Good evening Montanan, MT_Sourdough, dpe, Southpaw, Forster, Atlaw, pab1, newstart2k, Skunk, kitchawan kid, lurker, CJ, Bilmac,thxmrgarand, Syncerus, Mcwoodduck, Brennemanj83, Old Shooter,TY22, Canon6, burntmuch, Grimjim, CJ, Bilmac, rparsons934 wis_sharpshooter, BBF, Blue Duck, billy_56081, hunt-m-up, Gun Runner and Chilachuck.
Well another nice day—weather wise. Not so good otherwise. Granddaughter heads home to Illinois tomorrow. I thoroughly enjoy having her here. She is 14 years old and still has just a touch little kid in her, but she is becoming a young woman there is no doubt about that. I hope she never looses the kid part and will always go gopher hunting with me.
We made one last run at the gophers this afternoon. Little over 200 rounds fired. I was watching her shoot and I have to say she was hitting in the 80% plus range. See seems to be a natural shooter.
I popped two gophers in two shots this afternoon at 149 yards. They were standing over a hole and I took a double shot. The front one went down. The back one moved a bit and started licking its belly. I took aim for the second shot at the back one and it just seemed that it fell over before the shot got there. I am not confident enough to call this shot a double, but it was close. Any kill at 149 yards with the 17 Hornady Mach 2 is something to talk about and a double at that range with this cartridge would be bragging material. Today was a good day for the 17, hardly a breath of air.
Just after this double, Granddaughter yelled at me, “Grandpa, what’s that?” Off in the near distance was a badger moving across the prairie. Now the landowner where we were hunting is very clear, leave the coyotes and foxes alone, kill as many gophers as you can, and kill every single badger you see. He has a big hate on for badgers. Local lore says he was riding a horse that stepped in a badger hole and the horse had to be put down, and he went to the hospital.
Well I did what he said. I used my Rem. 700 VLS .223 and shot it. I was going to let the Granddaughter shoot it, but she had problems seeing with the 12X scope the other day shooting rock chucks, so I shot it. This is one of the largest badgers I have seen. I have one larger mounted, but it isn’t larger by much.
