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I'm sure this has probably been asked often, but somehow I missed it... Three questions: 1. Where (appoximately) do you live? 2. What are legally and most commonly considered as shootable varmints where you live? 3. What do you use or recommend for shooting them, and why? My country gal's just a moonshiner's daughter, but I love her still. | ||
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 rogerOld age is a high price to pay for maturity!!! Some never pay and some pay and never reap the reward. Wisdom comes with age! Sometimes age comes alone.. | |||
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roger[/QUOTE]Jeez, Roger. I call that a de facto reason for justifiable rodenticide, if ever there was one!! I LOVE fresh tree-ripened apricots, and have my sisters (in Diamond Springs, Ca, and San Jose, Ca) out scouring the terrain in the early summer every year, finding them to ship to me. GIT thet thar varmit!! My country gal's just a moonshiner's daughter, but I love her still. | |||
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.223 Rem, .243 Win. .223 with Blue Dot loads in populated areas, full house .223 loads for rock chucks at 300 yards or so, .243 for long range coyotes. My son took one at a lasered 438 yards with a Nosler 70gr Ballistic Tip in the .243 Stevens Bullets are pretty worthless. All they do is hang around waiting to get loaded. | |||
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In most of Texas, the coyote is "king" of the varmints and lots of folks engage in calling them. The .22-250 and .243 are probably the most frequenlty used coyote cartridges. Bobcats and foxes will also answer coyote calls and are usually secondary targets of opportunity. In the Texas High Plains there are still a few good prairie dog towns that offer great "colony varmint" shooting. Because of its popularity and relatively low cost ammunition, the .223 reigns, but everything from .22 LR up through the .25-06 can be found among prairie dog snipers. I'm partial to the .221 Fireball for medium range and like a .244 Rem with 70 grain Ballistic Tips for longer ones or when the wind is blowing. Feral hogs are huntable year around and for most people fall into the classification of "varmint". The best gun for them is the one you've got loaded and in your hands when you see one -- although the one I shot while dove hunting with a 28 gauge using 3/4 oz of #9's wasn't too impressed by my armament. Mostly, people use whatever rifle they use for deer hunting. A few enthusiastic hog hunters like the AR-10 type rifles in .308 as a dedicated hog gun, but lots of folks rely on a .223 and do about as well. Texas doesn't have ground squirrels by the thousands like in the West, nor do we have woodchucks or marmots. Most rural residents will do away with an armadillo (very destructive around the yard), racoon, o'possum, or skunk when confronted, but almost no one formally "hunts" them. A half-century ago, due to whatever environmental imbalance, jack rabbits would sometimes overrun certain areas. Large "rabbit drives" with dozens of shotgunners were organized to hunt these "varmints" and thousands might be killed in a drive. These days, jackrabbits are only ocassionally seen most places and don't meet the threshold of "varmint". | |||
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Thanks, Stonecreek, very informative. I never knew armadillos damaged things. Not trying to be argumentative about them, just showing my surprise. What knd of damage do they do? My country gal's just a moonshiner's daughter, but I love her still. | |||
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I grew up in Nebr and started shooting prairie dogs in 1949 with a 22 RF rifle . I still go after them . After starting with the 22 RF ,I then got a 222 Rem, followed by a 243 Win, a 22-250 Rem , a 17 Rem, a 223 Rem, a 22 WMR, a 220 Swift, a 22 Hornet, 17 HMR, 17 HM2, 204 Ruger, 221 Fireball, and 17 Fireball. All of them will work for shooting prairie dogs. I have test fire my 270 Win, 308 Mag, and 240 Weatherby on them befor going big game hunting. This spring I will take out the 17 HMR, 17 Fireball and 221 Fireball then switch to 204 Ruger when the dumb ones are shot off. This fall I my take out the 243 Win befor going big game hunting. I like 6-18 X AO scopes for shooting prairie dogs but have a few 6.5x20 X AO and lesser power scopes on some of the rifles. I reload the center fire praire dog rifle ammo. They will do 3/4 inch or less 100 Yd five shot groups when shot off a bench rest. | |||
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1. Where (appoximately) do you live? Iowa 2. What are legally and most commonly considered as shootable varmints where you live? Coyotes are the only varmint which can be legally taken with a center fire. Anything else has to be taken with rimfire. Racoons are sometimes more troublesome than coyotes, but no CF on them! 3. What do you use or recommend for shooting them, and why? Any flat trajectory rifle using frangible bullets (because of population safety). I use Tac 20, .22-250, .243 or .25-06. | |||
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They like to root for insects, etc, in the ground. They particularly like well-manicuared and watered lawn grass in which to root. Typically nocturnal, when you step out on your front porch in the morning after an armadillo has spent the night digging in your yard, it looks almost as if a sounder of wild hogs has been at work! | |||
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Jeez, Roger. I call that a de facto reason for justifiable rodenticide, if ever there was one!! I LOVE fresh tree-ripened apricots, and have my sisters (in Diamond Springs, Ca, and San Jose, Ca) out scouring the terrain in the early summer every year, finding them to ship to me. GIT thet thar varmit!![/QUOTE]  Squirrel dispatched with powderless ammo. Frist shot 12 yards, off hand ,squirrel dropped out of tree but was still quivering. Six inch head shot ended story. Hope there was only one. Out of ammo.  rogerOld age is a high price to pay for maturity!!! Some never pay and some pay and never reap the reward. Wisdom comes with age! Sometimes age comes alone.. | |||
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Larry "Peace is that brief glorious moment in history, when everybody stands around reloading" -- Thomas Jefferson | |||
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NE Ohio
Coyote Groundhog
.221FB .204R 22/250 .308 Cause that's what I own. If I had access to artillery, I'd use that, too. Member: Orange Gunsite Family, NRA--Life, Varmint Hunters' Assn., ARTCA, and American Legion. "An armed society is a polite society" --Robert Heinlein via Col. Jeff Cooper, USMC Caveat Emptor: Don't trust *Cavery Grips* from Clayton, NC. He is a ripoff. | |||
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Bracer: I see that you use a .221FB for PD shooting. I may be taking my first PD expedition next year and my battery may include an XP100 and a rifle in .221FB. How far do you reach out w/ yours before going to a longer range caliber, and what bullet weight are you using? Member: Orange Gunsite Family, NRA--Life, Varmint Hunters' Assn., ARTCA, and American Legion. "An armed society is a polite society" --Robert Heinlein via Col. Jeff Cooper, USMC Caveat Emptor: Don't trust *Cavery Grips* from Clayton, NC. He is a ripoff. | |||
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Kevin R--For spring prairie dog pup shooting I site the 40 Gr V-Max bullet at 0.5 inches high at 100 Yds, at 75 Yds + 0.4 in, at 125 Yds + 0.25 In, at 150 Yds - 0.2 In, at 175 Yds - 1.0 In, at 200 Yds -2.2 In, at 225 Yds - 3.8 In, at 250 -5.8 In.. My 221 Fireball load is 18.6 Gr Re 7 powder in Rem cases with Fed 205 M Primers to push the Hornady 40 Gr V-Max bullet. It takes a bit of a hold over an the p dogs laying down at 200 + yds and at 250 Yds when they are standing up. I mounted the barreled action from a Rem 700 LS 221 Fireball rifle into a Boyd Thumbhole Varmint stock to get more weight and a wider forearm. I switch over to a 17 Fireball Rem 700 Limited Ed set in Boyd Thumbhole Varmint stock and a Ruger 77 Target Varmint .204 Ruger for shots past 250 Yds, sometimes closer. I like low muzzle blast and recoil rifles for p dog shooting . Most all of my prairie dog shooting is with a 17 HM2, 17 HMR, 17 Fireball, 204 Ruger and 221 Fireball rifles. I live in prairie dog country ,I m retired , and I dont go out shooting when its windy. | |||
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Live in central Texas but hunt in Webb county (south Texas) appox. 5 miles from the Rio Grande. Shootable varmints anywhere in Texas are coyotes and feral hogs which are both quite plentiful in south Texas. Both are also quite devastating on the fawn population as I'm sure most everyone knows. Jack rabbits are also pretty plentiful but I only shoot those to feed the tick rider's cur dogs when they are gone for a while. I also enjoy shooting turtles as they are over-populated in all of our stock tanks and they don't mind eating our bass. I prefer a 22-250 for the yotes/hogs and as of last year started using a 250 Sav. which works quite well also but I still prefer a 22-250 for it's flat shooting-electifying kills. A good old 22LR is still in order for turtles but also use a .223 and .17HMR or 270 Win. or what ever is handy at the time. The turtles are a blast. I have seen as many a 15 turtles on the same log, out sunning themselves at a time. The tanks are just full of them. A dead turtle never goes to waste as the coyotes will get them as they wash to the bank. On more that one occasion I have seen coyotes jumping aroung in the water trying to get surfacing turtles coming up for air. "The right to bear arms" insures your right to freedom, free speech, religion, your choice of doctors, etc. ....etc. ....etc.... -----------------------------------one trillion seconds = 31,709 years------------------- | |||
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I use a couple of .221 rifles (never tried the so called "handguns" in this caliber) for nearly all of my PD shooting these days -- except when it is really windy or when shots are in excess of 300 yards. My load uses AA 1680 (amount subject to the individual traits of your gun, consult the AA website for reference) under either a 40 grain Nosler BTip or Hornady V-Max (again, depending on what your particular gun likes best). Velocity easily runs in excess of 3300 fps in both of my .221's, and I've found this load to be in practice effective out to at least 300 yards. I like to limit my scope to 12X in order to be able to see the impact, but you could get by with more magnification if you were using a heavier gun with a beefier barrel. Both of my guns have sporter-weight barrels. The little .221 heats barrels slowly, so you can shoot more times consecutively (compared to something like a .22-250) before barrel heat becomes a concern. When it's windy and/or ranges are extended, I like either a .243 or .244 with 70 grain Ballistic Tips at around 3550 fps. In reality, I find very little practical difference in the .221 Fireball and any of the larger .22 Centerfires in terms of effectiveness on prairie dogs, and the .221 is more fun to shoot. The last time I went for PD's, my son and I were shooting .221's, while the other two in our party started out shooting a .223 and .222 Magnum. We were all having about the same level of success at the same ranges. After a while, the guy with the .222 Magnum switched to his recently-acquired .221 built on an L46 Sako and found no difference in its effectiveness and his .222 Magnum. | |||
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22 Hornet, 222RemMag, 243Win. The Hornet for small properties, the 222RMag gets the call most of the time, and the 243 comes out in late February, due to high winds in springtime and coyotes can get a little spooky by then, requiring longer average shots. | |||
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I'm up in the extreme northeastern corner of South Dakota. Locally the main opportunities for Varmints are: Gophers Skunks Raccoons Wood Chucks (occasionally, generally take a fwe a year) Badgers (targets of opportunity) MuskRats (the past couple years we have been able to get kill permits to allow shooting them, otherwise it is a trapping only propsition) Coyotes Occasionally I venture out to central South Dakota in search of Prairie Dogs. As per the cartridges used, I do a lot of varminting with the .22 LR. Guns range from a Custom Built Ruger 10/22, to a Super 14 .22 LR Match T/C Contender to a Ruger MKII 5 1/2" Bull Barrel to a Ruger MKIII 22/45 4" Bull Barrel. My daughter has a couple Ruger 77/22's I customized that I also use from time to time. The main target for the .22 LR is Gophers, Skunks, Raccoons and occasionally Wood Chucks, but with the special Muskrat Kill Permits we are also restricted to using either a Rimfire or Shotgun. When it comes to centerfires I have a pair of .223's I rely on. One is a Super 14 .223 Remington T/C Contender Handgun and the other is a 16" Bushmaster M4 ORC. However I have also been known to take a varmint or coyote with my Super 14 7-30 Waters Contender Handgun or my Remington Model 700 SPS Sporter in .308. Larry | |||
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I live in Shasta County California. The main focus in varmint hunting here, for me anyway, is ground squirrels. Begining as early as Feburary, Beldings ground squirrels swarm into the alfalfa fields. We shoot them two ways, from the edge of the field with centerfire rifles, and by walking out among them and taking head shots with a rimfire when they peek up out of their burrows. Beldings are small, young of the year about the size of a house mouse, adults about half the size of an eastern grey tree squirrel. I use 22-250s for the long shooting, and a 17HMR for the short shots. Shooting is effectivly over when the alfalfa get too high to see them, which is about now. I hope to get two more shoots in, tomorrow and next tuesday, then I will switch to shooting at Ritchardson's or Columbian ground squirrels in the national forest. Shooting the alfalfa fields is fairly high volume, I have shot about 1400 rounds of 22-250 this spring, and about 1000 rounds of .17HMR. The forest shoots are much less, kind or like eastern woodchuck shooting, with 10 to 50 shots a day. I usually use the 22-250's for this, but may throw in a .243, 270 or 308 with light bullets just for fun. | |||
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I live in Edmonton Alberta This time of year gophers are the main board of fare. I like to use the Hornet, a variety of CZ and Cooper rimfires. Some fellows I know like to do long range crow shooting. Coyote calling in the winter months is popular although I have not given it a try. FS | |||
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Now there are two! 22 rf no powder. off hand chest shot ,40 ft.. Swan dive off telephone pole. rogerOld age is a high price to pay for maturity!!! Some never pay and some pay and never reap the reward. Wisdom comes with age! Sometimes age comes alone.. | |||
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My internet service just went out for a minute or two Roger.....are you cerrtain that wasn't an indigenous, endangered species act protected, Ancient California Glass Insulator?  My country gal's just a moonshiner's daughter, but I love her still. | |||
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Awhhhh*** You're just putting me on.  rogerOld age is a high price to pay for maturity!!! Some never pay and some pay and never reap the reward. Wisdom comes with age! Sometimes age comes alone.. | |||
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A. Canuck...I live part of the year on top of an Ozark Mountain down around the Blue Eye country, across the hollar from Missouri line. I shoot groundhogs, Pocket Gofers, opossums, coon, Ferel Cats, Crows, Armadillos, Bob Cats and Song Dogs (coyotes to you city slickers!) I use a .204 Ruger on Gofers, it works just fine like and I can watch em go to pieces through the scope. I shoot groundhogs with a .223 cal out to 250 yds, after that it is the .243 Winny does clean up. My .222 is used on crows because it has always been spot on for crows with a 5 x 15 scope I use with mil-dot reticule. The Bob Cats & Ferel Cats gets a taste of the .243 with .75 grain A-Max. End of story! I like using the 1/4 bore (25/06) on coyotes cause I hate them critters down to the bones. I use a 100 grn Hornday bullet from any direction and it does anchor them like a 12 pound slege hammer on the skull! The two legged kind of critters will be introduced to my Glocks in 10mm for starters. You won't find any "welcome mats" up here on the mountain. I like keeping that 12ga pumpgun handy too. I do hope that cures your curiosity Canuck! | |||
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Well, it answers my question, and I found it interesting...doesn't cure my curiosity though. So long as I continue breathing, I hope nothing ever does. As to the city slicker comment, obviously you meant other readers, not me, so I won't take that personally, won't put that shoe on, and won't wear it. (I have lived farther from cities than most North American people have ever been except for some Alaskans and northern Canadians.) I have also lived in BIG cities at times...being able to survive there is a lot harder than SOME country bumpkins can sometimes understand, too. Truth is, both take their own individual knowledge and skill sets, so I am thankful for having done both and look down on neither. Neither group is smarter than the other, neither more valuable to our countries than the other, nor morally superior to the other. Interesting how much in common much of the U.S. and Canada have in common, when it comes to varmints and the guns popular for hunting them. That comes through loud and clear. My country gal's just a moonshiner's daughter, but I love her still. | |||
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I'd still like to put my list in. 1. Central Utah 2. Ground Squirrels. Rock Chucks, Prairie Dogs, Coyotes, A few Foxes, No hogs or wolves. 3. 22lr, 22 Hornet, 223, 22-250, 243. | |||
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D-wheels I save my 1895 Marlin in .444 for hogs I wish to eradicate! If I haven to run across and area that has a really big Hog, I like to use my model 70 Winchester bolt gun in .458 win mag with 22 inch barrel, using a 350 grain jacketed bullet. | |||
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