I've pretty much wiped out the groundhogs in WV (13,600+) so I've headed west the last 2 years to southeast ID. Last year was great-good weather except one rainstorm and decent temps. TYhis year was good too except for the daily rain/sleet/ hail/snow/ 20-30 mph winds. What a mess.
PaMike and I went. We mailed ammo to sixshot thinking we'd burn our barrels up. Nope! He got in the 30s. I took 62.
A little history on these creatures. ID was volcanoes eons ago. All that lava hardened up. The chucks live below and between the rocks, then they go out and eat grass in the fields. My WV groundhogs are a little lazy. They dig their holes right in the fields.
One other difference is my groundhogs will spook when they see me, run to the hole and pause. Shoot fast and you got 'em. To the "person" these ID chucks go plum crazy when a human is seen. The go in the hole like lightening, never pause, and don't come back out for close to an hour. My 'hogs are nosey. They're back out in 10-15 minutes usually.
Despite the weather we had some fair shooting. Places we went last year were not as good. Two new places we got were terrible-3 chucks total seen. The chucks we got were so scattered out there was no way to get any hero shots.
We did kill 3 really nice ones.
This year I took my 6mm AI Encore like last year. Used only 70 gr. BTs. It was excellent in the wind and it accounted for my 2 longest shots-329 and 412 yds. Total was 33.
Last year I took my .250 Sav. AI XP. It was excellent, but a little heavy. This year I took my XPR-22.-250. I wasn't a rear grip fan, but I took over 30 groundhogs getting ready for this trip. The rear grip grew on me. I took 29 chucks with it.
Here's the rocks the chucks live in
Notice the tops of the mountains
I did take 2 nice chucks
I did it with the .22-250 at 150 yds. It's a little stiff. I didn't check it until the next day. One day later I saw 2 bald eagles and 1 golden eagle fighting over it. Cool!
The next one was the largest I'd taken in both years
He's a hoss. He's not laid out real flat, but he is probably a little larger the my biggest WV 'hog. Took him with the 6mmAI at 180 yds. The BT didn't mess him up too bad. He's visiting the taxidermist now.
So, with hunting trips you have to take the good with the bad. Some of it was good. Some terrible. C'est la vie! There's always another year.
