How much wood could a woodchuck chuck...

[Mark A Ouellette]

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a wookchuck could chuck wood?
“None if I see him first!”

As a farmboy in the 70's in Potter County Pennsylvania woodchucks were summer sport. Then, armed with a Remington 581 .22 (Two-two for my African friends) or my .30-06 deer rifle shooting chucks at seemingly long range was what young boys and old men would do after dinner on a summer evening.

As time passed and my shooting skills improved mostly thanks to High Power service rifle competition in the Marines. My summer woodchuck total hit 105 in 1988 in the Virginia countryside west of my duty station Quantico, combined with a week’s leave in hills of my native northcentral Pennsylvania. Oh to be that young again!

Presently living in lower Michigan there are woodchucks but not like when and where I was raised. This year I did battle with them as they invaded my shooting berm (backstop) comprised of many truckloads of topsoil atop a flat field of clay loam. Okay, which would any woodchuck rather make a home in? I get it but those grass grizzlies create Swiss cheese like safety hazards in my berm when I break out my 416’s and 458’s! So I kill them, 24 for 24 shot this year including one with a .22 Magnum pistol!

This is #24 for 2024, a 15-pound true ground hog! The rifle is a pre war, pre-64 Model 70 Winchester custom in .223 Remington chambered for .223 sporting a vintage Redfield 6-18x. A 50 gr V-Max put this hog down.

A good view from the top of my shooting berm...

Here’s the .22 Magnum S&W pistol and trophy. Nailed him at 60 yards!

Cooper Montana Varminter .17 HMR

​

A pair on a good day!

An April snow storm in Michigan. This chuck didn't get the memo...
Rifle is a Ruger 77 in .22 Hornet.

From 2023, a chuck shot with a custom Remington .22 LR

Finally, nostalgia from 1988. My venerable M98 with 26” Douglas barrel, Jaeger trigger, .22-250, sporting a 15x Unertl Ultra Varmint scope in northern Potter County Pennsylvania.​

My partial battery of chuck guns!
.25-06 Ruger 77V, My favorite M98 .22-250 that I bought in 84. A custom M98 .22-250. A Pre-64 M70 Winchester converted to .223. A Winchester M52 .22 shortened to 24" and in a heavy sporting stock. I have more...

 

[Hogpatrol]

Mighty fine shootin'! I used to average over a hundred a year but the coyotes, foxes and wall to wall crop fields have put a crimp in those numbers. In the '60s I used an R700 Sendero in 22-250 but now it's
a 17 Fireball rifle, 20 Practical and 17HMR rifles and pistols.

 

[Datchew]

Pretty good shooting with that pistol!

 

[BourbonTrail]

Nice shooting Mark!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen more than 6 in a year anywhere. I can’t imagine 100+

I’ve only killed 2 to date, both at my current house. First one was 2 years ago with a 22, and this year was with a bow through my kitchen window.

 

[1peggy]

Mighty fine shootin'! I used to average over a hundred a year but the coyotes, foxes and wall to wall crop fields have put a crimp in those numbers. In the '60s I used an R700 Sendero in 22-250 but now it's
a 17 Fireball rifle, 20 Practical and 17HMR rifles and pistols.

I miss the days before coyotes. Loved hunting them here in Virginia.

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

I miss the days before coyotes. Loved hunting them here in Virginia.

There weren't many in lower Michigan a decade ago. Then the nighttime coyote competitions started! Now I have rabbits, turkeys, and woodchucks thanks to, at least I think, the coyote boys!

 

[Zinz]

My venerable M98 with 26” Douglas barrel, Jaeger trigger, .22-250, sporting a 15x Unertl Ultra Varmint scope

Hey! I’ve got a Paul Jaeger rifle in .243 Win. It came with a Unertl scope, even! It has a Canjar trigger in it and it shoots well. I need to drag it out, even if I don’t have wood chucks to shoot at. I’m sure I can find a feral hog just asking for it.

Beautiful place you have there.

Ed Z

 

[Wyatt Smith]

I’ve got one in the barn I need to get after. He may get a 1 1/2 set in his run.
I do like hunting the critters. The last several I’ve shot with my 30-06.

 

[MS 9x56]

My Dad made me hunt them using my deer gun which in NY meant a20gauge Ithica Deerslayer. Those slugs were hard on the chucks but you had to get close. Helped you work on both your shooting skills and your stalking skills at the same time.

 

[Firebird]

Thanks for the Fun post-have always enjoyed marmots and groundhogs and prairie dogs etc

 

[375Fox]

I use to shoot a lot more than I do now as a kid. Unfortunately now there is a lot more corn for ethanol and a lot less hay. No change in population though in western PA. There is no better safari practice than walking field lines with a rifle and sticks.

 

[MontanaPat]

Nice, looks like a blast. Out here in MT we have to focus on gophers, technically some species of ground squirrel. They make great practice in the spring with a .17 HMR or .17WSM. We shoot them out to about 200 yards but most are within 100 yard shots. We try to outdo each other by getting 2 or 3 lines up to get with one shot. When the babies start coming out you can usually get many multiples as they all gather around the den hole looking out, get one and the blast can take out the whole clan. Our hay farmers around here beg us to come shoot them in the spring, they are hell on hay fields and haying equipment with their burrowing. I’ve been able to shoot 5-600 rounds in a day with about a 75-80% kill rate meaning I can take out about 400 of them in a days shoot. We just drive out into hay field in early spring as the hay is just coming up, sit in my old Suburban and shoot from a bean bag rest on the window frame. Get about 30 in that spot then move down 75 yards and go at em again. Tons of fun.

Anyone know the difference in hitting a gopher with a .17HMR versus a .17 WSM? The HMR flips them about 2 feet into the air, the WSM flips them about 5-6.feet into the air

 

[375Fox]

Nice, looks like a blast. Out here in MT we have to focus on gophers, technically some species of ground squirrel. They make great practice in the spring with a .17 HMR or .17WSM. We shoot them out to about 200 yards but most are within 100 yard shots. We try to outdo each other by getting 2 or 3 lines up to get with one shot. When the babies start coming out you can usually get many multiples as they all gather around the den hole looking out, get one and the blast can take out the whole clan. Our hay farmers around here beg us to come shoot them in the spring, they are hell on hay fields and haying equipment with their burrowing. I’ve been able to shoot 5-600 rounds in a day with about a 75-80% kill rate meaning I can take out about 400 of them in a days shoot. We just drive out into hay field in early spring as the hay is just coming up, sit in my old Suburban and shoot from a bean bag rest on the window frame. Get about 30 in that spot then move down 75 yards and go at em again. Tons of fun.

Anyone know the difference in hitting a gopher with a .17HMR versus a .17 WSM? The HMR flips them about 2 feet into the air, the WSM flips them about 5-6.feet into the air

Interestingly with groundhogs the difference between a 223 and a 375 is they will often run after being hit with the 375 but not the 223. Tough bullets designed for DG don’t open up on them and don’t impart any energy into them along the bullet path. Softer rounds designed to expand rapidly generally drop them on the spot. They are good hunting practice but teach a lot of bullet lessons too.

 

[Cucuy]

Thanks for the memories! Born and raised in rural western PA (tons of groundhogs back in the 70s - 90s before I moved) and spent quite a bit of time trout fishing in Potter Co. with my uncle, aunt, and cousin. Truly God’s country up there!

 

[steve white]

Didn't know they were quite that big! Looks like fine sport almost maybe marginal with 22lr?

 

[Altitude sickness]

I’ve shot along side Mark and I would not want him sighting down a barrel at me.

 

[Altitude sickness]

I’m serious

He has also taught me a lot on big bore rifles

 

[WAB]

Thanks for the memories Mark. I learned to shoot on groundhogs in southern Ontario. Don’t believe I’ve ever seen a fifteen pounder though!