I enjoyed your article. I get out and shoot 200-1000 chucks each year in Utah, Wyoming and mostly in Idaho.

I usually use varmint guns not sporters but I have shot quite a few with sporters too. The 257 is a very good long range chuck platform.

I shoot most of mine with the 220 swift and 243. Other cartridges I use are the 17 Remington, 257 AI, 260 Remington and 7mmSTW for those ultra long range shots.

Mike.

I can remember when that article came out quite a few years back. Seems like yesterday but I know better, how time fly's.

Nickkudu did you write the article?

Many thanks

Mark D

Interesting article,has to be pretty old though,Red passed about 7-8 years ago,Martha is well I see her about once a week.I have killed more rockchucks with a 22lr than anything else usually a pistol,because I see them when I am moving around on the ranch and thats what I usually carry.w/regards

Hunting rockchucks is one of my favorite pastimes. I love to go into the Bighorn mts. near my home in Sheridan Wyoming and hunt these critters. I will use just about any rifle I have including 22lr/22mag/223/22-250/30-06/357 mag/338 mag/45-70. This is an excellent way to get some exercise and get comfortable with your firearms. Make sure not to shoot too many animals from one colony, so as to always leave a good breeding population!

Ballard4590: Your advice of leaving some for seed in every colony is great advice!
Alas it is advice that seldom gets followed. I have learned this lesson numerous times, the hard way!
In the past I have leant out advice on 'where to go" on several occassions to "friends and acquaintances" only to have them abuse my advice which goes something like this - "shoot a few at each stand and move on, leave some for seed"!
I no longer freely give out specific locations to my hard earned, learned and found Varminting locales!
I have seen to many of my honey holes "shot out".
Yes - Rock Chucks (especially the high mountain dwellers!) are slower, WAY SLOWER to repopulate than are Ground Squirrels, Crows, Prairie Dogs, Coyotes and some other Varmint species!
Don't get me wrong one of my favorite things in life is showing and sharing my Varminting Haunts to friends and fellow Varminters. But I do so only after these fellows agree to not take other Hunters to my spots or to over-Hunt these spots themselves. If they don't agree convincingly then they don't go and can fend for themselves finding Varminting areas!
High Mountain Rock Chuck Hunting is my favorite Varminting endeavor of ALL the Varminting I do and have done!
Long live the High Mountain Rock Chucks!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I couldnt agree More about how easy it is to kill out rockchucks.I live on the Shields river at about 5,500 ft and was surprised when I moved here the barns and out buildings had a big population of them and were under mining the foundations.In one short summer,I cleaned out most in these areas and they still have not returned.Away from the house and buildings I dont try to kill that many and always leave some for seed.I wish skunks were as easy to control.w/regards

I have hunted rockchucks and dogs but my knowledge of their reproductive times and capability is slight. Back East, I have set personal standards for hunting woodchucks in the northeast. Was a time I started hunting them last week of March, first week of April, where one might bag the males as they flit from hole to hole looking for a willing mate. I've got some pics somewhere with my boys and I posing for photos in snow! Anyways, getting into May & mid-June, it's all too easy to take pregnant females by mistake, or shoot a youngish chuck which you think is mature but farther out than he actually is. To cut it short, I try to minimize shooting (unless sure it's a male)until the pups are weaned, say 3rd week of June. I have made chucks scarce in my favorite locations through my ignorance. I have also learned that certain high production areas, usually the cultivated fields at the highest elevations, can be "core areas" for entire sections of farms at lower altitudes. When such core areas are hunted too hard, for too long, the effects are often widespread. The locals blame the coyotes when chuck numbers are down, some say a form of rabies but I've never seen a sick or rabid woodchuck and certainly not nearly enough coyotes to dent the chuck populations I know existed 20 or so years back.