Success In The Field

You guys know how obsessed I am with groundhogs (16,000+ with handguns). I started looking for other means to continue this kind of shooting. Eight years ago I found a single farmer online in Idaho that agreed for me and HHI PaMike to come. He spread the word about this old guy that did pretty good shooting his rockchucks. Thus, began Operation Rockchuck. I've gone every year. One year Mike couldn't go, so I added Robert (HHI-Gasixgunner). This year Mike couldn't go again. It was just Robert and me. Our "source" has grown from 1 farm to 10 this year.

THE GUNS: At first I was worried about the ID wind. I took my SSK .250 Sav. AI XP and SSK 6mm AI Encore. They did good. The first year Robert went he too his .223 AI XP and used 40 gr. BTs. They worked well in the wind! I switched to my .22-250 XPR and 40 gr. BTs and continue to use it. We found a bunch of rock formations that we could get close to so we added my SSK suppressed Ruger MKIII and Robert's suppressed Colt semi .22 conversion kit. I use Rem. 22 subsonics and Robert used Ely Match.

THE HUNT: Most of our trips had decent weather. One even had 80s! This year was payback. The first 4 mornings were high 30s and days were low 40s. Wind was 15-25 mph each day. Rain was present most of these 4 days. The last 2 days were 60s with 10-15 mph winds.

The first day we went to a new farm. Chucks were rampant, like flies buzzing everywhere. It was a shooters paradise. We took 47 chucks in 2 1/2 hours from 150 to 324 yards. This action continued in this miserable weather. Several other farms saw us getting 30-50 chucks in one setting.

We went to our "short farm"-close shots using our suppressed .22s We did 30 from 55 to 88 yds. in 20-25 mph winds. We figured out the hold and only missed 3!!!!!!!!

MILESTONES: We had shot very well these 7 years together and reached some high levels even rifle guys would appreciate.

My numbers were a touch higher of just chucks

Our 7 year total was impressive for a couple of old rednecks with handguns

Our total for this hunt this year is almost unbelievable considering the rain, wind, miserable cold. We were persistent, hunted every day, ate lunch in the field, and shot so much our trigger fingers were sore.

Our best year in the past was 550. We could have beat this ,but....WE RAN OUT OF AMMUNITION at 3PM the last day!!!!!!!!!!!

Then we went back to all of our farmers to thank them. Everyone insisted we come back next year. It's nice to be appreciated.

My summary of this year: WHAT A HUNT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!