Who needs a rifle ?

1978 I shot a deer at 402 yards with my .30-06. I wanted more of a challenge. Switched 100% to handguns then. It wasn't pretty at first, but I practiced A LOT. My hunting career has been very rewarding since. Groundhogs were my favorite target in WV. I've expanded that a bunch, but every spring I really look forward to my groundhogs. This year has been really good so far. I've used my .223 Contender, SSK .22-250, SSK .250 Sav. AI, and today my SSK 6mmAI. making it 100 for the year.
That makes my lifetime handgun total of groundhogs 15,435. Like I said, who needs a rifle.
View attachment 454381
Wow! I live in WV as well and ground hogs have all but disappeared where I am. Once the coyote took hold the groundhog numbers plummeted. In the last 7 years I haven't seen 10 groundhogs probably.
 
Thanks, guys. The golden years were the late 80s & early 90s. Got over 500 a year 7 of 8 years. I've depleted the WV groundhogs so much that I've started working on rockchucks in ID. Here's last years total of the 2 varmints (Did 479 rockchucks in 8 days! Trigger finger got tired!)
Also, I've been lucky enough to kill 3 albino groundhogs. Don't think many people have ever seen one.View attachment 454734
Back in the early 2000's I had a whole family of albino groundhogs on my property but they all disappeared.
 
Thanks, guys. The golden years were the late 80s & early 90s. Got over 500 a year 7 of 8 years. I've depleted the WV groundhogs so much that I've started working on rockchucks in ID. Here's last years total of the 2 varmints (Did 479 rockchucks in 8 days! Trigger finger got tired!)
Also, I've been lucky enough to kill 3 albino groundhogs. Don't think many people have ever seen one.View attachment 454734
I've never seen one. I'd say you are among a very small few having three kills. "Marmot Ace" has a nice ring to it.
 
Hey Hitman, were you featured in the Varmint hunting magazine back in the 90's? Seems I remember an article about a WV groundhog hunter that was a retired dentist. Anyway, that is an amazing # of whistle pigs. Congratulation.

John
 
John6, I was in Varmint hunter mag. Not a dentist. A Family physician for 47 years.
In ID hunting rockchucks now. Can post pisc of my albinos when I'm home.
As for shooting set up, I experiment until I find something that works. What that has been for years is: a backpack filled with medium hard pillows that's used for shooting off the ground, plus a bow hanger that I can screw in a tree and hang the backpack off it for standing shoot. For areas with no trees I use a heavy duty BogPod with a PSR rest (no longer made) for standing shots. Just killed a chuck this week at 260 yds. Longest deer kill off it 565 yds.!!
 
1978 I shot a deer at 402 yards with my .30-06. I wanted more of a challenge. Switched 100% to handguns then. It wasn't pretty at first, but I practiced A LOT. My hunting career has been very rewarding since. Groundhogs were my favorite target in WV. I've expanded that a bunch, but every spring I really look forward to my groundhogs. This year has been really good so far. I've used my .223 Contender, SSK .22-250, SSK .250 Sav. AI, and today my SSK 6mmAI. making it 100 for the year.
That makes my lifetime handgun total of groundhogs 15,435. Like I said, who needs a rifle.
View attachment 454381
I thought 100 a year was a lot when I was a teenager growing up dumping and baling hay I knew all the local hotspots!!!! Now 30 years later well I haven't seen a chuck to shoot yet????? Dairy farms are over grown brush lots. Hay fields are yards now!
 
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