Hannah Bates Rockchuck Memorial

[Reliance]

Hello Everyone, just got back from the rock chuck derby shoot and had a blast. Spent all day Fri. scouting, finally late afternoon found them. Sat morn. Up early and hunting chucks, not realizing how sneaky and elusive they are, took a lot of glassing and hiding in the shadows of the rocks before got proficient at killing them. Shot 21 on Sat and 8 on sun . My biggest weighed in at 8 lbs but the top 5 placers weighted in at 14 pounds, thought I was doing good . 475 registered hunters this year. Half that years prior, so it was a huge success. I will be back next year, having my 8 lb. chuck mounted, cool critter.

 

[Gone Ballistic]

Hello Everyone, just got back from the rock chuck derby shoot and had a blast. Spent all day Fri. scouting, finally late afternoon found them. Sat morn. Up early and hunting chucks, not realizing how sneaky and elusive they are, took a lot of glassing and hiding in the shadows of the rocks before got proficient at killing them. Shot 21 on Sat and 8 on sun . My biggest weighed in at 8 lbs but the top 5 placers weighted in at 14 pounds, thought I was doing good . 475 registered hunters this year. Half that years prior, so it was a huge success. I will be back next year, having my 8 lb. chuck mounted, cool critter.

Glad to see you had a good time. Where you from? This shoot has been a great one but really got surpassed this year. Final count of registered shooters were 523. Last year was 256 so we better than doubled. Raised over $60K for the Hannah Bates Memorial Fund. A 14lb plus chuck is huge, as you know by now. I remember the first time I shot in the contest I thought I had the largest chuck and was really surprised when it only weighed 12lb 5oz. It seemed absolutely humongeous. They brought in bigger ones and mine didn't win a thing.

 

[Reliance]

I'm 528 miles north of you, Spokane area. The shoot gave me and my wife a great reason to go on a two week vacation. Looked over the southern half of Idaho and then went to Jackson Hole Wy. And saw 700 elk in the winter range refuge, that was a blast. Just got out of there before 14 inches of snow fell, but thats part of the off season luck.
Went to a little town called Arco Id. looking for a bullet making company called Lost River Ballistics, but it end up they went out of business about three yrs. ago. I did run into another company called Hooker Tactical and found out that they only sell their specialty products to military and law enforcement, fun web site though. One never knows what you'll find in Idaho. lol

 

[Gone Ballistic]

I met a gentleman from Spokane the hunt of 2010 that did just about the same thing you folks did. I don't know if you're aware of the .408 Chey-Tec rifle that is the newest and longest shooting sniper rifle our military has at this point but was designed and is built in Arco, ID. Arco is where the first nuclear reactor was made, was the first town ran on nuclear energy and is where the bombs that were dropped on Japan in the Second World War were designed and built. Arco, as small as it is, hosts the INEEL which is the U.S. nuclear energy center. It has a huge amount of history.
I'm glad you enjoyed your trip.