I was out checking one of the pastures. Here are 3 pictures of the some young and stupid ground squirrels on a wood pile next to a large hay stack. I will have to work on these over the holliday weekend to prevent them from fouling the hay stack. This is just one small group of young ones. They are all over this particular section of land, but these were very photogenic.


Three young ones on the wood pile.


Up close and personal.


This guy was about 10 ft away and he posed for the camera. I had the 10X zoom set and then cropped the picture. The body on these young ground squirrels is only about 6" long. Will be feeding the coyotes tomorrow.

Great pictures Varmint Al, thanks for sharing them.

We've got a new crop out in Montana as well. I brought my brother out for a shoot on Friday for his 40th birthday. It was VERY windy and cloudy, so we didn't see too many.

He made a great quote later in the day...My bro' is somewhat of an enviro and hasn't ever shot varmints, but really enjoys shooting birds. When he finally connected on one he discombobulated its cranium and it did the classic "gopher gimp" flopping around here and there. He said, "This is a little too much for me, kind of gross." I mentioned that, "On some shots, there is a bit of a guilt factor." About two seconds later he saw another one standing up within range and he says, "Yeah, but it doesn't stick.." and he blasted the next one.