Success In The Field

Six years ago I started this new adventure in ID. Seems I've pretty much wiped out WV groundhogs, so I decided to work on their ID cousins. First year was interesting. Killed 90 some in 4 days, but the farmers started spreading word about this really old guy that shot a handgun pretty good. PaMike & I went 2 years, then Covid started. He decided not to go that year. I masked up & invited GaSixgunner. We did really well.

The next year both wanted to go. I said OK, but not at the same time. So, I toughed it out, took Mike the first week, returned him to Salt Lake, then picked up Robert. I "had" to hunt for 2 weeks! The things you do for friends!!

Normally, the weather was good (the first 5 years), and the shooting was great. This year had it's revenge. Morning temps were low 30s. Daytime highs 50s most days. I had a bad accident- tripped & fell. Had a massive nose bleed for 2 hours (due to some meds I take), spent 2 hours in the ER getting it stopped, and ended up with a gigantic "thingy" stuck up my nose with small hoses connected to my face. Got lot of strange looks at restaurants.

I didn't go to ID to whine about my troubles. I came to hunt & I did. The day before this happened, went to an old place that was bad last year. Wasn't so bad this year. Here's what I did in the first 2 hours (pic is about 60% of what I got)

The .223 Contender did well. That was the high light of the first week.

Second week still had crummy weather, low temps, 15-25 mph winds for all but the last 2 days. Then, things got good.

I set a new record for my groundhog/rockchuck lifetime totals. Since they're the same animal I count them together. This is about half of what I did this warmer, less windy day. Using my XP-R .22-250. Not bad for an old codger

That makes my 6 year rockchuck total 1903. We've definitely thinned them out on several farms. The farmer can't stop thinking us.

This trip was definitely one to remember. I'm hoping many more will come.