Badger with .222 Rem

[remingtonman_25_06]

Shot this badger at about 25 yards on the run with my Rem 700 ADL in .222 Rem. I was using 55g NBT's at 3150fps..Dropped him DRT..He was a young male..You should have seen him when we first stopped the truck and I jumped out, he stopped out in the wheat field and stood up with his hair up on his back and acted like he was ready to kick some ***..

We finally saw a coyote. I havent seen one in the last couple outings.. It was about 200 yards away sitting in a wheat field. By the time my dad stopped the truck, he was already running. I jumped out and rested over the hood, got really close my first shot (just behind him), ended up shooting a couple more at him but never got him...

 

[DONTSTROKEME]

What do you do with the animal? Do you skin it? If so would you like to get rid of the pelt?

Joe Oakes

 

[Flybuster]

Nice job dude! Those badgers got a temper don't they. Now I don't feel so bad about missing my last two coyotes though, knowing even a good shot can miss sometimes.
I got to shoot at a thousand yard benchrest match on Saturday at Baker that was great fun. It was windy and I destroyed a nice 8" group with I think my last shot opening it up to 14 1/4 ", scored 43 out of 50. With my 25-06AI You oughtta try one out sometime, I think it could be addicting.

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

I didn't do anythign with this one because it wasn't very big. You can skin them out, however badgers got to be one of the worst smelling critters I"ve ever been around..You interested in buying the hides at a later time in the future?? I might skin a few out for ya if there decent sized and not shot to hell...

Flybuster-

Yah those badgers got a temper for sure. You did great at 1K in those conditions, IMO. It was a windy SOB this last weekend... What bullet were you using?? Please dont say you were using those 87g TNT's??? I need to get to a shoot, but I think I need a little more practice first..Most the guys have semi customs which 9 of 10 times will outshoot my factory sporters with ease...

 

[DONTSTROKEME]

What would you charge me to skin one out? I don't really mind how big they are but if they are bigger that is always better.

Joe Oakes

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

Well you know, I'm not a taxidermist, so I have no idea what the going rate for a badger hide is...Would you want the head and claws, like a tubing or what??

I have seen them a few of them for sale in some taxidermist shop that had the head and claws, basically tubed I believe, but I cant remember for the life of me how much they wanted. If I remember right, they fetched a pretty penny..They do look pretty kick *** though..

My dad wants a pelt of one two, but we still have yet to skin one out actually, I've shot like 13 or 14 of them now, a few really big males to, but they got nasty holes from the 25-06..

I wouldn't even know how to go about sending a tubed badger in the mail??? Any ideas??

 

[DONTSTROKEME]

If you freeze it in the deep freeze I would imagine that that would work. Then you could send it to me Next Day Ups and it shouldn't cost much. I am in NW Washington, or my mom is in Olympia/Yelm area so the shipping shouldn't be much. I would take the whole thing that you killed next if that works for you. I have heard that freezeing animals before skinning helps because the skin is the first thing to thaw and the rest of the body stays nice and hard.

Let me know what sounds fair to you and I will send you some money on the next one.

What is your zip for an estimate on the UPS?

Joe Oakes

 

[ol mike]

Nice badger ! Man do they tear up some ground.

Do you ever try barking at the running coyotes ?
I have never had one not stop- some only stop for a couple of seconds but they will stop.Also i've found that they sense your body language -if you slam the truck to a stop jump out staring and squaring your body towards them they will be far more spooked and inclined to run.
I roll to a stop -ease out> fast movements mean aggression -keep my head down and give them a woop-woop if they don't stop just start barking all the way up to bark yelling.If you see them bouncing to a gallop start repeatedly doing quick constant barks -they'll stop.
While you're lining up the shot do a couple of barks to keep them still.
A friend has an adl 222 just like yours -nice little factory rifle for sure.--------Mike

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

Hmmm, interesting.. I'll do that for ya the next one or couple I get. This one would have been a good one actually because he wasn't shot up at all. That 55g NBT didn't do to much damage really, enough to kill him, but didn't blow a hole in him at least. Which is nice for taxidermy type stuff, but I like to see holes!!

So the next one I shoot, I'll put in a couple garbage sacks and freeze him, then next day ship them to you I guess. I dont have any use for them, farmers dont like em though..

How about you PM me with what you think sounds fair?? We can exchange address/zip code as well.

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

Mike-

Heck ya, those badgers got every hillside covered with huge holes. You know there isn't 1 badger for every hole, they must dig 20 for themselves or something..We dont see that many of them really. LIke I said, I"ve shot about 13 or 14, but thats been over about 6-7 year period. My dads only shot like 3 of them. I've talked to people around here that haven't even seen one.

Ha ha, funny you mention the barking thing. My dad read or heard that somewhere and he was the first to try it out. It has worked for us a couple times. We'll bark and hoot and holler and howl, its pretty comical at times, ha ha. Its kinda hard to hold steady when your barking and howling though, he he. It'll work on the younter dumb ones more then the older and wiser ones. But there have been times when we've stopped them and got a lot better shot oppurtunity then them running mach 10..We might have to try the slow caution approach. Everytime we see a coyote, its like slam on the brakes, by that time, the coyotes already hauling hay the other way, ha ha...I have actually heard that you can drive past them, drop somebody off, and have them walk back. I've done that a few times with success as well..I just dont think they like it when you slam on the brakes, and start moving all fast, and shut the truck off. Its just that you gotta try and hurry becasue they dont stand there forever, know what I mean, ha ha..I"ll give some thought to your tactics next time out though, see how that pans out..

 

[Flybuster]

That's some good advice on road hunting coyotes, that's pretty much the only way I hunt them. Even though I have an electronic caller. I will definetly try those tips out.
Remmy I would use my 87 grain tnts out there at 1000 but they loose group somewhere around 800 yards. I started experementing with the Berger 115 Vld's, I ran out before I shot a decent group so its time to try another box. So far the 100 grain Sierra matcking is the catsmeow, it shoots .25"-.375" at 100 yards, I know it dosn't have the greatest B.C. at .427 but it works. I think I have 4 boxes left, hehe.
Those matches are so informal nobody cares what you shoot, they dont even hold you to any rules like a registered NRA match or anything. Maybe thats why there so darn fun. Infact most of the guys shoot 22 caliber. The small group record was broke 4 and 3/16 with a 22-6mm ackley with an 80 grain Matchking.

 

[Flybuster]

Oh yeah, there's an upcoming varmint match too! Its a fun challange cause its usually windy. You shoot at steel varmints such as coyotes,rockchucks,bunnies and squirrels. Set out at 226,331,430 and 554 yards. You need to bring 20 rounds and if you want to go twice bring 40. Its at 2pm, Saturday June 30th just go like your going to the Oregon Trail Interpretive center and go a mile or so past it and theres the club. They don't go splat but its still fun.

 

[GO-FASTER]

Oregon Rocks For Varmints
243 70 gr. blitzking