Rockchuck Condo

[Rick in Oregon]

Spring has finally sprung here on the high desert. That means it's time for rockchucks once again. I was out scouting about with my camera looking for new hides and spotted this chuck mom with her three new pups in what appears to be a large chuck condo in a rock berm not far from the house. It's inside city limits, so shooting with camera only. But that changes next week with some cooler weather on tap, as these guys go down inside their burrows once the temps get a bit on the warm side, so a nice cool morning is the hot setup when you've got your rifle.

Chuck mom checking for danger (me) prior to summoning her pups to come out and get some sunshine:



The coast being clear (wrong!), the pups come out of their den:



I try to not get out after them in this area too soon in the season to give the pups time to grow into "worthy target size" and not wipe out the local population. These little ones will be in mortal danger in another couple of weeks when they are grown a bit more. A look at rockchuck heaven....right up until I arrive to change their day plans....



My 'hide' waiting for some action on the rock pile 248 yards away. Rifle is my Cooper M38 Phoenix in 221FB, shooting Nosler 40gr Varmageddon's over 18.5grs of RL-7. The Phoenix stock is much more suited to work in the lava rock compared to the nice Claro walnut on my other Coopers:



As long as I pay attention to conditions, the predictable outcome:



Now watching the weather for a nice cool morning next week for a proper rockchuck walkabout......we'll see.

 

[RCE1]

Years ago, my mentor and I came across an old stone barn whose basement was infested with rock chucks. We had permission to clean out as many animals as possible, so we went at it. It is still one or my more memorable experiences varmint shooting.

 

[jxb]

Nice, and I hear ya on the Cooper wood.