Your progression on groundhogs from earliest age to present - rifles, optics and distance

[John Russell]

Wow, if someone shot near the Taconic now the helicopters would be circling.

Come Upstate!

snert

A few years ago, I got on Google maps and started at I-84 and started "walking" my up the Taconic, looking for my old hunting farms - I new where they were (or should have been), but I saw nothing but developments and swimming pools. I bet the new people don't even own guns now. NYC commuters.
It was a hard wake-up call

You upstate guys have too much snow

 

[snert]

Yes, too much snow. It snowed three days ago, but today hit 60 degrees. I set up my steel today, shot air gun from the garage. Anticipate sno in the next three weeks, and all will shut down. Have not seen a chuck, even today, in a month. They go to bed early here.

 

[John Russell]

Yes, too much snow. It snowed three days ago, but today hit 60 degrees. I set up my steel today, shot air gun from the garage. Anticipate sno in the next three weeks, and all will shut down. Have not seen a chuck, even today, in a month. They go to bed early here.

I am in the middle of a move now... much more rural. I am hoping that next year will be more productive. I hope to move to southern PA or Virginia in 2 or 3 years.... I am done with snow

 

[WyleWD]

My progression into the abyss of chuck hunting was somewhat similar to the rest of you fellow in some respects in that I got started at an early age.

I am the oldest of 3 brothers. We were raised on a grain and beef farm in Union county. The farms were in our family since the early 1800's. One day my dad took off with a black and tan coonhound pup and came back home with a Stevens 84C bolt action 22 rimfire. He had traded that pup for that rifle so that I could learn to hunt squirrels to help feed the family, and to shoot the groundhogs that seemed to be over running the farm. Even with no scope, I put a lot of squirrels and a rabbit here and there on the table. And it seemed that there was a chuck population that would never end. This was in 1963 and I was 10years old.

When I was 15, I saved all my hay baling wages and bought a Springfield 03-a3 so that I could get a little more distance on the more wary ones. There were times that I took both rifles squirrel hunting as I would always seem to see some chucks on the way back from the woods and didn't want to miss a chance to get one. It was with that 03A3 that I killed the biggest chuck of my life. It tipped the scales at just over 20 pounds and I shot it off handed at a distance of about 150 yds.

In 1971 I bought a Win M70 heavy barrel in 243 with a 3-9 scope. That was big fun, so in 1974 I bought a Rem 700 in 243 with a sporter barrel to fox hunt with, and it doubled as a chuck rifle as well, and later provide a lot of deer too.

About the same time a fellow gave me his custom made 220 Swift to knock the cobwebs out of while he was in the hospital. That thing ruined me for life. The following year I bought a Swift and have never been without one to this day. I'm on my 3rd one now. Up until 2002 I could easily tally up 150-200 chucks a year.

One day in 2002 I was in my then favorite chuck field and a very large coyote was hunting the levy adjoining my field. Of course it didn't make it home that evening, and in that season I shot 7 coyotes while chuck hunting. Little did I know that that would be my last year shooting chucks in my home county. The following year there were coyotes everywhere one looked and no chucks to be found.

Rifles that I have taken chucks with are 22rf, 22 Mag,222, 222 Rem mag, 30-30, 25-20, 348 Win, 3006, 308,223, 220 Swift, 243, 6mm Rem, 6br, 17 Mach IV, 17 Rem, 204, 6-284, 7x57, 8mm Mauser, 6 Woodchucker (XC), 22-250, and a few others.

So now a days I have friends in some of the counties where there are still chucks and I join them as I can and thoroughly enjoy hunting the little rascals. And if there were chucks around here close to home, I would have NEVER taken up competition shooting.

The one thing that I am most pleased about in all this is that I have met some of the finest people one could ever know due to chuck hunting and competition shooting. Great bunch of people. And there are quite a few on this board.

Thanks for reading. WD

 

[284winner]

Back in the mid 70s I began a love for shooting wood chucks in Virginia where I had some family living. Started with a 22 RF and shots were around 100 yards or less. As anyone can imagine, opportunities were rare as range was much too close for their comfort. As the years passed my rifle numbers and models increased. Picked up a Savage .22-250 and of course kill range quadrupled. My mothers side had family in West Virginia and so the visits began. Bullet selection was pretty limited compared to today but they got the job done. Remember walking off 330 yards to my longest shot as a teen. Thinking that was a feat nobody had ever accomplished. Nothing fancy for shooting accs. Just driving country roads and setting up in fields or from fence rows. Years later as a young adult, I revisited those hunting grounds to find big change in the landscape. Homes built and suburban life now covers the fields. Still have the memories tho. By comparison, not all that many years ago my son at 12 years old while in Ohio with me was making one shot kills on ground hogs at 700-900 yards. I thought in my teens that 330 was unheard of. Rangefinders, Ballistic programs, very good bullets, superior load development and much higher quality firearms and gunsmith work is all to be credited to these accomplishments. I for one am glad for that technology. In the 70s: Stevens .22 RF. Boy I wish I could remember the scope used. In the 80s: Savage .22-250 varmint with a Tasco world class and federal premium ammo. Since then guns I've both had built and built myself amount to many calibers all used to harvest ground hogs at 100 yards to 1200 yards. Something that could never have been done nearly as easy when I began this love of shooting wood chucks. Performance gains will be much slower today and range won't increase much but accuracy seems to get better all the time. Again, technology is great in this field of dreams.

 

[varmintshooter]

I was born in 1949 but didn't start shooting ghog's till I was about 13-14. My dad used a 270 and I used a rem 722 in 222 cal with a 6 power weaver until dad traded it so then I used my win 88 in 308 with 110 gr bullets (brand unknown). Back then a 250 yd shot was a long shot. After that I was in the Navy then got the trap shooting bug which took all my time and money. About 16 or 17 years ago as a captain on a sportfishing boat I met a farmer that farmed about 3,000 acres in western Md. so I had to ask if he had ghogs, he replied that he had 10 generations on one farm but couldn't understand why I would drive a couple hundred miles to kill a ghog. Since then 17hmr, 17 fb, 20vt, 221fb, 204, 223, 223ai, 22-250, 243, 6br and a few others have been accumulated. I started with a savage model 10 223 and killed out to 350 yds or so then a Cooper model 21 204 with kills out to 554 yds after that more coopers with my favorite a model 38 20 vt and killed a ghog at 504 yds with it shooting 39 gr sbk @ 3500. Unlike most people I didn't care for the 6br but I do like my 223ai with my longest kill @ 650 yds shooting 53 vmax @ 3600. I just got home from a few days of shooting my dpms prairie panther and had a one shot kill @ 481 yds with a 50 gr vmax @ 3400. I have never smoked crack but think the addiction is about the same as the rut is on and I was out shooting ghogs. I think my total kill # is about 2500 but I didn't keep records early on. I am at 216 kills this year though I had 389 last yr which was my best ever. Hats off to Nomad for a great year.

 

[snert]

It is about time the groundhog shooters get some print here! I thought I was one of about five left in the NE. I thought all varmint shooting was PD and coyotes out west! Let's hear it guys, more write-ups! We talk about the joy of hunting, the long ranges, the mystique that surrounds an alfalfa field with chucks in it. I think it IS different than PD shooting (not worse or better...different) and it is good. Great stories guys.

 

[284winner]

It is about time the groundhog shooters get some print here! I thought I was one of about five left in the NE. I thought all varmint shooting was PD and coyotes out west! Let's hear it guys, more write-ups! We talk about the joy of hunting, the long ranges, the mystique that surrounds an alfalfa field with chucks in it. I think it IS different than PD shooting (not worse or better...different) and it is good. Great stories guys.

For me it is in fact better. It to IS hunting not shooting. Glassing meadows, hillsides and bean fields for sometimes hours in one place until that small light sandy spot in the middle of all green looks different than minutes before. Something isn't the same about it. Glassing again, realize it's a ground hog. Now preparing for the only shot you may get on him. For me range usually from 400-900 yards and shot prep becomes paramount. Not unlike preparing for a shot at a trophy whitetail across a clear cut on the edge of a cedar swamp. Just stepped out behind a hot doe. Unaware of any danger nearby let alone 650 yards across the clear-cut. Both scenarios play out exactly the same to me. Same rifle, same equipment and same state of mind. I do love shooting PDs but it's an entirely different game. Always a second, third, forth, fifth and many more shots if needed on the same animal. Target rich environment is a term that can be used. Who doesn't love that scenario as a shooter. My preference is however, Ground Hogs.

 

[357Mag]

All -

Howdy !

Forgot to mention optics....

For my .22-250s and then on my .22-35, I first started w/ a B & L " Balvar " 2.5 - 8X, and thought
I was all set.

Continued use and the desire to compete in local area score shoots, took me use of a Leupold Vari-X 3
of 12X. This was the upper limit of allowed scope magnification for the score shooting. One of the 12X's was installed on my Ruger M-77S .250-3000, and that gun was a death ray on groundhogs !
I kept the 12Xs ( I had 2ea for 2 different rifles ) for a while, then up-gunned to a Leupold 16X for anti- groundhog workw/ my .22-35 wildcat. That 16X was superb, and it stayed on the gun for a long time.

Next scope power increase was to a Leupold 6.5-20X, and it stayed on the rifle then also for many years.

I had tried use of both Leupold and B & L 24X scopes, but soon moved on to use of a Weaver 36X.
This scope was used as a straight 36X for only a brief period, before I installed a Gene Davis 2X
optical booster. This set-up worked/works great for me, first on my .22-35 28" 1-8, and now more recently on my 29" 1-8 " Deep 6 " wildcat. It is my go-to scope, today.

I can't afford a Nightforce, March, Leupold or even a Sightron; right now. But given the historical trend in my scope selection, I am certain my next dedicated varmint/target scope will feature big time magnification!


With regards,
357Mag

 

[John Russell]

For me it is in fact better. It to IS hunting not shooting. Glassing meadows, hillsides and bean fields for sometimes hours in one place until that small light sandy spot in the middle of all green looks different than minutes before. Something isn't the same about it.

I agree - PDs are dumb - I mean, when you look up "Dumb" in the dictionary, it says, "See Prairie Dogs" !!!

But chucks are smart and cleaver. You can spend an hour getting one that senses you are in the area. You need to develope your sense of "Sneekie" to hunt chucks.

With PDs, you whack one, and five come over to see what happened, and you whack the five in 30 seconds.

 

[284winner]

I agree - PDs are dumb - I mean, when you look up "Dumb" in the dictionary, it says, "See Prairie Dogs" !!!

But chucks are smart and cleaver. You can spend an hour getting one that senses you are in the area. You need to develope your sense of "Sneekie" to hunt chucks.

With PDs, you whack one, and five come over to see what happened, and you whack the five in 30 seconds.

You got it. For pure volume shooting, it's hard to beat pulling the trigger. For the art of the term hunting, ground hogs are more in line to the meaning.

 

[Nomad47]

I agree - PDs are dumb - I mean, when you look up "Dumb" in the dictionary, it says, "See Prairie Dogs" !!!

But chucks are smart and cleaver. You can spend an hour getting one that senses you are in the area. You need to develope your sense of "Sneekie" to hunt chucks.

With PDs, you whack one, and five come over to see what happened, and you whack the five in 30 seconds.

Gotta agree with all that.

My wife and I were driving to town a week or so ago when I spotted a chuck out feeding in a combined bean field of one of the farms I shoot. I made a mental note of where his hole was and told my wife I knew where I would be hunting in the morning. So in the morning, I set up where I could see most of the bean field including his hole about 250 yards away. Shot one 250 yards away but he was south and the one I was after was west. After nearly two hours of glassing that bean field I saw (with my 10x Bushnell range finder/binocular combo) a dark spot on the left side of his hole. So I cranked up my 10-50 Sightron scope to about 30x to have a better look. Yep, it looks like it might be the top of a head. After a few more minutes, I could see an eye. Come on out, you bean eater, I've got a little lead pill for you. I felt confident that I could hit him with just the top half of his head showing, but I wanted him completely out his hole for the shot so the farmer would be sure to see him. This peek-a-boo went on literally for an hour. He would be completely down his hole for 5 to 10 minutes, then have no more than the top his head showing for a few minutes. He was mainly looking to my right and I couldn't see a thing that would make him nervous. He finally rose up enough for me to see all of his head and I ran out of patience. Bang, whack, 'hog disappears. I'm pretty sure I nailed him, but I'll walk over with my scale to confirm. Yep, dead groundhog and he weighed a tad less than 10 pounds, not what I would call a wise old one. I don't know what made him so wary.

 

[2506]

I got my start on groundhogs at 10 years old on my Grandfathers farm with a Sears model 1 22 s, l or lr single shot rifle that was actually made by Winchester. After a couple years I saved my yard mowing, tobacco patch and hay field working money and bought a weaver 4X 22 scope for it. I became a crack shot with that rifle and still have it. A lady in the neighborhood would cook every ground hog you would bring her for her husband really liked them and she would invite me to eat. She knew how to bake them with carrots and potatoes. At age 12 I wanted to start deer hunting and my neighbor told me if I would get a high power rifle he would take me hunting with him. My Dad did not deer hunt only small game. That summer of 1969 I saved up $45 working my butt off mowing yards, putting up hay, working in tobacco fields and what ever else I could find to do to make money. Dad and I went to a local store that had what I called Army rifles. I wanted a 30-06 and they had a shopping cart full in boxes. Turned out they were 1903A3 Springfields brand spanking new unissued. Mine was a Remington and it cost $40.00 and I got two boxes of SP ammo for $5.00. I had a cousin that was in the national guard and every month when he went to drill he brought me a ammo box of 250 rounds of black tip AP ammo. That stuff was pretty accurate in that rifle. That rifle kicked me pretty hard but I learned to shoot long range and judge yardage shooting that rifle out in the pasture fields shooting ground hogs, crows, rabbits and a few wild dogs that got to running in a pack after neighbors cows. Deer were few and far between in those days. I was 6'1" and only weighed 130 pounds when I graduated from high school and I had grown a good bit my senior year so carrying that big old rifle through the laurel thickets and up and down the mountains of TN was a job. I never did kill a deer with that rifle because I sold it for $45 when I was 18 and bought a Marlin 336 30-30 Win from my uncle which was much lighter and easy to handle in the mountains. That year I saw my first deer in the woods ever and I killed it. A 5 point buck that field dressed 164 lbs. I did not do much ground hog hunting during my college years but do remember killing one with a 50 cal. muzzle loader I built from a CVA mountain rifle kit once while out shooting at a friends property. It just walked out into the field about 75 yards away. 120 grs of FFG and a .490 round ball did a number on him. My first real groundhog rifle was a Savage bolt action like the model 110 in 223 Remington. Hand loaded 50 gr Sierra blitz was accurate and wicked on ground hogs around the area that I was hunting at the time with most shots between 100 and 200 yards. Then I got with a fellow that had access to land that had some long fields. Sold off the 223 and bought a Rem 700 varmint in 243. 75 gr Nosler solid base bullets with IMR 4350 was really good I thought until just shortly Nosler came out with the 70 gr ballistic tips. Now that thing was accurate and really tore up a ground hog. I made some really long kills with that rig. But shortly I moved to north east NC where there were not many ground hogs but lots of crows. I picked up a Ruger 77 Varmint in 220 Swift and killed crows out in the peanut fields about as far away as you could see them if the wind was not blowing much. After a few years I moved to WV. I needed a deer rifle that did not weigh a lot like the Rem. varmint 243 I had been using in NC so the 220 Swift went to a new home and I bought a Remington Sportsman 78 (poor man's 700) in 30-06. I just fooled around and loaded up some 110 Sierra HP bullets a friend gave me and they shot bug holes at 100 yards. So when my friend ask me if I want to go with him to see if we could find a ground hog or two on some land he had access to I took the 06 with the 110s. I killed a ground hog that day with them and it messed him up big time. Then I moved back to TN and got interested in Contender pistols and bought a 223 14" barrel and started shooting ground hogs with it. I started going back to east NC deer hunting every year and decided I needed a 25-06 so I took my Sportsman 78 and had a 26" Shilen #6 SS barrel put on it and a new composite stock. I was shooting hand loads with 117 Sierras for deer, it's deadly, and a man gave me two boxes of factory Remington 87 gr hp ammo that he no longer needed. I thought well I will just shoot them up at paper and reload the cases. Man that ammo was accurate so I just dialed my scope to shoot it and killed a few ground hogs. Red mist and scattered pieces and they did not get too far away to shoot with that lazier beam. All of a sudden the ground hogs vanished and people started reporting seeing coyotes around. The only ground hogs I see now are in town where you can not shoot them. I do have an area that I can sit and shoot a coyote now and then but I miss shooting ground hogs. Well in 50 years a lot of things change. When I was 10 ground hogs were everywhere and deer were few a far between. Now groundhogs are few and far between and deer are EVERYWHERE.

 

[rebel]

I never thought hunting groundhogs would bite me so hard - but it did. I bought an old Bausch and Lomb 36x to put on a rifle I don't even have yet. Not sure what I want, factory or built or what caliber, but I'm getting the itch. I don't have a 250 in the war room yet.............so many choices. And so the progression continues.

 

[Nomad47]

I never thought hunting groundhogs would bite me so hard - but it did. I bought an old Bausch and Lomb 36x to put on a rifle I don't even have yet. Not sure what I want, factory or built or what caliber, but I'm getting the itch. I don't have a 250 in the war room yet.............so many choices. And so the progression continues.

Not sure what distance you want to shoot, but since you're going 36x, I assume more than a couple hundred yards.
This is only MY opinion, but you don't need the bullet energy for groundhogs that you need for deer, so I think .22 and 6mm bullets are adequate. Additionally, the heavy 6mm bullets get to 1000 yards better than the 22 caliber bullets with the 105 AMax at the top of my list.
With all that in mind, if you want to shoot them out to 1000 yards and you would like decent barrel life, I would recommend either the 6SLR or the 6CM with H1000 powder.

 

[V509]

My first was a Rem 788 in 222
Now I have a Sako L461, Ruger Mini-14, Remington 760, Ruger M77, and a Rem 700 all in 222
Plus I have 11 centerfire calibers that all use .224 bullets

 

[rebel]

Nomad, I have a range of yardages in bean fields out to around 600. Since I live in a transitional county,my end being hilly and rolling, the other end less so - you have to have a range of hog artillery. A friend built a 6x47 and really likes it. My 6x45s are my go tos and wouldn't hesitate to shoot a deer here with one ( with the right bullet ). I have a couple of 243s that are good for long range. Just the thought of a super accurate 22 in a classic is intriguing. I have a heavy barreled savage in 223 that shoots well. Like I said, lots of choices.

 

[Nomad47]

Nomad, I have a range of yardages in bean fields out to around 600. Since I live in a transitional county,my end being hilly and rolling, the other end less so - you have to have a range of hog artillery. A friend built a 6x47 and really likes it. My 6x45s are my go tos and wouldn't hesitate to shoot a deer here with one ( with the right bullet ). I have a couple of 243s that are good for long range. Just the thought of a super accurate 22 in a classic is intriguing. I have a heavy barreled savage in 223 that shoots well. Like I said, lots of choices.

There certainly is no right or wrong caliber/cartridge for groundhogs, especially out to 600 yards.

I have killed a LOT of groundhogs with 55 grain bullets out of 22 caliber rifles. But my groundhog hunting has evolved over the years. And currently I have just 2 groundhog rifles, 6XC and 6SLR both shooting 105 AMax hBN coated bullets. This year my shortest shot was 9 yards and my longest was 828 yards. Well, make that longest kill - I had a 1122 yard shot but missed - twice. I have 2 kills over 1000 yards, 1062 and 1017 (and both were witnessed). Both were shot 3 years ago, IIRC.
I shoot 7828 powder in the 6XC and expect to get 2500 rounds out of each of my 2 6XC barrels. For the 6SLR, I expect 3000 rounds using H1000 powder.

 

[284winner]

A friend of mine took me groundhog hunting in Virginia in the mid to late 80's and I fell in love. I grew up helping a local farmer that used to show me where he had shot crows from the corner of the house 2 light poles away with an iron sighted .22 LR. Probably 150-175 yards away and I thought that was just amazing. So a friend showed up years later with a 225 Winchester and I watched him shoot a crow at probably 150 yards like it was nothing and I wanted a 225. Local gun store told me they were no longer in production and recommended a 22-250. I wasn't happy but I bought a 22-250 Ruger Varmint and finally made my first 300 yard kill in North Carolina foothills. Now I was a true long range shooter. I began to dream of a legitimate 500 yard kill. I worked for 2 Land surveyors back then and became an excellent range estimator (pre range finder days). I finally made a 400 yard one shot kill in 1988 and was really convinced I knew long range now. In 1990 I had a Remington 22-250 rebarreled with a Lilja for 22-250 Ackley (55 gr bullets) and the first trip up to Virginia with 3 shots I killed 2 groundhogs at 550 yards (still pre rangefinder days) and I felt I had made it into the long range shooter category for sure. The next year I shot a groundhog at 625 yards in Virginia with the first shot. Longest kill (one shot btw...rangefinder now) with this rifle was 741 yards in Ohio years later. I now began to dream of the 1000 yard shot which was unthinkable in my mind. I then bought a Very used 40-X in 7mm Rem Mag from an old groundhog Hunter that Had actually hunted the same areas I hunted in Virginia (not knowing this before buying rifle). He and his best friend were long range hunters and kept detailed records showing the longest kill with that rifle was 810 yards. In his late friends honor I vowed to eclipse his record with that rifle. In 2004 I shot a groundhog in Ohio (Carl Zeiss optical rangefinder now) with this wore out 7 Mag at 1029 yards and decided to totally refinish and rebarreled in a new chambering (6.5WSM 9 twist). The following year the first hunt with this totally new refinished, rebarreled rifle I made my longest one shot kill (on film with witness) at 1164 YARDS!!!!!! Head shot but was aiming for shoulder. Checked distance with a Leica 1200 yard rangefinder at mid point of distance and added the distances. Also used the Carl Zeiss optical rangefinder to check and we accepted the lowest yardage as the record shot. 2 days later at the same bean fields I shot a groundhog with the second shot at 1358 YARDS!!!!!! This is on film with a witness as well. I had achieved something that I had only dreamed of as a young man and I think back to how the older gentleman farmer had instilled the long range desire into my heart not knowing how much I admired his shooting accomplishments back then and now he is not here to hear the stories. I now have a 28 Yukon (long neck 28 Nosler) chambered for the high BC 195 gr Berger bullet hoping to make a legitimate 1 mile kill before I die. Just a goal set for myself. I love long range and am amazed at how far we have come with the precision and capabilities of the equipment we have today. All these stories/ranges are 100 percent true and not one unearned yard has been added to these ranges. Shane

Hope all the long range shooting haters read that. That's real. It's easily attainable in prefect conditions. WE decide when to take them or not. It's an addiction. Especially ground hogs. They allow long range hunters the perfect targets in preparation for big game hunts at longer range. I've become very proficient at shooting long range because of ground hogs. Great story as any of us can visualize those events as you experienced them.

 

[Shaggy357]

It all started with .22LR....yeah, all of it. Dad only had deer rifles when I was young and they were for deer, so the gophers and chucks were taken with .22LR. By the time I turned 18, I had a list of guns I was going to buy. Then, in approximate order of appearance; Winchester 9422 Magnum, Ruger 77 in .243, custom 22-250 on a Jap action, CVA 50 cal muzzleloader, several 30-30s, and a PH 7mm Magnum...... This was all before my 2nd year in college. Was doing my own reloading. A friend of my dads wanted young chucks to throw in the stew pot. .22-250 with FMJ bullets were the trick. Head shots turned the head to mush. Chucks dropped in their tracks. No blown up meat. 50 Cal muzzleloader and 7mm magnum were the opposite end of the spectrum. If you wanted nothing but a splash on the rocks, the muzzleloader was king. When the smoke cleared, all that was left was the splash on the rocks. 7mm was good for some real acrobatics. Up to that time, my longest shot was 440 yards with a Savage model 340 in .30-30. Those 110 Sierras were pure poison in that gun.

Now I am older and it is OMG, close to 40 years later. This year it was long range pistols. 6.5x284 in Remington XP-100 was king. Longest shot last year was 845 yards. This year longest was about 700. Several squirrels at 500 plus and too many near misses at 800 plus yards. Wouldn't have thought it all possible when I was younger. Wish I would have learned it all much sooner in life. I have my arsenal ready for when I retire. It should be a real BLAST!!

Steve