Unlucky groundhog

[contender]

I was admiring sixshots & callshots large groundhogs a few weeks ago, and then,,, I found one myself. ok,, I didn't find it, a customer called & complained about a couple of them. Well, I took this large hog with my 17 HMR. Even for our area, this one had lived a nice life,, getting very fat & happy off apples & a garden. There wasn't anyone to get a pic of me with it, so I placed it on the ground next to my trk tire for comparrison. That's my Ruger M77 17HMR with it too.
This g-hog was definately bigger than most of the ones I usually see.

 

[Sheriff]

He puts the 'hog' in groundhog! Congrats!!

 

[btrumanj]

Judging by his size, he was leading a good life.

 

[callshot]

Very nice, but why did you have to use a rifle. :wink: I would hate getting kilt with a rifle. :roll: I guess you use what ever you have to get the job done. Steve

 

[contender]

Well, I use the rifle because I get paid for results. It's sportin' when I hunt with a handgun, but when it comes to my paycheck, I want to make sure I collect!!!! It was a very big hog and if it hadn't been hot, dark etc when I got home, I'd put him on a set of scales. As it was, the flies were very busy in a short time on him. I buried him as quickly as I could.

 

[ohio bowhunter]

Dang..thats a healthy one for sure !

 

[one bullet]

Just wondering and admittedly ignorant, what kind of problems was he causing?

 

[deserttrans]

Nice bag on that big ole hog.

 

[americal]

IF you gonna get kilt it miles well be by a Ruger fan with a Ruger rifle WAY to go contender---seeing more of them in north Alabama lately --back when soy beans were king ,they infested this area in the 80's------

 

[contender]

This big old hog was undermining a wall area of a house, along with a friend. He made the mistake of letting me see him,, with a Ruger in my hands.

 

[Cholo]

Americal, I'm seeing more of them now that soybeans are being planted again in NW GA. I thought the coyotes had them under control. I just might take to the fields after 30 years.

Yup, don't know a single person who likes them. Cattle farmers hate them because of the holes that break cows legs. I found 2 dead cows in a ditch once. Soybean farmers hate them because I read a single groundhog can eat 8 bushells of beans per season.

All that aside, they're just plain fun to shoot!

 

[americal]

WOW :!: Cholo I brought the killer instinct out of you :lol: --We use to shoot them back in the 1980's had a rest on top of a truck --the rifle used by my buddies --well it was dangerous just shake the gun and it would go off--one guy walked off a 600 yd. shot he made on a big one ---not me just went along for the ride

 

[contender]

We have plenty of g-hogs around here. I start seeing them about feburary, and have seen them out & about as late as november. I was on the way to a bat inspection yesterday, on a BUSY 4 lane road with turn lanes etc in the middle of the day when I spied a juvenile g-hog step off the curb, in front of 3 lanes of parked traffic. I never saw him cross in front of the truck I was behind. But, as the light changed, he bolted as the cars he'd been hiding under started moving. He didn't make it.

 

[M'BOGO]

Nice shot contender. It almost looks like you'd need a .22 WMR with a solid to get enough penetration on that fat-boy. By the end of season you may need to brush off the '06 with some 220 gr slugs...

Over the last few years I've noticed quite the suburban groundhog population.

 

[tookalisten]

Nice! Those hogs will decimate a field of soy beans. A few years ago, I shot 6 over the course of a week in my neighbor's field. They had already eaten about 1/2 acre.
I used a .243 with 55 grain ammo; but I bet that .17 is even more fun!

 

[sixshot]

Tyrone, good job on that garden muncher! They can devour a lot of groceries in a hurry......kind of like Callshot. Ours have been down for a few weeks now, they sleep about 8 months in our area.

Dick

 

[contender]

Dick, around here they are out a lot longer than out there. (We poor easterners say it's due to the short growing season accompanied by a soft white blanket that y'all have!)
He was a huge one compared to most I get. he was an older one and really was enjoying the apples & garden of the old guy who hired me. Can ya imagine getting paid to shoot hogs? Well, SOMEBODY has to do it.