how do they do it?

[model 12 toby]

now it's getting interesting. it's hard to find people with so much passion about hunting ground hogs. I'm starting to think about switching to 95 v-max. prob will shoot all the a-maxes I got. going to reload some now for 770 yard 3 shot groups next time it's nice and i got time. possibly some chrono work too. Got 3.5" group with 7mm mag last year. hope to better it with this recoiless gun. . keep the stories coming. The thing bout the heat then rain was def right on . I was out the other morning when we finally got rain and there was quite a few. unfortunatly most of what I seen were right around or in line with the neighbors house.

 

[lpreddick]

logpile and rock sitters/sleepers often pick a prime spot that other ghogs like to use also. shot one off a log that looked used and 10 min later another one in same spot...initially thought i missed the first. bang and whaacckkk! found the two, one piled on top of the other and took a picture holding both by the nape of the neck. i tell the unsuspecting that they were conjoined ghogs, very rare, and i had to shoot them from the side so the bullet would get the second. yes, there are people that believe this! did this at a gun show once and in a little while dimwit brought his cousin over to see the picture! strange behavior...ghogs, of course.

 

[Nomad47]

I have gotten a "double" twice this season - but they were pups. The 6mm 105 AMax's are nasty but I don't think they would go thru one adult into another.

On the running after they are shot, I think adrenalin may play a part. If the 'hog is stressed or nervous there may be a better chance of it running after being shot. Most of my shot hogs are fairly relaxed as most are 250 plus yards away.

Got 13 yestersday. Two in the morning, two in the afternoon, and 9 in the evening. None ran. Most had the tail come up. One did flip over on its back and kicked for a few seconds.

 

[model 12 toby]

shot a 1" group at 340 yards today. 3 shot. trying to figure out what the hells going on with my scope adjustments though and haven't got very good chrono readings. sunny again today with clear skys. I've been told they don't work for crap when it's like that. thought my scope was sighted in for 264 yards but now I'm starting to wonder. shot 340 and adjusted up 2.1. shot ended up being lower than hell. probably 7.5" low. then came down here and put it back on it's zero and shot at 100. those shots were about 2.75"' high. now what in the world speed would that be??????? I think I'm going to rezero at 3 something early next week. it was only chronoing around 2700 fps or so. might try to push them a little faster but what a group. it's been mostly .25 to .30 moa every time. god this thing is accurate. tried to shoot some long range. 764 yards but it didn't work out. couldn't find the adjustment. i gotta hunch i was clipping the knob right before the next hill. didn't think it was going that slow. but good lord the accuracy. never had a gun this accurate before.

 

[fr3db3ar]

What scope are you using? Really sounds like you have some binding?

 

[Bradley Walker]

Shoot them in the head.

 

[chino1969]

This has been a good post with comments from seasoned hog hunters.

 

[Nomad47]

I agree with K22 that it is the movement that spooks them. Although when they are over 300 yards, normal movement like setting the rangefinding binoculars down, putting on my eyeglasses, reading the range card, adjusting the scope turrets, and swinging the bench and rifle around to make the shot don't bother them.
Most of my shooting is done from my pickup bed (parked off the road) with my portable bench set up in the bed. Gets me a little more elevated for the long shots AND keeps the ticks off me.

This evening, I had one pop up just 60 yards away. I froze waiting for him to turn his back to me. In the meantime, a car passed by which made him dive back in his hole. While he was in the hole, I swung the bench around to face him and had the rifle positioned and waiting. In a few minutes, his head appeared and I took it off, courtesy of my 105 AMax's.

 

[model 12 toby]

I think the last time I zeroed I just adjusted scope after last 3 shots and said it'd be good but I think it was shooting a couple inches low at 265 which ends up being bout a 235 yard zero. so with a little math and some triangulation I got a speed and zero that make them work perfect using 2675fps as my speed. think I'm going to zero and chrono soon at close to 400 yards next time it's dead calm and little overcast. got a sighttron big sky 4-24 x 42. I really think it's a damn the farmers getting everything cut a lot faster this year and I havn't even got a load yet. I'll probably try to find a higher node in the coming months but right now is prime time. got to get 400 yard zero and get to hunting. he's almost to the section that has the 700 yard plus shots. gotta find my adjust ment for 770 yards. god this thing is accurate. was going to build a 6mm br but the hell with it. ;D

 

[ShaneG.]

This is a 95g Vmax from a 260ai@~3450fps shot was 70-80yards. Not sure what it would do to a groundhog but works for yotes.

 

[WyleWD]

It works VERY similaryly on 'chucks. Been there. VAST overkill. I have a 6.5-06 that I've shot a few chucks with using the 95gr Vmax. It is a mess. WD

 

[model 12 toby]

that is brutal there. jesus.

 

[model 12 toby]

shot my first 500+ yard chuck this mornign at 7:18 am. 1 shot. it just dropped him and his tail switched real fast and it got slower and slower till it stopped. was able to watch him flop in scope. 505 yards. farthest shot by almost 100 yards. buzzards were on carcass in less than 2 hours. do they smell dead or just see it?

I only had till 730 cause wife has to go to work. when I first seen him he was near the top of a dam to a pond. didn't take shot cause not much of a back stop. was running out of time. he went into a big pile of tall weeds. I had bout 30 minutes left. finally he came back out with 16 minutes left. he never did stand up. I said it's now or never. up 8.3 minutes, to the left .25 for spin drift. wind kept blowing occassionally. i followed him and waited for it to let up and fired. got another scope adjustment in my brain. I figured the ground hog woulda laughed at me cause Im shooting such a slow round but it didn't. ;D. I'm going to keep shooting same load and I'm going to learn exactly what it'll do.

 

[fr3db3ar]

Nice shooting Toby. They would have to see it as birds do not possess an olfactory sense.

 

[lpreddick]

buzzards, condors have a very well developed olfactory lobe in their brain. the condor has about 1/3 of their brain devoted to smell alone. they can smell carrion over 1 mile. my gunsmith, once a ghog hunting master, tells of watching a buzzard land on a fresh kill, only to raise his head, turn a few times, then take flight over a hill 1/4 mile away to a ghog kill a day or two old. they seem to prefer sun dried/marinated,dehydrated partially digested, yuk. racoons smell when corn is tassling and squirrles smell peaches when ripe(personal observation).

 

[lpreddick]

oops! just checked my own memory. condors may not have a sense of smell but buzzards do. i'll have to find where i heard the 1/3 brain devoted to smell...really thought is was the condor.

 

[fr3db3ar]

I guess I may have to retract my statement. I was under the impression that no birds could smell.

It would appear some research is necessary on my part.

 

[fr3db3ar]

See what happens when you get old? You learn new stuff :-[

Apparently all birds CAN smell, to one degree or another.

I blame it all on Audubon. ;D

 

[model 12 toby]

only took two hours and 8 of them were on the carcass. summer before last buzzards started following my vehicle around. lol. I had em trained. they probably sure were disappointed last year.

 

[lpreddick]

crows probably cant smell but can really see. had one eyeballing a small ghog shot just a few min earlier. the greedy b-----d began to eat MY kill, so i lowered the boom, really, and he piled up on the remains.. a few later mama ghog came to check on her youngster and i threw her on the pile. what a mess fur, blood, feathers, blood, crow guts, blood, mama ghog, blood, guts, etc. a colage of colors and textures.