Post by Doc Barranti on Jul 17, 2009 5:10:09 GMT -5
Today I had to make a mad dash to the big city (pocatello) & pick up my 89 yr old mother, she's been in ICU at the regional hospital. Along the way I spotted a dead badger, someone had hit it with their car, I hate to see them go that way :cry: much better if I shoot them 
it looked like a nice one, it seems like they have been haunting me.
When I got home I cast bullets for a while & decided to make a quick run out to where Callshot & I spotted those 2 last night.
At the last minute I decided to throw in the 45 Bisley, as much as I like the 32 its like asking a boy to do a man's job when it comes to badgers. If you wound one they are down the hole in a hurry, I didn't want to be shoveling at midnight if I had any success.
As I eased down the road & started looking at the dirt mounds scattered throughout the sagebrush I spotted both badgers laying on top of one of the mounds, they were watching me from about 75-80 yds, I cruised on by, went about 200 yds out of sight & grabbed the 45, shucked it in the Barranti crossdraw, made sure my cartridge slide was full (thanks Mike) & started walking back up the dusty gravel road. As I topped the hill I could see both badgers, they were playing in the brush but still very close to the hole, it was quite hot & they wouldn't be very active for another couple of hours, I didn't have much time as I had to be back into town for a gun club meeting, it was going to be now or never. I tried to stay low........as low as 270 lbs can get :cry: & slowly worked my way down an old fence line, the badgers were on full alert from the little episode yesterday & both went down the hole, I crawled over the fence & leaned up against a post, gun over my knees & waited. After 20 minutes one of them came up for a look around, I eased the sights down onto him & the second one cautiously peeked over the dirt pile. Against my better judgement I tried for a double, never heard of anyone getting 2 badgers with one shot & I was going to get that opportunity. The shot turned out to be 45 yds, thats not 45 yds out in the open, thats in the tall grass, scattered sagebrush & an old fat boy all pumped up with excitement :lol:
I broke the shot & one badger went down the hole, the other one took a quick look my way & before I could whack him, down he went :cry: wow, I was hurting, i had just blown the chance at not one but 2 full grown badgers, then the waiting began, I would look at my watch, wipe the sweat out of my eyes, dry my gun hand off on my shorts & cuss myself for missing. A badger, when they are being hunted can lay very flat to the ground, both of these were as flat as a postage stamp :wink:
40 minutes passed & I finally seen something move at the hole, one of them was peeking over the top, sniffing the air & wondering what was going out, he came out & the other one followed, now they are really nervous I just knew they were going to spook down the hole before I could send 260 grs of Elmers finest on its way........at the shot I heard that wonderful hollow thunk, the badger spun, rolled over & I could see the tail twitch, yippee, talk about happy I ran over there, gun cocked with my left thumb between the frame & hammer & half of him was down the hole, I grabbed him by the tail & hauled him out, the big Keith slug had hit him perfectly behind the should, I was back in the winners circle & out of the whiners circle :wink: was I ever pumped. Woody will finally get his badger, now I need one for Contender & Barranti, there's still one out there, maybe my luck will continue.
This is the dirt mound they were laying on, they do massive amounts of destruction in pastures.
You can see they have some real good fangs, a ground squirrel is good for about one bite!
I had decided I needed a change of luck & left my Pittsburg Steelers shoes home, I wore my Texas Longhorn shirt & my Arizona Cardinals hat, it must have worked!
For a summer time badger this bad boy has some really long claws & a good coat, Wood is going to be a happy man with this pelt.
You can see where the big 260 Keith (18.5 grs 2400) pinwheeled him, right behind the shoulder.
I'm going back for the other one soon! Dick
it looked like a nice one, it seems like they have been haunting me.When I got home I cast bullets for a while & decided to make a quick run out to where Callshot & I spotted those 2 last night.
At the last minute I decided to throw in the 45 Bisley, as much as I like the 32 its like asking a boy to do a man's job when it comes to badgers. If you wound one they are down the hole in a hurry, I didn't want to be shoveling at midnight if I had any success.
As I eased down the road & started looking at the dirt mounds scattered throughout the sagebrush I spotted both badgers laying on top of one of the mounds, they were watching me from about 75-80 yds, I cruised on by, went about 200 yds out of sight & grabbed the 45, shucked it in the Barranti crossdraw, made sure my cartridge slide was full (thanks Mike) & started walking back up the dusty gravel road. As I topped the hill I could see both badgers, they were playing in the brush but still very close to the hole, it was quite hot & they wouldn't be very active for another couple of hours, I didn't have much time as I had to be back into town for a gun club meeting, it was going to be now or never. I tried to stay low........as low as 270 lbs can get :cry: & slowly worked my way down an old fence line, the badgers were on full alert from the little episode yesterday & both went down the hole, I crawled over the fence & leaned up against a post, gun over my knees & waited. After 20 minutes one of them came up for a look around, I eased the sights down onto him & the second one cautiously peeked over the dirt pile. Against my better judgement I tried for a double, never heard of anyone getting 2 badgers with one shot & I was going to get that opportunity. The shot turned out to be 45 yds, thats not 45 yds out in the open, thats in the tall grass, scattered sagebrush & an old fat boy all pumped up with excitement :lol:
I broke the shot & one badger went down the hole, the other one took a quick look my way & before I could whack him, down he went :cry: wow, I was hurting, i had just blown the chance at not one but 2 full grown badgers, then the waiting began, I would look at my watch, wipe the sweat out of my eyes, dry my gun hand off on my shorts & cuss myself for missing. A badger, when they are being hunted can lay very flat to the ground, both of these were as flat as a postage stamp :wink:
40 minutes passed & I finally seen something move at the hole, one of them was peeking over the top, sniffing the air & wondering what was going out, he came out & the other one followed, now they are really nervous I just knew they were going to spook down the hole before I could send 260 grs of Elmers finest on its way........at the shot I heard that wonderful hollow thunk, the badger spun, rolled over & I could see the tail twitch, yippee, talk about happy
I ran over there, gun cocked with my left thumb between the frame & hammer & half of him was down the hole, I grabbed him by the tail & hauled him out, the big Keith slug had hit him perfectly behind the should, I was back in the winners circle & out of the whiners circle :wink: was I ever pumped. Woody will finally get his badger, now I need one for Contender & Barranti, there's still one out there, maybe my luck will continue.This is the dirt mound they were laying on, they do massive amounts of destruction in pastures.
You can see they have some real good fangs, a ground squirrel is good for about one bite!
I had decided I needed a change of luck & left my Pittsburg Steelers shoes home, I wore my Texas Longhorn shirt & my Arizona Cardinals hat, it must have worked!
For a summer time badger this bad boy has some really long claws & a good coat, Wood is going to be a happy man with this pelt.
You can see where the big 260 Keith (18.5 grs 2400) pinwheeled him, right behind the shoulder.
I'm going back for the other one soon! Dick
Its funny, I just can't see you missing anything and I'm really shocked when I actually hit something these days 
