Author Topic: Closest anyone has shot a Goundhog? (Read 2878 times)

valvesinmyhead · « **on:** April 22, 2009, 04:13:44 PM »

I think I might have you guys beat on this one. Tonight while turkey hunting this big boy walked by the blind.

Shot him with my Mossberg 12ga 835. the shell was a Federal 3" mag. 2oz of #5 shot traveling at 1150 fps.

He was standing up nice for me. Pulled the trigger and knocked him right on his back. When the barrel came back down from the recoil all I seen was feet in the air. DRT. Those Primos slates work great. Lasered at a whopping 17yds. If you look close you can see my decoys.

ncsurveyor · « **Reply #1 on:** April 22, 2009, 04:25:52 PM »

I shot one at 120 cm with a 45acp, and 33 cm with a 22 mag.

Glanceblamm · « **Reply #2 on:** April 23, 2009, 03:20:27 AM »

Quote from: ncsurveyor on April 22, 2009, 04:25:52 PM

I shot one at 120 cm with a 45acp, and 33 cm with a 22 mag.

I can match you on the 120 cm (18.6") as I was laying prone next to the long abandon house and on stake out for the ones undermining the implement shed when one popped up out of the tall grass just off my left elbow.
It was like Boom, Thump, as the WMR caught it just under the chin picking it up and slamming it against the house.

You have me beat on the 33 cm (5.5") though. I can remember at least three more that were taken under 10'.

ncsurveyor · « **Reply #3 on:** April 23, 2009, 04:26:33 AM »

Quote from: glanceblamm on April 23, 2009, 03:20:27 AM

You have me beat on the 33 cm (5.5") though. I can remember at least three more that were taken under 10'.

My dog chased it under a barn and it got wedged and stuck. I had to pull a facing board to see it. Just held the rifle up and pulled the trigger.

The other one was as you stated. Hiding at the corner of a barn with my 45, I had one walk around the corner. Forgot I had hydrashok's loaded.

My documented short range-non fluke gopher was 30 yards with a 44mag.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #4 on:** April 23, 2009, 04:30:08 AM »

shot one out of a tree while dove hunting . my lab got to fooling with him and he run up a tree . couldn't hace been over 10 feet . #8's

Glanceblamm · « **Reply #5 on:** April 23, 2009, 05:53:54 AM »

Quote

My documented short range-non fluke gopher was 30 yards with a 44mag.

Interesting that you bring this up. I plan on doing it soon with my own red dot equipped .44mag and will practice the new to me Creedmore position on the groundsquirrels.

Quote

shot one out of a tree while dove hunting . my lab got to fooling with him and he run up a tree . couldn't hace been over 10 feet . #8's

I can remember once in my wee years that my Dad knocked a groundhog off a lower limb with a red brick! Our farm dogs knew what was happening though and were right there to get it! It was as funny as when the Hogs ate my little brother

Graybeard · « **Reply #6 on:** April 23, 2009, 09:05:30 AM »

I shot one once while crow hunting across the width of a dirt back road. As we were getting our stuff out to walk off into the woods to call one ran across the road and I dropped it with a Remington 3200 which was what I had with me that day. Couldn't have been much over 5 yards if that. That was my closest but I shot another one day with a Ruger 20 gauge O/U while squirrel hunting that was at most 15-20 yards and one with a .44 magnum handgun while turkey hunting way back up on a mountain that I'd have never thought would have a ground hog but did. Dunno the distance as I just don't recall but likely less than 25 yards. That's about it for close ground hogs.

sk330lc · « **Reply #7 on:** April 23, 2009, 05:05:57 PM »

Over the years I've watched my older Brother, kill two with a ballpean hammer. while baling hay. I've killed One with a shovel and one with a grub hoe . They should not be in My garden!...

Glanceblamm · « **Reply #8 on:** April 24, 2009, 05:42:21 AM »

I am kind of ashamed to admit it but when we are talking (Closest) I ran one down with an axe once in an open field when I was 14 or so. The Uncle and I were doing culvert and fence repair when this happened.
When you see the four end rows of the new beans stripped down for over a hundred yards (like was happening in those days) (and before the Coyotes & fence to fence tilling practices) you did what you had to do to get rid of them. The firearms were for evenings or day's off. Not work days where you had too many tools on hand to work with to have to worry about a cumbersome rifle or shotgun.

valvesinmyhead · « **Reply #9 on:** April 24, 2009, 11:20:56 AM »

Ok enough with the shovels and axes these are supposed to be long range varmints.

KAYR1 · « **Reply #10 on:** April 24, 2009, 03:56:29 PM »

I shot one last year a 9 feet. was putting together my trail cam on the front porch and from under my feet, walked a huge groudhog that had taken residence under my porch. A Glock 27 subcompact .40 S&W was all I had handy, but it did the job. Not my favorite varmint rig, but you gotta use what you got on ya, shovel, hoe, axe, or belly gun!

sk330lc · « **Reply #11 on:** April 24, 2009, 05:19:39 PM »

Quote from: valvesinmyhead on April 24, 2009, 11:20:56 AM

Ok enough with the shovels and axes these are supposed to be long range varmints.

With a remark Like that I would say your a city slicker.

When you have to spend several hours welding up tractor spendels (spell check please) You learn to Hate them

. You then learn to Kill them with what ever you have in hand.

They are really fun to shoot, at Long ranges also .

Empty Quiver · « **Reply #12 on:** April 24, 2009, 06:49:11 PM »

About ten yards with a #30 recurve about 30 yrs ago. I still shoot that bow on occasion, but don't think I have the patience to watch a ground hog hole anymore. Took me a couple weeks to catch that rascal, heck he probably figured I was harmless.

valvesinmyhead · « **Reply #13 on:** April 24, 2009, 11:41:40 PM »

"With a remark Like that I would say your a city slicker" by sk330lc
Yep I live next door to Cabelas.

Ladobe · « **Reply #14 on:** April 25, 2009, 11:07:22 AM »

Guess you boys do things different in the east than we do in the west. We generally try to shoot ground diggers as far away as possible. At the annual 10 day Belding GS shoot I used to host for friends (Digger Wars) the gentleman's agreement was these little ground squirrels couldn't be shot at less than 150 yards with specialty pistols or rifles.

Stalking is another story though. My son and I used to stalk ground squirrels in the Kaibab forest deadfalls with a twin pair of Daisy 717 .177 pistols. Only head shots were kill shots, which these pistols are easily capable of to maybe 20 yards, but they are so weak you still had to get within 10-15 feet of them to assure a one-shot kill.

Hairtrigger · « **Reply #15 on:** April 25, 2009, 12:43:30 PM »

Last summer I shot a groundhog at 25 yards with my Super Redhawk in 454. I went to the hole to inspect the carnage and another popped his head out of a different hole 6' from me... another dead hog. The second was not pretty, guts and dirt flew quite a ways

huntingohio · « **Reply #16 on:** April 27, 2009, 02:25:03 AM »

my dog was trying to kill one so i pulled him off and killed it with a machette { head came of in one swing}, and one from 2 feet with a 12g slug

chipmunk · « **Reply #17 on:** April 28, 2009, 09:01:08 AM »

As of this morning I think I have everyone here beat. I was out turkey hunting on the edge of a field. When I sat down I noticed there was a hole just in front of my left foot, but it didn't look freshly used so I didn't think anything of it. After an hour or so of calling without any turkeys to show for it, I decided to just sit and be quiet and hope some showed up to feed. A bit later I saw a head start to raise out of the hole. I froze and he poked his head out and stared at me. We stared at each other for at least 10 minutes until I guess he decided I was a stump or something. He started to crawl out of the hole away from me when he spotted my decoys 30 yards away. He froze with his head looking away from me. I slowly started lowering my shotgun when I realized that he was to close for me to get the gun down. I leaned back a bit and my vest made a slight sound. I swear I was seeing in slow motion as he started to pull back into the hole. I jerked the gun down and pulled the trigger just as the muzzle touched him on the back. I think I'm going to start calling him the deadest groundhog ever. The 3.5 inch mag literally blew a 12 gauge sized hole through him. I was covered in dirt and groundhog bits. I don't think I'll be shooting my feet like that again. I'm probably lucky I didn't blow my foot off. It was pretty cool though.

gstewart44 · « **Reply #18 on:** May 11, 2009, 10:01:08 AM »

I was out with my 243 walking the fields of an abandoned farm actually hoping to set up for some coyotes but as I stood scanning the field, about 600 yds across, a groundhog came by my feet and kept going. he too stopped in front of me with his back to me. I lowered the 243 and touched off a round - at a distance of 3 1/2 feet. though I was looking at his head through the scope the bullet hit just below the shoulders and exploded the varmint. nothing left but head and two hind feet.....

Preacherman · « **Reply #19 on:** May 11, 2009, 02:31:21 PM »

Not a groundhog but:I got a coon one night in the chicken house with a pitch fork with a 5ft handle.Got a little too far back tru the middle.Had to do him in with a club.That was an experince! Shot coons at point blank in a trap.Thats my tale and I'm sticking to it.
Preacherman

billy_56081 · « **Reply #20 on:** May 11, 2009, 02:37:52 PM »

I shot one inches from the muzzle after the dog cornered it.

Swampman · « **Reply #21 on:** May 11, 2009, 03:08:55 PM »

I shot one in the ear from about 4-5 feet with my .22 T/C Contender.

Foggy · « **Reply #22 on:** May 11, 2009, 03:34:38 PM »

15-20 feet from the tractor while mowing

454Puma · « **Reply #23 on:** May 18, 2009, 05:46:02 PM »

Had one charge me in a hay field as I got between him and his den- first shot with a full choke 12ga and #6 at 15 yards last shot at about ten feet, every shot knocking him back four feet. Weight was 20 lbs about 2 ft long!

Glanceblamm · « **Reply #24 on:** May 19, 2009, 03:33:06 AM »

Quote

Had one charge me in a hay field as I got between him and his den-

Will happen every time (being charged) as they will run right between your legs to get back to the den.

woodchukhntr · « **Reply #25 on:** May 19, 2009, 03:18:26 PM »

I guess about 3 feet with a .22 pistol when I approached a hole and he stuck his head out. The closest I came to one without shooting it was also about 3 feet. I was going to shoot him with a pistol but decided to see how close I could get. I walked right up to it by not moving when he was looking and moving straight at him when he wasn't. He stood up in front of me and I pushed him over with a walking stick that I was carrying. He didn't know what to do, running around in a circle until he dove into his hole.

Jake McCracken · « **Reply #26 on:** May 19, 2009, 04:27:20 PM »

I tried to chase one out of my shed, he was a stubborn fellow. Backed himself into a corner lookin for hi hole I filled in from the outside. He was about 6-8ft away and wouldn't leave. So without thinking, I pulled my 1911 from my belt, and bam....

a big mess all over the wall of my shed. (the wife was NOT happy!)

Anyway, all of his friends must've taken notice because since then, I've have no more holes dug around the shed to fill in!

Qaz · « **Reply #27 on:** June 23, 2009, 04:33:13 AM »

Four years ago I shot one with a 22lr at two inches. I was told that there was an active hole at the end of an old chicken house. As I walked by I looked in the window and the GH was sitting up beside his hole inside and froze. I froze also and then extremely slowly put the rifle barrel through the window next to his head and pulled the trigger.
My best ground hog shot was twenty inches! My GF and I were out in a hay field flagging holes when she heard something at her feet. She stopped dead in her tracks and yelled at me as I was getting in the truck. I looked over at her and she had gotten between a GH and his hole. For what ever reason he was standing there clacking his teeth together warning her. He was not more than 20 inches from her leg, I reached in the truck for my 17HMR and layed it across the hood and shot him. I was about 15yds from them. We still laugh about it.

Qaz

Glanceblamm · « **Reply #28 on:** June 23, 2009, 04:41:33 AM »

Quote from: woodchukhntr on May 19, 2009, 03:18:26 PM

I guess about 3 feet with a .22 pistol when I approached a hole and he stuck his head out. The closest I came to one without shooting it was also about 3 feet. I was going to shoot him with a pistol but decided to see how close I could get. I walked right up to it by not moving when he was looking and moving straight at him when he wasn't. He stood up in front of me and I pushed him over with a walking stick that I was carrying. He didn't know what to do, running around in a circle until he dove into his hole.

I walked through a covey of quail once while still hunting deer but thats another story.

lastchanc54 · « **Reply #29 on:** June 25, 2009, 05:43:23 AM »

WOW, these are some good stories. I wasn't all that close to mine but it was memorable to me. I was shooting a Contender in 30/30 Winchester. I had just got it and went ground hog hunting. My first shot was about 40 yards and I found a GH standing on a log. I was trying for a head shot and when I dropped the hammer, the GH flipped through the air and disapeared. I thought I saw something on the log so I looked through my scope and sure enough, something was there. Being curious I walked down and took a closer look. What I saw looked like a blob of pink chiffon! It was very clean and nothing else was on the log. I could not figure out what part of a GH would look like that so I touched it. Yuck, it stuck to my finger and I had to shake it off. I didn't know that a GH brain would be so sticky!!
It seems I just clipped the top of the skull cap with my 150 grain bullet and sucked the brain right out!
Happy shooting