Went home to Ohio for a few days this past week. Spent the weekend with my hunting buddy Joe, a guy who I've hunted, fished, drank beer with and generally raised hell with since kindergarten...in fact ditto that along with his brother Bob as well. We confirmed our .204 zero's on the 100 yard range at his hunting club and then went on the prowl for some late summer chucks. We each hammered two blonde fatties. I had zeroed at 2 1/2 inches high looking for that 300 yard zero. I shot this one from the hood of that Subaru that can be seen in the background. He ranged at 268 yards. I figured that was close enough to 300 and held directly to the side of his left ear. I watched the dust fly on my crosshairs I was using 32 gr Blitz kings from HSM


Here's a shot of Joe after taking this one with 40 gr VMax that he loads himself. I was watching through my binny's as Joe took the shot. This guy did a complete backward flip hanging all four feet in the air as he tumbled That 40 gr smacked him hard leaving some entrails hanging out his chest. Joe ranged him at 174 yards. It was a nice weekend and discovered that the farmers little dog is being harrassed by some coyotes. I reckon Joe will be solving that dilemma for them very soon

Good Shooting! Ya gotta love the 204. I bought a CZ varmint 204 this year. Have not gone past 200 yards yet. Mine seems to like the 39gn BlitsKings. The 32 grain not so well. But I am still working up loads I have not put 50 rounds through yet.

What a combination; Good guns, Good targets and (best of all) great friends. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Mush. Mine enjoys them 39gr as well, but nothing like the 32's. The chucks seem to know Joe's Subaru as it prowls the interconnected farms he hunts. When seen, they dive deep and quick like a hawk shadow just passsed over them

Sometimes ya gotta park farther away and walk in. I have noticed some of the time if no GHs' are out I will walk quickly over their holes and walk off a couple hundred yards then sit down. In about 20 minutes they sometimes come out to see who walked over their house. This has worked a dozon times or so. Or it could just be when they were comming out anyway..... Hard to tell, we dont seem to ever have a chance to chat later

...You nailed it TJD It doesn't get any better than that

Yep, we do the stalking and waiting game as well. Never tried intentionally walking over their house and then setting up though. Sounds kind of like ringing doorbells as a kid or ordering large pizza's and then watching from the bushes

Not something I thought of or planed. As I walked the field looking for holes I would always look back to remember where each hole was. At the farm I hunt, there was seldom one hole but 3 to 7 holes on the same spot. Ground hog condos..... As I walked some distance away sometimes a hog could stick his head out. I would sit down and watch until he would come out of the hole. Because I hunt land that is rolling hills I can't always keep in sight a hole I just walked past. So I would make my way to the highest spot and set up. Sometimes this did not work, once I shot 5 coming out of the same condo. I set up and shot at one about 150 yards away. I waited and a head popped up, I thought I missed that one. So I shot again. 10 minutes later a head popped up. After some profanity, I shot again. Later a head popped up. Same thing. How was I missing so much. I thought back to the range to check my zero. When it was getting dark I walked over to the hole and found 5 dead ground hogs in a 5 yard square. I was glad I brought a lawn chair. Sitting on the ground in one spot for a while in a hay field they run cattle on can be . . . . fragrant

Doesn't get much better than fall groundhog hunting in God's Country. Suprising how many are out, depending on the weather. Last year, I got my last (70th) one on the day after Thanksgiving.

If you think YOU were spouting profanity what do you think those dawgs were saying as your round came "up close and personal" ?

Your right...if the sun is out and temps stay decent, they will fatten up right into early winter. Too bad you didn't nail your 70th a couple days before Thanksgiving. Would of saved you a few bucks as I bet he was about as big as the bird you guys cooked

If I were them I would of said "I should of stayed in the woods and not moved into the field"

On the other hand -
Mostly the Farmer asks when I leave the field after a hunt "Did you get any?". When I say yes he just says "Good, come back and get some more". About September he also adds "come back for deer season, those $%*#8's are eating my (young) trees again". Last time he asked me if I also hunt coyotes. ------ Ground hog hunting has been "berry berry good to me".