I have been reading Accurate for some years now. Finally decided to register. I'm an old guy so go easy on me.
I've been shooting chucks since '91, but it took me several years to realize there were so many of them around. I shot squirrels in that area(central Oregon) and finally discovered how many chucks there were on this ranch. Some interesting comparisons with hunting E. chucks.
It seems like about 250 yards is as close as we can get on some of the older chucks. The young ones are pretty dumb. We usually set up 250-300 yards from them and keep quiet. We may have to wait for 30 minutes to an hour on the big ones to come out. At distances of 350 yards and further, they pay no attention to us.
Some years back, I was using a spotting scope and binoculars to spot. That particular weekend, I never saw anything but heads of chucks. Never did figure out what the problem was, but did shoot an even dozen of them in the head. The largest was a true monster measuring 28" from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail. She was so fat, I have never seen anything like that.
On our first trip of the year, we always scout the area looking to see if the same dens are active. They have a habit of deficating on the rocks next to the dens. Once we find the active dens, we set up and go to watching. The Rockchucks are active all day long, being primarlly the younger members of the den. The large ones come out late afternoons.
We had a good season this year. I shot right at 75 in three trips while my partner only went once and shot 21. Our best year ever, but we did increase our distance for shooting them.
I enjoy reading about you experiences shooting ground hogs. Keep it up.
I've been shooting chucks since '91, but it took me several years to realize there were so many of them around. I shot squirrels in that area(central Oregon) and finally discovered how many chucks there were on this ranch. Some interesting comparisons with hunting E. chucks.
It seems like about 250 yards is as close as we can get on some of the older chucks. The young ones are pretty dumb. We usually set up 250-300 yards from them and keep quiet. We may have to wait for 30 minutes to an hour on the big ones to come out. At distances of 350 yards and further, they pay no attention to us.
Some years back, I was using a spotting scope and binoculars to spot. That particular weekend, I never saw anything but heads of chucks. Never did figure out what the problem was, but did shoot an even dozen of them in the head. The largest was a true monster measuring 28" from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail. She was so fat, I have never seen anything like that.
On our first trip of the year, we always scout the area looking to see if the same dens are active. They have a habit of deficating on the rocks next to the dens. Once we find the active dens, we set up and go to watching. The Rockchucks are active all day long, being primarlly the younger members of the den. The large ones come out late afternoons.
We had a good season this year. I shot right at 75 in three trips while my partner only went once and shot 21. Our best year ever, but we did increase our distance for shooting them.
I enjoy reading about you experiences shooting ground hogs. Keep it up.
