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Post by sixshot on Jul 14, 2023 1:42:17 GMT -5
Tonight my oldest son Shane picked me up for a late run on some ground squirrels & in my haste to be ready I grabbed the wrong gun, or I grabbed the wrong ammo??? I grabbed my 8 shot Blackhawk 327 which is just fine but I also grabbed my somewhat heavy 32 magnum loads that are 5.5 grs of Longshot that I normally shoot in my single seven, loaded with 100 gr HP's. I just realized this when I sat down at the computer. The only reason I did realize it was I was missing some of the squirrels that I normally hit, not saying that I don't miss because I do, hitting a clothes pin at 20-30 yds is tough for anyone & that's what you get with these little pop ups most of the time. With the 8 shot 327 I usually shoot a heavy load of H110 & a 116 gr gas checked HP. Anyway, I was running about 50/50, hits & misses & some of them just didn't make sense until just now. We ended up getting 30+ before it started to get dark but we easily saw over 100, perhaps 150, they were running out of a field & across the dirt road by the dozens, it was crazy for a while. I did have my scoped 32/20 but wanted to stay with the iron sighted gun, just wish I would have remembered to grab the right one. Shane was shooting an old Savage 25/20 with the same 100 gr gas checked HP, except about 400 fps faster than me. His squirrels, bits & pieces were flying into another zip code, yikes! He had the right gun & ammo! He will take 2 of his boys back tomorrow & go earlier, it will be a real war for sure. Here I am with my 8 shot Blackhawk in my longtime Barranti Northwest Hunter rig, serial #1. I'm holding what's left of 5 squirrels. Shane popped 5-6 with Fermin's 50 gr Jackrabbit HP bullet, it was amazing watching the launch!  Dick |
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Post by rjm52 on Jul 14, 2023 4:11:24 GMT -5
...well some days it just doesn't go as planned... But you did well anyway...
Bob
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Post by iwsbull on Jul 14, 2023 8:14:53 GMT -5
Looks like you had yourself a fun evening and regardless of gun or ammo you still seemed to have represented yourself quite well.
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Post by bula on Jul 14, 2023 8:42:36 GMT -5
Greasy grimy gopher guts were achieved, don't beat yourself up. Thanks for sharing. Reminds me, my 32's need some play time too. Nothing like what you have available, ya know how many jealous folks anxiously await your posts ? It's a GOOD thing.
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Post by contender on Jul 14, 2023 12:33:18 GMT -5
That one day that Sam & I were able to get into a bunch of them ground vermin was a hoot! I know exactly what you mean by them running all over the place. I was using my .327 Single-Seven & my Hawkeye. No matter if you grabbed the wrong ammo or not. You got many, and still had a great day with Shane! But we do understand the "mistake" as we've ALL made similar ones. At least it was ammo you could use in that gun!  Love the "Tales from Soda!" |
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Post by mhblaw on Jul 14, 2023 19:54:35 GMT -5
A little off topic, but still about gophers. I grew up in central ND. Used to drive the country roads potting gophers.
We have a lake place in MN, hard up against a state forest. The local township annual budget allocates $600.00 per year for “gopher bounties”.
I have never seen a gopher in our township.
So, does the bounty threat keep the gophers out? Or?
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Post by sixshot on Jul 14, 2023 20:53:45 GMT -5
Not sure if a bounty would work here just by shooting. If you got a look at this country you would know what I mean, there's just so much of it & so much sagebrush & private property that goes for miles & miles in remote areas, I don't know how you could control them by shooting. It almost seems like the more we shoot the more we have the next year! And everywhere we have lots of ground squirrels we have lots of badgers. I need to take some photo's of badger holes the next time we go out, it's pretty impressive some of the holes they dig. They could put a mortician out of work.
Dick
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Post by leftysixgun on Jul 14, 2023 20:59:51 GMT -5
SHOW OFF! 😡
Good shootin Dick!
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Post by sheriff on Jul 17, 2023 9:27:06 GMT -5
Looks like you made the best of it reguardless.
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Post by bigbore5 on Jul 17, 2023 22:19:24 GMT -5
I took a 500 Linebaugh and 475 Linebaugh ammo to a bison hunt before. Good thing I also had a 45 and 325's for it in the truck or I would have been renting whatever they had for a rifle!
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Post by sixshot on Jul 18, 2023 2:00:23 GMT -5
Two things, first, if I were a rifle shooter I would have one of those little CZ 17 HMR's! They are amazing rifles for the money. Real walnut stocks, good adjustable triggers & superb accuracy with the factory ammo that my 2 son's bought. Both of them both one of the CZ's a few days ago & a case of ammo, that's 40 boxes of 50 rounds each. I didn't shoot them but I did watch as 2 of my son's pounded & pounded the ground squirrels from 15 yds out to about 160 yds & seldom missed, it was a real blood bath. I just wandered around with a couple of my six guns & they almost never stopped shooting, ever. I haven't seen it like this in maybe 25 years and after the very hard winter we had it's hard to imagine how there could be so many survivors! Anyway, over a period of maybe 8 days, we have taken (mostly them) somewhere close to 700 ground squirrels in a distance of about 1 mile in length by about 1/2 mile in depth, true story I swear it. You will be aiming at a squirrel & you can see 4-5 as you are aiming. And there will be anywhere from 3-10 running across the road in front of you & also behind you, it's like the old jack rabbit hunting back in the 70's & 80's. The boys were having to switch guns, even with the rim fires because the barrels were getting hot. I was packing 2 revolvers & couldn't even come close to staying loaded. Some days they have had their boys, twice Shane has had his wife with him & she has shot over 50 each time out. I've seen fields eaten down to the dirt before from Rock Chucks, this is the first time in my life I've ever seen it from ground squirrels. The best day so far has been over 250 squirrels. Tonight was just over 130. The boys ordered 3 more CZ's. I figured you were sick of seeing blown up squirrels, this is the edge of a field where they are eaten it right down to the dirt. They live across the road in the sagebrush & cross to eat.  Dick |
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Post by contender on Jul 18, 2023 8:46:00 GMT -5
Wow.
When you shoot a RF so much that it gets hot,, that's a LOT of shooting.
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callshot
.327 Meteor
Living another day in the worlds largest playground
Posts: 796
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Post by callshot on Jul 23, 2023 11:17:00 GMT -5
Nice fun again and I missed it again. I do remember once when you got the wrong ammo and shot up some of mine. I think it was chicken hunting that day. I haven’t seen even one squirrel out here on the ocean.
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Post by northerngos on Jul 28, 2023 14:21:36 GMT -5
Looks like a blast Dick, glad you and the boys are having fun! I have one of the cz’s, great little rifle but dislikes Fmj. I picked up an Anschutz 22 mag for exactly this reason, these little squirrels make awesome raptor food but need to be shot with copper bullets, the Annie does good enough for head shooting too 70 yards or so. For the price I probably should have tried having a faster twist 17 barrel made instead! One of these days I’ll take a week off and stock my freezer.
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Post by sixshot on Jul 28, 2023 19:06:25 GMT -5
Joel, these are ground squirrels so you wouldn't want to put these in your freezer, we don't even pick them up without gloves on because they can carry the plague. Every year over in the Boise area they put out a warning about the squirrels having the plague. I haven't been out as much as my son's & grandson's but they said they are over 1300 now but they've really lost count. It's been many, many years since we've seen it like this. Not sure why because the other areas we hunt don't have very many. Strange year so far.
Dick
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