ghog season has begun!

[Ohio Varmint Shooter]

SC PA is greening up nicely. Cut the grass for the first time this year on Saturday. The farms I hit this early either insist that I annihilate them or are too thick to see them when the vegetation comes in. Funny thing is out of the eleven I got so far all but one have been Boars which won't affect my target numbers later. I've read that each chuck costs the farmer 2 tons of hay annually. This is because they eat it off when it's young. I've seen the devastation done to bean fields and the only goood thing, for the hunter, is it makes it very easy to spot where to watch! A plus to hunting early is that they are dumber than a box of rocks right now! That won't last long and they will be ducking for cover at the slightest sign of movement soon enough! Happy hunting gentlemen!

Here in Ohio, things are green too.

I did the math a while ago: An adult groundhog can eat about 1 acre of soy beans per summer. At 58 bushels per acre, and $10.50 per bushel...that's about $600 lost per acre.

 

[markT]

Those numbers, without question, completely justifies a $3-5k rifle + all the other necessary gear...

 

[CatShooter]

Those numbers, without question, completely justifies a $3-5k rifle + all the other necessary gear...

Abso-damn-lutely. Maybe two or three

 

[snert]

If only I could get the FARMER to pay for the one time investment in a rifle for me! Then my wife would really think I am special!

BTW, 50 degrees and rain here...wind and it stinks

Snert

 

[Ohio Varmint Shooter]

Those numbers, without question, completely justifies a $3-5k rifle + all the other necessary gear...

If that's what you need to tell the wife..then that's what you need to tell the wife! Ha ha!

 

[lpreddick]

caught this one licking gravel...must taste minerals. a brisk 3 o'clock wind was steady, so i guessed the hold and was sure to keep the horizontal reticle thru his center body.

 

[lpreddick]

my version of ghog CPR.

 

[lpreddick]

what do ghogs talk about after beingshot?

 

[snert]

what do ghogs talk about after beingshot?

My thinking is that they are grateful to be in heaven (where they get up every day, go out to eat, I shoot them, then they repeat, next day).

 

[CatShooter]

what do ghogs talk about after beingshot?

My thinking is that they are grateful to be in heaven (where they get up every day, go out to eat, I shoot them, then they repeat, next day).

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

 

[MrMajestic]

What do Woodchucks do at college?

 

[snert]

What do Woodchucks do at college?

Oh my that nearly made me pee!

 

[lpreddick]

cup over head...must be one UGLY ghog. got 3 yesterday. had a staring contest with thisone...he won!

 

[lpreddick]

some small ones are out now. played hide and run with this one until he stopped and stared at me...bad move. my 20 TAC with 35 bergers is BAD!

 

[lpreddick]

had a good sat. visited a farm i'v not hunted in years. this farm has an old family home falling down and a family graveyard with graves dating back to the mid 1800, including 2 solders from the civil war. a small one came out onto the old home's porch and the 20 TAC, 35 berger said "hi"....he was rude and didn't say anything, except "WHACK". i could see a fresh hole in the cemetery, so i kept glassing it until , sure enough, there he was resting quietly on the mound. 222 yds and i worried he would go in, so i centered the npdd dot on his neck and the 66 cheek went right to it...amazing how that bullet knows how to do that! he just dropped, motionless. a big male who has sired a bunch of little ones in his day. the family was ecstatic and will fill in the hole soon in hopes another one won't move in as ghogs tend to do...they are a bit lazy. saw two others, one saw me first and vanished. the other one didn't see me until it was too late...the 22 BR, 12 tw sent a 63 cheek it's direction and, yup, center chest with no exit...only 7-8 lbs. once the hay is mowed i'll be able to see the holes occupied by the descendants of the graveyard pig. my total to date...20. last year's total was 104 confirmed kills and 12 or so crawl aways.

 

[IMMORTAL]

Good shooting and nice story. I'll be going out tomorrow so hopefully I will be able to add to this thread. 8)

 

[lpreddick]

got back from vacation fri and needed a fix. drove to a field not hunted in years and there was a big one eating grass that was 1 inch tall...i could see his toes! quickly drove to the landowners home(1/4 mi away) to be sure it was ok to hunt and his buddy was there telling me when he drove past that field there was SEVEN ghogs out at once!!! old timers have told me in the "good old days" they would see herds of ghogs commonly. the coyotes have reduced ghog populations to almost none in some areas, but this field has car/truck traffic so they are scarce. back to the field and of course he heard i was coming...none. i parked on a hill and waited. there was a barn in the field and i'v never seen a barn without ghogs, so i watched and sure enough, out comes one to have a small snack. the main course was a 66 gr cheek bullet out of my 6mm BR and it's day was over...DRT! glanced back to the honey hole area and there was a nose, then a head, and then after several min of testing the air out comes most of a ghog...chest only. wait or shoot? shoot and whack and he falls back into his hole! i hate when this happens as some will fall half way to china. went to the hole and he was doubled up such that his body was stuck in his hole. there was no exit from the 63 cheek...the 22 BR takes another one. both big boars. there are at least 6 more in this honey hole ares..."i'll be back".

 

[MrMajestic]

Well done! Good sized for this early!

 

[justinp61]

I've killed five this year in the little bottoms behind my shop. Three have been over 400 yards with the longest being 446 yards.

Victim.


Standing where the pig was looking back at my shop. The yellow circle is where my bench is.


Savage mdl 12 FVSS, 22-250 in a Stockade Elk Stalker stock, Leupold VX3 6.5-20x40 with a varmint hunter reticle.

 

[lpreddick]

Our mid day temps are exceeding 90°! Ghogs can't sweat so they must avoid such temps or they risk heat stroke...high humidity,and significant activity in humans can do same. I decided to hit the recently mowed fields yesterday and YES!! Saw three along the way and first field had 2 sitting in a wood pile...popped the one on the left..6#. Another field and one climbed a post for a better view...he didn't see the 55 gr Berger headed his way at 3700 fps...not pretty. Next field, small rock had a visible hole under it and 2 were coming out to eat...one ate a 66 gr cheek out of my 6BR...200 yd...DRT. The temp was 75° and I was on a roll. Got permission to hunt a new field, but I had an oldie to visit as I knew where the holes were. Got there and parked in the shade...glassing a ridge that had 7-8 holes and there it was half out, half in. Don't like shooting them in their holes as I've had a few fall half way to china, so I waited...285 yds, and wind at 12o'clock. Enough body out, so here goes another 55 Berger at 3700 fps. Wait, there is a head just behind mama...a small one. Will I get both with one shot? Not likely as my bullets are hollowpointed and don't usually exit. Address target, acquire target, send it....BANG, SPLAT...in a few milliseconds. No exit so junior gets to live another day. The temp was pushing 80+ and the word must have been sent as the next 3 fields were bare, so I called it a good day and headed for the air conditioning.