Seems like just an ordinary woodchuck right?? Nay...Let me tell you the tale of this monster class ground grizzly. Two Seasons ago, when I had just returned to
hunting after a 15 year hiatus (kids, jobs, building house etc. you know the story), I set out on a cold crisp fall day. Here in the northeast US, we have four distinct
seasons, and this fall was no exception, the oaks, maples, and walnuts were in full blaze, as the crisp autumn wind blew thru them. I hunt the east side of the
Mighty Manasquan River, which consists of stands of old growth hardwood, and fields. As I stalked quietly (like a hippo in heat), thru the fallen leaves, I came upon an open field, one of the ones the state (whose land it was) sometime leases to local farmers. This field hadn't seen a plow or cultivator in at least a half dozen years. It was patched with stands of high grass, and cover...that the pheasant hunters love. I was looking for Grouse. As I scanned the field for a few moments....I saw him. The largest Wood Chuck I'd ever seen, I was sure that, had Boone & Crocket had a catergory for Ground hogs, he would be a super high scoring trophy. The trouble....he saw me too! Voom, right down his hole he went. A quick scan of my Fish & game season chart confirmed, he was on the menu.Now this field was at least 400 yards across, and he had seen from at least 200 yards away. I was armed with my old reliable 870, which although stoked with high brass #4's, & fitted with the modified choke tube, was at best a 30 yard proposition. Hmm, there had to be a way. Woodchucks are prey animals, and used to being hunted by everything. As a result they are extremely, wary, constantly scanning the horizon for trouble with their sharp eyes. This situation called for a small cal high velocity rifle, and I was underarmed. Thinking about this for a moment, I realized it was late afternoon, and the sun was at a low angle behind him.I seized upon a plan. I proceeded to stalk all the way around this field, and aproach him from a position where the sun would be in his eyes. Exactly the way my
Grandfather used to say his way his favorite style of pouncing on Japanese Zeros, with his Marine Corp F4u Corsair over Guadal Canal in WW2. After a stalk which took the better part of an hour, I was in position. He surfaced again, this time 100 yards in front of me, but due to the position of the sun he didn't see me. He seemed unconcerned, and set about eating as I crept slowly forward. He stopped several times to scan for trouble, but didn't detect me. I was amazed, I had gotten to with in 30 yards. 5 more yards, and he sensed trouble although apparently he couldn't see me yet. He was bigger than I though, probably 25lbs Then it happened, he saw me. His red eyes flashed, and he screamed in fury at being tricked, and having allowed me to approach so closely. There was a brief moment frozen in time, with red hot steam spewing from his flared angry nostrils, while he tried to decide what to do. We locked eyes, and I knew he was coming. He charged with such violence that I knew, had I let him, I was in danger of being viciously mauled (or at very least having my shoes destroyed). I fired, the first shot intstinctively. I hit him with the outside of the pattern, that few #4's penetrated completely, but he barely shrugged. He keep coming, two more shots fired in haste, missed. I had to reload but had no time, hastely I threw a shell into the ejection port and jacked the action closed. The twin beads on my vent rib forming a figure eight right on him. He was so close he filled my sights, I could hear the nashing of his teeth. My 870 spoke once more and he collapsed in a heap only ten yards from me. I sank to my knees, smoke drifted out of my empty gun, empty shells lay all around, still smoking. I had done it, I had taken the old monster with a
shotgun, in a huge open flat field. My first season back! Naturally he had to be mounted. The taxidermist was amazed at his size, and the fact that he was taken that close. I was amazed at the bill. After a week he called me to tell me he was going to have to charge more for all the pellet removal.
That is my story gentlmen, and all of it is absolutely true.