually let them walk.

 

[Dogbone]

Body count this season to date - 60. I try not to shoot anything under 100 yards unless it's the only possible shot and even then I usually let them walk.

Good philosophy. Unforutately for me, the places where I shoot, the owners what them gone. But I figure I can't get them all and new ones move in, so there should be enough each year to keep me going, albeit not as many perhaps as the year before.

 

[Nomad47]

I shot 368 last summer and 253 so far this summer. I shoot them at any distance from 10 to 1200 yards. Like you said, the farmers want them gone.
I'm shooting 11 farms so I have a LOT of acre to watch. There doesn't seem to be much reduction in their numbers, although one farmers wife observed that she is seeing fewer NEW holes. To me that indicates the groundhog population is just not growing and not necessarily declining.

 

[nfhjr62]

Question, What do you do with the hogs just dump them in the dumpster or leave them on the tree line

 

[Dogbone]

If they're near their hole I stuff them back down. If not, I throw them into whatever is nearby such as trees, tall weeds, grass, etc. I once asked the groundskeeper about that and he said dump them wherever you want. When asked about the smell he said the golfers will get used to it. LOL

 

[lpreddick]

i hunt a lot of small farms and 2 or 3 rotting ghogs can spread quite an odor for several days, so we stress to the landowners that we remove all dead ghogs and they often react with a raised eyebrow and a "thank you". then we have to do something with the deceased...a selected ditch away from people, a large stream, area where foxes or coyotes have been seen(do this often and you might have a bated area for yote shooting).

 

[Dogbone]

i hunt a lot of small farms and 2 or 3 rotting ghogs can spread quite an odor for several days, so we stress to the landowners that we remove all dead ghogs and they often react with a raised eyebrow and a "thank you". then we have to do something with the deceased...a selected ditch away from people, a large stream, area where foxes or coyotes have been seen(do this often and you might have a bated area for yote shooting).

Good idea!

 

[chino1969]

Nice shooting fellows; keep the stories coming.

I went out last nite to one of my favorite farms. It is planted with soybean, alfalfa and has shots ranging from 300 to over 800 yards. I got set up around 5:30 p.m. with about a 10 mph crosswind.

There was a groundhog over 400 yds. away that I misjudged the range. My old rangefinder is junk and am waiting on new Leica but I missed him. Found out later by ranging from two locations that the distance was 430 yds. Another groundhog stood up and remained standing at 398 yds. I hit him mid body, dropped him and he died at entrance to hole. About 15 minutes later another just came out of it's hole and began munching soybean. I drilled it a a distance of 376 yds. About a half hour later two yearlings came out of the same burrow at 275 yds. Both of them were taken with a resounding hydraulic "thwack" as the 95 grn. Berger VLD hunting found it's mark. One of this pair had it's side blown out and the other retained the bullet. These were shot out of a .243 A.I. Borden Alpine action with a 1 in 8" Bartlein. I'll take pictures next time and post.