Stalk and Hunt

[K22]

I'll admit it - I'm addicted to hunting eastern ground hogs. If I find a virgin field (one the farmer says hasn't been hunted for a long time) that has a several holes or promising tree lines I'll set up with one of my "one ton" heavy varmint rifle and sit all afternoon. If your sole goal is to shoot a lot of hogs, that's usually the way to do it and I've done it a lot.

However, the most enjoyable hunts I've ever had has been those stalking type of hunts; moving from area to area with a light weight rifle (223 Remington Model 7), trying to catch a hog out and using the terrain to mast my movements as much as possible. I also use a light weight shooting stick as a shooting aid. If you haven't tried it you should if you like hiking and deplore sitting. I love the exercise and the thrill of not knowing what I might see over the next hill. Granted, I often get busted, the critter will spot me before I spot him, but I know he's there and I'll be back, planning a different approach to surprise him or least trying to. Sometime I win and sometime he does but it's a lot of fun.

The more you hunt an area and learn the terrain the more successful you'll be. Making long range shots with heavy rifles is satisfying but so is stalking, it's just a different game of matching your wits with the critter's survival skills.

 

[5spd]

I do a ton of stalking out here for antelope & p-dogs since the places I shoot are full of rolling hills & arryos.
Its sweet to slide up to the crest of a hill and see the ground below moving with p-dogs and opening up on them....my gillie suits works wonders.
I did it last week on a antelope scout trip, they (17 of em) were on a high point and south side of a hill & I wormed my way within 100 yards of a nice buck using the shallow hills and dips that blocked me. I have my eye on for the opening day coming up.

 

[PREMOD70]

My father and I used our Saturdays hunting Ashe County, NC back in the day before Christmas Tree farming took over. We swapped shots with a Ruger .220 Swift that we purchased new in 1971 for a big $125, those were the times. He's long pasted but I will never forget the days we spent humping that Swift up and down the hills looking for the mighty "pasture poodle". Our travels in the county brought many a meeting with people that were the salt of the earth, people that appreciated our efforts as much as we enjoyed the recreation. If you have the opportunity go for the walk, it's worth the trouble.

 

[sscoyote]

Absolutely-- a lot of my gear has changed for stalking mostly. I do very little calling for coyotes anymore. I usually walk in a loop from the car in vast areas i hunt in the prairie of South. CO. If i get one i have to hump him to the nearest fencepost for skinning, and that's often quite the chore. This has actually helped me in my hunting endeavors though. One time the rancher watched me from a distiance, i guess, crawling up a hillside for the shot oin a coyote and now all the local ranchers know it and they call me the crawling coyote hunter. Here's the kind of rigs i use for portability sake most of the time--

...and for transport--

 

[sscoyote]

K22--i read once about a guy who hunts groundhogs with his compound bow--he actually gets quite a few of them i guess. He said it was extremely rewarding. So i thought to try it myself on PD's. IMO, it's more fun than a gun--

 

[K22]

K22--i read once about a guy who hunts groundhogs with his compound bow--he actually gets quite a few of them i guess. He said it was extremely rewarding. So i thought to try it myself on PD's. IMO, it's more fun than a gun--

Before my eyesight went "south" some twenty years ago, I use to hunt ground hogs with a S&W Model 27, 357 magnum in Western PA. The terrain was well suited for it, rolling hills. The key was knowing where the holes were and approaching them undetected until I was within 50 yards, preferably even closer. It was my favorite past time and rarely did I use a rifle. In 87 I moved to eastern PA for employment reasons. Here, the terrain is more suited for rifle, besides, I don't have the skill with a pistol anymore. Now I stalk with a rifle and while it's not as much fun as the pistol, my success ratio is much better. There is just something about that style of hunting that excites me.

 

[357Mag]

K-22 -

Howdy !

Glad to see that you're having a great time stalking.

I myself never indulged in it, much. For one reason, where I grew up on the farm in NE Indiana, we had " soybeanus digestus " thick as pepper on Cajun Chicken.

You might see 6-8 groundhogs out eatin' soybeans in a 500yd stretch of field. The farmer inviting you
to his fields to shoot problem 'hogs, basically wanted/wants results. I remember one farmer/land owner offering a bounty of $5 a head for dead 'hogs. When I and a friend went to collect $100+ for each one of us, for one afternoon's results @ the problem field, it was the first and last time the farmer paid a bounty. We there-after hunted his place gratis,... and he paid Penrod Precision to make HIM a custom
.22-250.

It's all GOOD !

With regards,
357Mag