Gopher hunting with a 22

[peterk123]

This much fun should be illegal. And man, it's great hunting practice.

My friend is leasing some land for his cattle. They just seeded the fields. Has to be a thousand gophers there. He needs them wiped out. I know what I'm doing for the next week or so!

 

[BarnBuilder]

This much fun should be illegal. And man, it's great hunting practice.

My friend is leasing some land for his cattle. They just seeded the fields. Has to be a thousand gophers there. He needs them wiped out. I know what I'm doing for the next week or so!

IN ...

 

[Upland]

View: https://youtu.be/g79mLV9b30c


Seriously… I have stepped in a gopher hole and it sucks.

 

[peterk123]

View: https://youtu.be/g79mLV9b30c


Seriously… I have stepped in a gopher hole and it sucks.

Yup. Imagine what it can do to cattle.

 

[gerrycaruso]

My son is leaving for South Dakota in a few weeks to do the same thing.

 

[Sparkey]

I built a rifle in 204 ruger with the hopes of shooting prairie dogs. Haven’t had the chance yet.

 

[45Badger]

Makes me think I should rescue my .22-250 from consignment…

 

[grey]

Cci stingers

 

[peterk123]

I'm using my wife's bergara BMR carbon 22 fitted with my the leupold vx3 that used sit on my 308. My buddy offered his 17 hmr to try out. I may take him up on his offer.

If my wife goes with me tomorrow I will bring my Henry Silver Eagle lever action.

 

[StevieP]

Sounds like a hoot. What do you consider your effective range with the .22LR?

Hornady .223 53Gr Superformance Varmint for the win if you want to stretch your legs a little. It's amazingly accurate out of my 20" 1:8 twist AR.

 

[peterk123]

Sounds like a hoot. What do you consider your effective range with the .22LR?

Hornady .223 53Gr Superformance Varmint for the win if you want to stretch your legs a little. It's amazingly accurate out of my 20" 1:8 twist AR.

I can reach out and touch one of those critters to a hundred yards if there is no wind.

 

[Bt74]

I can reach out and touch one of those critters to a hundred yards if there is no wind.

A gopher is only the size of a small rat. About 2x the size of a mouse. Centerfire rifle is a bit of an overkill. You guys thinking of Prairie Dogs????

 

[BigTimber]

I'm using my wife's bergara BMR carbon 22 fitted with my the leupold vx3 that used sit on my 308. My buddy offered his 17 hmr to try out. I may take him up on his offer.

If my wife goes with me tomorrow I will bring my Henry Silver Eagle lever action.

Last time I was out i brought my 17 hmr , would recommend

 

[peterk123]

A gopher is only the size of a small rat. About 2x the size of a mouse. Centerfire rifle is a bit of an overkill. You guys thinking of Prairie Dogs????

These are gophers. About half the size of prairie dogs.

 

[Drix]

This much fun should be illegal. And man, it's great hunting practice.

My friend is leasing some land for his cattle. They just seeded the fields. Has to be a thousand gophers there. He needs them wiped out. I know what I'm doing for the next week or so!

My cousin grew up bunny blasting on a neighbors ranch, 50c an ear or something like that. Grew up having a blast.

Having watched a few YouTube, what you need to do is go make up a batch of tannerite and pile some corn over it, then have some real fun. /s

 

[peterk123]

This just might be more fun than deer hunting. Shots are between 50 and 100 yards, some were a bit longer. I have learned more about shooting with my trekking poles and the value of a sling to help with bracing in one day than I have shooting the past year at the range. Plus compensating for cross wind and hold over as I get out to 100 yards or so.

Twenty or so dropped today. Will be going out again tomorrow. That Bergara carbon is one fine 22. I'm amazed at the accuracy with cheap ammo.

 

[millbilly]

I hope you cook one and report back. Recipes on the Internet!

 

[Drix]

This just might be more fun than deer hunting. Shots are between 50 and 100 yards, some were a bit longer. I have learned more about shooting with my trekking poles and the value of a sling to help with bracing in one day than I have shooting the past year at the range. Plus compensating for cross wind and hold over as I get out to 100 yards or so.

Twenty or so dropped today. Will be going out again tomorrow. That Bergara carbon is one fine 22. I'm amazed at the accuracy with cheap ammo.

 

[whacko]

I built a rifle in 204 ruger with the hopes of shooting prairie dogs. Haven’t had the chance yet.

It blows them the f*** up


View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpmX_bxuvQk&pp=ygUaR29waGVyIGh1bnQgd2l0aCAyMDQgcnVnZXI%3D

 

[peterk123]

It blows them the f*** up


View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpmX_bxuvQk&pp=ygUaR29waGVyIGh1bnQgd2l0aCAyMDQgcnVnZXI%3D

Damn! I was thinking .17hmr but the 22 is so cheap to shoot. I'm into my 22 rounds for 4 cents a round. I think hmr is around 35 cents.

 

[Coyote33]

I never really found out if there was a difference, but kind of use the words interchangeably: woodchuck, groundhog, gopher.

How about swamp rat, muskrat,?

 

[peterk123]

I never really found out if there was a difference, but kind of use the words interchangeably: woodchuck, groundhog, gopher.

How about swamp rat, muskrat,?

All three are actually different. I know gophers and prairie dogs are not even related. I'm guessing groundhog is also in a different category. Groundhogs and marmots however are in the same family. Ground hogs I believe belong to the squirrel family.

 

[GL2020]

All three are actually different. I know gophers and prairie dogs are not even related. I'm guessing groundhog is also in a different category. Groundhogs and marmots however are in the same family. Ground hogs I believe belong to the squirrel family.

I always mix them up too, and have to look them up

Only thing I know for sure are Groundhog and Woodchuck are just different names for the same animal. I have a resident groundhog who visits and eats different things in my yard...usually during the rain.

Muskrat looks like a smaller groundhog but stays in/near water and has a long rat-like tail

gopher is very similar to squirrels....some call them ground squirrels

And I have no clue what make a prairie dog different than any of them.

All I known is if the description contains the word "rodent" they're in season

 

[Dennis in MA]

View: https://youtu.be/g79mLV9b30c


Seriously… I have stepped in a gopher hole and it sucks.

Damn. I was just going to post a pick of some golfers randomly.

 

[timbo]

My son is leaving for South Dakota in a few weeks to do the same thing.

yep...my parents live in eastern SD and it's a big deal there...the people that do this are hardcore sharpshooters, shooting these little guys at 3-500 yards consistently. Can you say pink mist?

 

[peterk123]

Son in law came out yesterday. We dropped about 50. Wife is joining us today. I'm out of bolt action 22s. So I threw a scope on her m&p 15-22 and sighted it in this morning. Also added a fancy homemade sling so I can brace better when on the trekking poles. Thing is pretty darn accurate. Should have some fun with it.

I don't use a sling with my 308. But now that I figured out how useful they are, I'm putting one of these simple webbing ones on it. It weighs nothing but it's so helpful when shooting off sticks.

 

[Mesatchornug]

Son in law came out yesterday. We dropped about 50. Wife is joining us today. I'm out of bolt action 22s. So I threw a scope on her m&p 15-22 and sighted it in this morning. Also added a fancy homemade sling so I can brace better when on the trekking poles. Thing is pretty darn accurate. Should have some fun with it.

I don't use a sling with my 308. But now that I figured out how useful they are, I'm putting one of these simple webbing ones on it. It weighs nothing but it's so helpful when shooting off sticks.

View attachment 877739

USGI Web slings are just a little more expensive/complicated, but they're great for the job. I have them on almost everything.

 

[SS1]

Last time I was out i brought my 17 hmr , would recommend

Last time I used a 17HMR instead of a 22 for squirrels
Nothing left of them to put in the pot

 

[BigTimber]

Last time I used a 17HMR instead of a 22 for squirrels
Nothing left of them to put in the pot

Yeah definitely overkill for squirrels.

 

[peterk123]

Well, the m&p did a fine job today. While the bolt action is a lot more fun and great practice for hunting, the AR comes in quite handy when you need to reach out 100 yards or more. The ability to adjust and shoot immediately helped to drop more of them at longer distances.