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The official 2014 TOO groundhog thread

Finally got a chance to get out for a few hours yesterday with the .17HMR. The fields were to high to hunt so I hunted an old brush pile. I knew a few lived in and around it. Shooting was only 50-75 yards and the opportunities were far and few between. Saw three and got a shot at two of them. Here was my setup and the results.
 

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Nice results.
The groundhogs are so few down here I don't bother them if they don't bother me. I have one in the back yard and one in the front yard. I haven't seen evidence of another one on the farm in 20 yrs.
The so called experts claim the coyotes got them all.

My 22TCM pistol just came into the FFL Dealer. It shoots a 40 gr. bullet at 2000 FPS. RIA has a 22 TCM rifle out also but can't find one. It'll be my next light weight pest rifle. I'll be able to reload it for just cents per round.
 
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Pick one up Huck. You can find used guns at a very fair price. This is my second HMR. I bought the heavy barreled gun originally. I quickly learned that the varmint barrel is really not needed for a 125 yard groundhog gun, so I sold it and bought the sporting barreled gun. I feel 125 is about max range for good clean kills with the 17 grain bullets on groundhog sized game. 20 grain bullets may perform a little better, but I'm thinking not that much. If you would want to hunt ground squirrels or prairie dogs out west the heavy barrel may be a plus.

I'm torn between my HMR and my .22Mag. The .22Mag with 30 grain ballistic tips is quite potent and the trajectory is not that much different than the HMR out to 150 yards. Both are fun little rifles to shoot.
 
Hortontoter said:
Pick one up Huck. You can find used guns at a very fair price. This is my second HMR. I bought the heavy barreled gun originally. I quickly learned that the varmint barrel is really not needed for a 125 yard groundhog gun, so I sold it and bought the sporting barreled gun. I feel 125 is about max range for good clean kills with the 17 grain bullets on groundhog sized game. 20 grain bullets may perform a little better, but I'm thinking not that much. If you would want to hunt ground squirrels or prairie dogs out west the heavy barrel may be a plus.

I'm torn between my HMR and my .22Mag. The .22Mag with 30 grain ballistic tips is quite potent and the trajectory is not that much different than the HMR out to 150 yards. Both are fun little rifles to shoot.
Click to expand...

Someday! I thought the Savage 17s were a little small-ish on my frame, but liked the wood stock, heavy barrel models. I think ultimately though, I'd prefer the .22 mag so that I can get a .22mag/22LR revolver.
 
Can't argue with the .22 MAG statement, I've had my marlin for 30 years and it's shot a lot of hogs, crows and squirrels with great results..... The .17 is intriguing but haven't got serious about them yet.....
 
Jarrod and I did some hog patrolling tonight, there were 4 in the beans we each managed to kill one, both were aprox 215/220yds. That 243 loaded with Nosler 70 grain bt pretty much wrecked the one.ImageUploadedByTapatalk1404867980.820220.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1404867993.967014.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1404868018.308101.jpg
 
Just stopped over to see how everyone has been doing while out chasing them whistle pigs. I shot two early in the season but didn't have time to hunt at all until this past week. My neighbor asked me to come and shoot some around his farm buildings. I am finding this to be quite a challenge and very fun. There are lots of outbuildings including several old farmhouses and of course farm equipment and cows in the pasture and the farm sits close to the road. The hunt involves scouting out where the 'hogs are spending time. Next plotting out where I will be shooting from in order to have a safe backdrop (and not look too conspicuous so as not to offend people driving down the road :) ). Then it often involves a lot of stalking, sneaking around buildings and crawling on my hands and knees through the weeds to get in position. A couple times I've stalked to a groundhog successfully only to realize that I can't shoot that direction safely. I've only got one so far, but each time I go out, I learn a little bit more about where they are living and where I need to be in order to shoot safely. It's like figuring out a giant puzzle. Like I said, it is a fun challenge.

HAPPY groundhog hunting everyone!
 
Still trying to go out here and there. It's easier for me to go out and hunt groundhogs for an hour after I finish my barn chores and before dark than it is to try and go out for squirrel. I've not been out for squirrel one time yet. Frustrated, but it's the busy time on the farm and that's just how it is. It's been two weeks though since I had a successful groundhog hunt. That day I shot one in the morning and then later that evening I was wandering around my neighbor's outbuildings and came across a really fat female g'hog. She hesitated just before going into her hole just a tad too long. Not the heaviest groundhog I ever shot, but I think she was the fattest.

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