Whoa brothers! I had a Ground Squirrel shoot today that ranks among the best Gopher Shoots I have ever had!
And I started shooting Gophers long before they became popular among dedicated Varminters!
I have had a LOT of good Gopher shoots to compare this one to!
My total for the day was not as high as I have had on many occassions - it was more the quality of the shooting that made the day!
During an early morning "sunbreak" today my friend called me and asked me along on a Gopher Shoot!
He is a SW Montana native and has access to some shooting that others can't get at!
It pays to have an easy going and upbeat personna (like I have! - he-he!) and this Montana boy (retired military officer) took a liking to me (more likely felt sorry for me) when I moved here 9 years ago!
We get along real well and I sometimes help him give his state C.C.W. classes.
Anyway we were on the road as the ground began to warm up this morning.
At our first shooting site (ranch) I was very impressed with the numbers of Gophers out and about!
My friend is the drive along and shoot - type Gopher Hunter! He has a window rest on his side of the truck and I had two different Dog-Gone-Good window bags for my side. I had only 4 Rifles along and my "country" friend made "do" with his "lone" customized heavy barrel Ruger 10/22 with thumbhole stock!
As we drove north (toward lower elevations!) I loaded all ten of my Ruger 10/22 clips for my Lilja barrelled Deluxe 10/22.
I also had along 3 other Rifles - my brand new (to me) Ruger 77 V/T in 223, my tried and true "Gopher Getter" a Ruger 77/17 V/T in 17 HMR and my Kimber Model 22 Hunter/Silohuette in 22 L.R.
My country friend rolled his eyes at this extravagance (4 Rifles) - more than once!
He-he!
Once shooting began I quickly ran 6 kills out of 10 shots from my 10/22 to start the days Gopher fest!
It was windy!
I quickly brought out the "wind killer" the Ruger 77/17 V/T! I love this Rifle for all manner of Varminting but it EXCELLS come Ground Squirrel shooting time!
Next I "blooded" my new Ruger 77 Varminter in 223! It did put down the Squirrels for a couple minutes after I ran three straight with it! I put it away for the day after I noticed my hosts "consternation"!
He-he!
I traded it for my Kimber Model 22 with the Leupold 6x18 variable! This Rifle with its wonderful trigger and the good window rest ran 10 straight at moderate ranges 40 to 80 yards!
I love this Rifle and I need to find some spare clips for it! I only have the one clip for it!
I was congratulating myself on the run with this Rifle when I realized something had happened, that NEVER HAPPENS, in SW Montana. The wind quit!
I mean it was just after noon with the sun and clouds out, in the spring - and the wind QUIT! We could not believe it!
The pace of shooting and hits really picked up!
He-he!
Every time my host would move the shooting platform (the truck!) I would get my tupperware container of Federal 22 ammo and my other 9 clips out and load clips as fast as I could!
I was on a roll!
We even got out at one spot (unusual for my host to do this!) and went to a wheel irrigation line and used my window bags as bench rests to just "melt" our 10/22 barrels!
I had 6 clips along and ran them all from that one spot!
Yee-haw!
I went back to the truck for more ammo leaving my friend to whack away at them back at the wheel line!
The Eagles, Ravens, Hawks, Falcons and Magpies were coming in to pick at our kills. We had spent a long time in this spot.
I got all ten of my clips loaded and started shooting from the hood of our truck! This truck is an older Chevrolet and the hood is very flat and I had brass all over that hood! I ran all 10 clips from that one spot!
The shooting was REALLY good!
About this time I was becoming sated with shooting Gophers and I noticed a dryness to my mouth! Yep I had forgotten to put the cooler in my friends truck!
Dang I NEVER forget the cooler!
I began slowing my shooting pace to just "the quality" shots!
I even did more spotting for my host!
He uses the "epoxied clips" method of keeping ammo available and I found myself even loading his spare "double clips". My friend prefers the Federal American Eagle (red box 400 to the carton) 22 L.R. ammo. I know this is good ammo as I had used it for years myself until switching to the bulk pack Federals I now use.
What a day!
I ate a candy bar (something I rarely do) from my hosts "stash". And then made the mistake of eating some corn nuts he had brought along!
I would have drank from a mud puddle by then but nary a mention did I make of my thirst!
No Fox, Coyotes or Badgers were seen in our travels and that was unusual. Tons of Eagles (both Bald and Golden) were seen along with numerous Hawks, Falcons, Ravens and Magpies.
We even saw what I thought was a Marsh Hawk or a Kite flying over a large marsh we passed on a ranch track! He swooped down into the cattails twice but came up with nothing (Red-Winged Blackbirds may have been his quarry?).
I was completely sated Varminting wise, and when my friend suggested we head for home I concurred.
We could have shot til a lot closer to sundown but I was done and so was my host!
We left a LOT of Gophers for seed and for next time!
My only troubling note of the day was I am down to my last carton of Remington 17 HMR ammo now!
I have been trying to find the Remington V-Max style ammo I use for a couple months now and have had no luck finding it!
Come on Big Green get some out here for us Green Loyalists!
I bought my friend lunch and a big drink (with refills!) when we came to a small Montana style cafe! We did not even look out of place there at the little cafe in our camo clothes and binoculars around our necks!
Montana!
The ranches we Hunted on today had wheel lines and cultivated fields and the owners needed Gopher relief so I did not feel bad thinning the hordes of Ground Squirrels out for the ranchers. It is a little early for me to really get heavy into big Gopher numbers!
As a quick after view of the days Hunt I will have to say (again?) if it was not for the expense of the 17 HMR ammo, the 17 HMR would definitely be considered by ME to be the best Ground Squirrel cartridge of all time!
No recoil, great accuracy, flat trajectory, mild report (does not scare the other Gophers down!), great lethality and very few ricochets!
Dang I could go broke buying ammo for the 17 HMR!
I really had to dig for that one negative regarding the 17 HMR!
Well back to the loading bench for now!
Montana!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy