Hunt of Lifetime

[K22]

We are in the same boat as I will be 77 next month. The last 3 years I have got back into groundhog hunting here in Pa. Yes there are not as many but everyone quit hunting thrm 20 years ago. Farmers welcome you with open arms. I have found a few hotspots. I shoot 2 usually and quit for the evening saving targets. I often use a factory Rem .223 Tactical that is deadly to 300 yards with the same 50 BTip you use. But when hunting some fields stretching to,500 or 800 yards I take one of my bench rifles in 6ppc or 6brx. Keep hunting, I plan too until I can't and thankfully that time is not here yet.

I am going out this evening, dew point in the mid 70's, temp in the low 90's. Better than sitting in the house. Ready set - sweat!

 

[K22]

It is sad nowadays kids would rather play on IPads, ipods, phones, etc. than go out hunting. I guess I'm kind of a kid at 37, hopefully I can live long enough to reach 77 & still be hunting.

I went hunting tonight too. I did not have as good of a day as you but still better than sitting at home.

Believe me, that day was the extreme exception around here. It is usually a one or two hog shot opportunity per safari. Twenty years ago, I would see 15 to 20 per hunt, not that I shot that many but I would see them. Gone are most of the long rolling alfalfa fields. Overdevelopment also has reduced huntable farms.

 

[J.D.Erwin]

Mr. Coonman300 posted the pictures. Enjoy fellow Ground Hog Man.

Don congrats on your seccess in the field I for one enjoy the heck out of them.
Jerry

 

[Jrjones]

Congrats on a great day and great shooting.

 

[ohlongarmisle]

I have hunted turkey, deer, and bear in Potter for about 20 years, South Woods, south of Coudersport. Did some bear hunting near Sinnemahoning - roughest terrain I ever hunted. My friend, Dixon, has a cabin near Costello. I had to give it up, double hernia surgery and spinal condition was just too much to hunt that rough country, but I loved every moment of it when I hunted it.

Hogs are tough for sure. I nailed one (244 yards) early this summer, rolled down an embankment and I assumed the critter was down. About 10 minutes later I saw it crawl over the embankment before I could get a second shot. Upon investigation, I tracked the critter's blood trail to its hole. It crawled some 20 yards up and over an embankment and made it to its hole! With the 223 Rem, I have to keep the shot high and just behind the shoulder on a crawler to drop it them where they stand.

Definitely tough, I lost one this year he fell back in his hole after the shot,the hole was 4 feet straight down before it turned,he was dead but out of reach for retrieval,the 17 hornet does massive destruction internally even on a less than stellar shot.