Bittersweet Varmint Hunt

Joel Russo

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2006
Messages
3,646
Location
Harrisburg, PA
Gents~

Finally made the time to take my father out for some good ol'e groundhog hunting. It was a "bittersweet" day as my good friend and forum member, Phil aka.. Philny1, could not share the day with us as he passed away in March.
These hunts were a summer ritual for the three of us.

I took my .284 Baer rifle that was Phil's favorite in the field, and his Leica binoculars. I needed part of him with us...

I spent the day behind the big eyes finding a pile of critters for my Dad to poke holes into. He was an absolute terror on them with the .240 Wby.
He stole this rifle from me about 10 years ago. It was the first one I stocked with my A-5L. I tried pulling the Leupold scope off of it and putting one of my Schmidt and Benders on it because his old eyes just aren't what they used to be, but he refused to let me. He's 84 years old, and can shoot just as good or better than most of the guys I shoot with and against.

He stacked these critters up like cord wood, with some very impressive head shots out to 646 yards. Yep, the 105 Berger going through the air at 3,380 fps is bad medicine.

Our day came to an end when I sent a 180 Berger into the noggin' of a critter at 873 yards. Divine intervention? I don't know. Luck? I don't know... What I do know is that I spent quality time with my father, and my good friend Phil was present in spirit.

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Joel,
Glad you had a good day with your father, I hunt the same location. When i was there in july we did not see many chucks. Save a few for seed. :D:D
 
Joel ,
My favorite spot in is your first picture and i hunt a few other fields around Vernon's farm and a few spots around ulysses. We got a coyote at 1205 yards and a few chucks around 1175 yards there a few years ago in that back field in your first picture. Beautiful country up there. Vernon's boy told me about other hunters getting chucks in that back field and maybe he was talking about you guys.
Ray
 
Ray~

We hit Vernon's place first thing and realized the fileds were just a bit high. They had a pile of rain after the second cutting, and things greened up quickly. We took a bunch of critters off those fileds in the picture over the years. We then headed out toward the McCutcheon farm and out to Lehman's farm.
The action was not like it's been in years past, seems to have slowed down a bit on every farm we hunt.
We should get together and take a trip up before the season is over.
Do you live near me? Have we met?
 
Hey Joel- Great story. Sure miss hunting as well as fishing with my dad. Memories that will always be cherrished and lessons learned. Sure like the color of that stock.:D
 
Great pictures, story and shooting! Some serious LR shots. Were all the shots taken from the tripod-rest? I'm not sure I'm Hoss enough for those distances without a standard bipod or bench set-up. But, I've never tried a stand-up tripod afffair like that either. Congrats on a great day with dad.
 
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