Ground Hog #2 for the season

[Swift One]

Shot this girl early this evening at 247yds with my new rig.  Weirdest ground hog kill I have done yet.  Could not find a bullet entrance and there was no exit. She had blood (a little) coming out of her mouth so I know I hit her and didn't scare her to death, lol.  The 55gr Blitzking was traveling out of the barrel at 3650FPS. Disintegrated inside the Hog?

[bigvarmnt]

What's your new rig? Savage 22-250? 


She didn't happen to be yawning when you shot did she


You're two ahead of me now but you better get busy or I'm gonna catch you


247 yds is a darn good shot. I have one on my 200 yd backstop again and another that pops out of a culvert pipe under my side drive. Might be the same one sneaking around to get a better look at me and tease my Beagle   Can't shoot the one at the culvert as there is a house in the woods behind it
 

[Swift One]

Ya, Its a 22-250.  That ultimate varmint stock makes accurate and long shots quite easy when you are in the prone.  It's an anchor!!!!

[smokehouserex]

 
 
  Hey Swift One:
  Maybe you "barked" it like Davy Crockett used to do to a squirrel on the TV Program, if IRC, he would shoot very close to the head without actually hitting it and the shock wave would kill by shocking the brain.
  I've never done it so it may be just a myth, I don't know but it may be possible with a high speed bullet? Maybe someone else has factual info on the feasability of such a feat.
  Do you eat the critters? We used to eat the tough rascals, they need to be par-boiled or pressure cooked if they are old, kinda like eatn a old work boot, lol, but  if the young ones aren't too tough they ain't too bad. The Indians used too eat them and use the hide for lining their beds, the hide makes good boot laces and has a lot of other good uses where leather would normally be used.
  Just a few old memories of the wonderful shooting of the Whistle Pig.
  HM
 
  Your Coon is one bad lookn dude, I like it.
 

[Swift One]

LOl, no.  I dont eat them.  Killing Ground hogs is for pure enjoyment and security for hunting other species on the farmer"s land.  Yes, I like my avatar too.  I had a few of them giving me that look on some of my dry land sets this last trapping season.

[smokehouserex]

 
 
  Hey Swift One:
  I missed out on the ramp festivals in western NC this year, Asthma put me in the hospital and when I got over it I got poision ivy and had to go to the Dr. for some steroids, getting better now. Maybe I'll get to shoot some hogs pretty soon. I have always enjoyed shooting them. My favorite is my 243, but now I have a 223 H&R with the regular bbl. and would love to bust some hogs with it. I had a 77V in 25-06 which was a good shooter but just too heavy, I just never did form a relationship with it so I sold it. I do love the Bro. Safari Grade 243 for G hogs.
  safety first, and good shooting.
  HM
 

[omegahunter]

I have an old Savage 110 Tactical .223 with a Choate Ultimate Sniper Stock instead of the Ultimate Varmint Stock like your rifle.  I have never had an exit shooting the V-Max handloads out of it on any critter as big as a groundhog and larger.  I even skinned out and disected the first groundhog that I shot because there was no exit.  It was just soup inside where the bullet disintegrated.

[Swift One]

I have an old Savage 110 Tactical .223 with a Choate Ultimate Sniper Stock instead of the Ultimate Varmint Stock like your rifle.

Ya, she felt lik a bag of jello.  How do you like your US stock?  Me and everyone that gets behind my rig just loves the feel and stability of the UV stock.  Definatly not a rig that I want to be carrying all over the country side, but for static shooting such as pdogs and ghogs, I am in love with it.  I almost went with the sniper but thought it would be just too darn heavy.  However, one of my LR shooting partners is seriously thinking about getting the US stock for his rem 700 SPS varmint in 223.

[omegahunter]

The US is definitely heavy.  But I think that is part of why I like it so much.  Darn near like shooting a benchrest rifle.  Best group I have turned out with it was 0.101" center to center.  It turns out groups under 0.25" every trip to the range.  Only bullets I have tried in it that it didn't like were Speer 55 grain softpoints (right at 1.0" groups).  I have shot everything from 40 grain Sierra HPs to 55 grain Winchester softpoint bulk bullets.  All have been in front of IMR4198.  I have often thought about getting a different stock for it so that I would carry it to the field more often, but it makes the .223 Tactical such a stable shooting platform that I just can't bring myself to get another stock. 

[Savage_99]

Here in New England the woodchucks are gone from the meadows.  Since the coyotes came here a few years ago it seems that the woodchuck cannot deal with the coyote.

There may be a chuck under a farmers shed near the house but the great shooting with the chuck den in a field is gone.  This is quite a loss for me as I have been an avid chuck hunter for over half a century.  I have chuck guns, places to hunt and the time and means to get there but no chucks.

A local guy said they got some chuck shooting by driving way to to northern NY last summer.  I would hunt VT but I don't see any there.

The rifle shown is one of my best chuck guns ever.  It's a .219 Improved Zipper on a thin side High Wall.  The scope is a 10X Lyman Supertargetspot.    That's a classic chuck gun!   

There are no chucks on the  land now.



 

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

99, I have heard this from chuck hunters all over the country..one thing I have noticed in the country I used to hunt for chucks is the farms are growing up in weeds or just being brush hogged off...some are still growing crops, but not the kind that chucks go for...it was one of my favorite sports ..it deer hunting and now coyote hunting are my three favorites, but haven't shot a chuck in years..before I retired I up several chuck rifles, but never used them much on chucks..shot some ground squirrels the other day with one of them a .220 Swift on a thumb hole stock with a 6.5-20 Leupold on it..may work in a bit of chuck shooting this year, but it will be very little if any...

[Swift One]

I have often thought about getting a different stock for it so that I would carry it to the field more often, but it makes the .223 Tactical such a stable shooting platform that I just can't bring myself to get another stock. 

Brother, don't fix what isnt broken. 1/4 MOA groups at 100yds for the regular is definatley not broken!!!!  Sure, it would be sweet to throw a McMillan A5 stock and a Nightforce scope on all of our rigs, but I learned alone time ago that while economy grade gear won't get it done in the benchrest and LR game, you also dont need to use top of the line equipment.  My 7mm-08 Stevens is wearing the factory stock with a Karsten cheek piece.  A Nikon Buckmasters 4.5-14 x 40 Mildot sits on top of it with a Caldwell pivoting bipod 9-13" holding it up.  With my reloads, I am at MOA and just under at 600yds and that's fine for minute of big game.  Oh ya, It has a Sharp Shooter Supply trigger in it.

[Swift One]

And yes, while I still have some ghog spots out there, I am starting to notice the decline in them.  The yotes no doubt are playing into this.  There is a guy that does guided ghog hunts in Ohio, but its $700 a day per group.  He does claim to offer 30-40 shot oppotunities a day though.  I still havent decided if it would worth it..........

[omegahunter]

The Tactical is wearing a mildot 4.5 - 14 x 40 Nikon Buckmasters with side adjust parallax.  Really like that scope.
 
My best groundhog spot used to be right behind the neighbor's house.  Had a good three-year run before I moved 7 years ago.  17 one year, 16 the next and 17 the last year I lived there.  Mostly used a .22 with subsonic ammo and then a 17HMR.  Groundhogs seem to be few and far between anymore.
 
$700 to shoot groundhogs at only 30-40 shots?  I would book another prairiedog shoot instead.  Went years ago in southern South Dakota.  Matter of fact, I bought that .223 Savage Tactical just for that trip because I had previously not had a high-powered rifle.

[Swift One]

$700 to shoot groundhogs at only 30-40 shots?  I would book another prairiedog shoot instead.

My thoughts exactly..Christ, a DIY Pdog hunt can be just as productive.

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  I can't believe a ground hog guide...what a joke..guiding is becoming the bane of honest hunters. I am beginning to think it should be banned...

[omegahunter]

Granted gas was a LOT cheaper 10 years ago, but my DIY prairiedog shoot in South Dakota only set me back $500 for everything.  Shot for 4 days as long as we wanted to shoot.  Pdogs were popping out everywhere.  Did it on a reservation in SD.  Would really like to go again sometime.