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56 F 55 Percent RH Overcast and Winds about 5-10 MPH. Raindrops here and there on the windshield, but it didn't rain. I drove through the dairy farm and walked a bit with my Lab who attempted to roll in some cow dung, or something. Fortunately it was dried. I let him run about a bit when it was clear that there were no Charlies for him to spook.

I went by the pumpkin patch and the Charlie(s) had quite a party. I couldn't see any, and it is pretty hard to pick out targets with so much visual noise in the midst of pumpkin patch.

I bumped into the farmer and he asked if I had shot the Charlie at the big barn. I hadn't, so I went back. The barn is on the top of hill, and chuck had made his hole on the down slope of hill with the entrance facing downhill. I left the Lab in the SUV. No point in letting him spook any Charlies now. I approached from the barn and as I got to the hole I saw his head and he quickly dropped back into his hole. I backed away and naturally stepped in a pile of cow manure. I continued to back up about 30 feet away uphill and after LOOKING AROUND for a clear spot, sat down, set up my shooting sticks and got my Sako Quad set up. I dialed down my Zeiss Conquest to 2.5 power checked the sight picture looking at the hole, tripoded the gun and shooting sticks and waited. I knew the chuck would have to exit looking away from me, downhill, so I would likely get a shot. I was low and had a camo hat and jacket and not likely to startle him if I remained still even if he saw me right away. I didn't have to wait long. I don't think a minute went by. He crept out slowly facing downhill as I expected, I raised the Sako Quad to my shoulder but he stopped with just his head showing. I put the crosshairs on the back of his head. I could see grass and weeds in my scope picture. It was a bad shot. I waited. He crept out. Suddenly he was all the way out on top. He stood up. I put the crosshairs the back of his head and squeezed off. The 22 Mag 30 Gr Hornady V-Max report snapped out across the hillside as the chuck fell forward. I watched through the scope as just his tail twitched for a few seconds and then stopped. I got up and walked up to him, nudged his body with my shoe to make sure he was done with this dimension and time and space, picked him up by his tail and tossed him up hill for his post mortem photo.

He was eating pretty well. Nice and fat.

Good job on that groundhog. Too bad about the landmines.

Good job and thanks for the great hunting story. Healthy lookin' pig.

Good shootin Songdog1,its nice when a plan comes together.I know what you mean about being lucky at finding every dung pile while skeeming a plan.Just last week I was bellycrawling along a fence row and I smeared through some smelly ,stinking,runny dog doo , trying to position myself into a better sight picture to get a groundhog.At the moment the obfensive aroma nailed my nostrils I wanted to stand up and say every wrong word under the sun but not wanting to give up my hard earned stalk I composed myself and layed still.After laying in the stuff for a moment and wondering how well of a cover sent the doo would make I realized how much of a diehard groundhog hunter Ive become Keep up the good work your heading on a good path


P.S I got the darn beanmuncher.

SJF,

Dog poop is way worse than cow poop. I dunno. Crap is crap.

Nice shooting!

I know what you mean about cow poo. The farmer I keep the charlies under control for will cut a field of hay and the very next day he is spreading poo on it. That does not work well for prone hunting.

LoL!!! Prone in poo, thats some funny $hit. No pun.

Songdog, it's cold today for FL standards so I decided to do some web surfing and picked up your post. Nice hunting story! For me it's almost as much fun writing about my hunting escapades as the hunting itself. What was the distance of your shot? Nice picture too. What's your plan for the coming groundhog hunting season? I want to pick up a 17 HMR for the golf course this year in place of the 22 long rifle that I've used in the past on two shorter courses. Also have two other farms I haven't used yet that I need to get out on. Good luck this season. Maybe we can get together for some shooting along with Frank?

Dogbone:

Wow. What a coincidence. I rarely check this board anymore.

This chuck was no farther than 10-15 yds. As the story related, his hole was facing downhill, and away from me as I was uphill from the opening, e.g. for him to exit the hole he had to exit downhill. Any way one looks at it, I had the drop on him. The only way he had a chance was to stay in his hole and wait me out. He didn't.

Frank came back from SC hog hunting in Jan. He got skunked. Nothing. He's supposed to go to OH to groundhog in May or sometime.

I went to SD in Oct for pheasant, sharptail and huns. Had a good hunt. I also went to GA for quail in Jan. Froze like the rest of the South, but the hunt was good.

I'm planning on a prairie dog trip to WY this summer. Maybe July. A freelance trip. No guide. Go out, find PDs. Shoot PDs.

I'd like to get together and hunt Ghogs with you.

It won't be long....a new season is almost upon us