Finally got the garden rat

493 Views 21 Replies 18 Participants Last post by Collects, 6 d ago

Hair Trigger

Discussion Starter · 12 d ago

2

For the last three years, I've had a groundhog who's helped himself in my garden every year, nibbling on almost everything I grew. I've set live traps....no dice. I've set rat traps, just hoping he'd at least trip on and mash his paws.....no dice. I've put out poison, but probably not enough. This season, I decided to lay in wait in the evenings when I had the chance. My back porch is about 25 yards from the edge of the garden, about 40 to the back side. I have a large tree just at the end of the porch that gives me cover but allows a great view.

Tonight was the night. I set up with my trusty Ruger 22/45 MkIII, a tall cup of Arnold Palmer (1/2 and 1/2 tea and lemonade) and my comfy lawn chair about 8 pm, just getting dusk but still good light. The dogs were inside. About 8:20, I saw movement at the back edge of the garden; sure enough, Puxatawney Phil's southern cousin was out for a nosh on my corn, which is still fairly short. The rows run so I can see down between them. I carefully moved in behind the tree and set up so I could brace my hand against the tree for a steady shot. I truly didn't believe I'd hit him, but at least I'd have the satisfaction of scaring him off. His hole is somewhere in the woods below my pasture, which comes up to the garden area.

He was facing me, which was to say he was head-on to me and didn't present much of a profile. I was about 30 yards away, and I took careful aim at the center of the furry blob that was deciding what the main course would be. I popped off one shot and he jerked, rolled over and started twitching. Hot dang! I got him. I walked out to the garden and rolled it over with a hoe. I'd hit him square in the top of his head, the bullet exited at his throat. I let him lie there until I went in the house to put my pistol away, and savor the moment for a while. I grabbed a pitch fork and hauled him out in the woods a hundred yards or so below the far end of my pasture, about 250 yards from the house, and found an old stump to throw him under.

I just hope his whole family doesn't show up for the funeral.

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StrawHat

· #2 · 12 d ago

I used to have a problem ground hog. Until a fox moved into the area!

Kevin

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pittpa

· #3 · 11 d ago

What was the round? I took one out for my friend with my Ruger mark two at about 50 yards. We baited it with some apples. He would take a bite and bob his head up to look around so I had to time it for when his head was up. Took one head shot.
Oh yeah, it was a one power red dot. I used to gun for bull’s-eye outdoors so 50 yards with a two hand hold and a stick for a rest was no problem.

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series guy

· #4 · 11 d ago

I have had a constant problem with them here in suburbia and got tired of them digging everywhere. A few years back I mounted an assault when the opportunity arose and the gun at hand was my 625 that I had used at our club pin shoot the day before. I donned the muffs and one quick off hand shot put his lights out permanently. I usually get from 2 - 4 every year but a couple years back I got 9 that summer. I just saw the first one of the season yesternary so we are back on the hunt.

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Hair Trigger

Discussion Starter · #5 · 11 d ago

pittpa said:
What was the round?

Just some .22LR I had in my ammo box, Winchester-Western standard velocity. Gun was open sights, heavy barrel target model 22/45.

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scoutingranch

· #6 · 11 d ago

When I saw the title I was thinking someone took out biden. Maybe next time

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TheTexan

· #7 · 11 d ago

Even if you didn't get the shot, your evening wouldn't have been wasted, sitting in a chair outside drinking Arnold Palmer. 🥤 Nice shot.

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guntha45

· #8 · 11 d ago

Because of where you hit, it was DRT (Dead Right There). Up here in Maine we call them woodchucks and they can get quite large. They can make it back to their hole when shot with a .22lr if they aren't head shot or spine shot. Those buggers can be pretty tough, but success was yours! Nice shot!

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Tolglass

· #9 · 11 d ago

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Woody Woodpecker

· #10 · 11 d ago

Good shot and hopefully his family won't show up !

SFury

· #11 · 11 d ago

Nice shooting. It's always rewarding to get rid of a nuisance critter.

SilverAnn

· #12 · 11 d ago

Nice shot. took care of your problem and probably cost you less than a quarter. Makes me want to go out and do some shooting with my MK IIII Target.

SidecarFlip

· #13 · 10 d ago

Where there is one, there are usually more.....lol

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SidecarFlip

· #14 · 10 d ago

Had them in the big barn, eating dry cat food and I slowly moved the food bowl out in front of the door and sat on the deck (100 yards away) with my 17 HMR rifle and when he went to eat cat food, I drilled him and subsequently drilled his family too as they ate the cat food. You can always tell a good hit as they go straight up in the air with a kill shot.

Hair Trigger

Discussion Starter · #15 · 10 d ago

SidecarFlip said:
Where there is one, there are usually more.....lol

That's what I'm afraid of. They seem to be as plentiful as squirrels in an oak forest around here, you see them lying dead on the side of the roads all over this area. I'm sure I have another one somewhere close by, I've found their burrow entrances in the woods. Hopefully, they have a different range where they feed. The one I got had lived under the foundation of my barn for at least two years, maybe three, and it's only a short 50 yards to the garden from the barn, straight across the pasture. I'm keeping an eye on his burrow to see if it's been abandoned (no fresh dirt or tracks at the entrance) and will soon fill it in after flooding it with the garden hose. I consider myself lucky to have even seen this little rascal, and even more lucky to have gotten a shot at it, and even luckier to have hit it where I did.

rcems2000

· #16 · 9 d ago

Congratulations on the kill. Last summer my mom told me she had a groundhog eating out of her garden after I was already there with no gun. I said ok ill fix the problem. My dad passed 3 years ago so I went and got his 243 that I've never shot and it was his favorite gun. I waited on the back deck and saw two come out from the wood line. I rested on the porch railing and shot one. I know I was off on my shot. The gun had a very long trigger pull. I walked down to where I hit it and there was plenty of blood and some guts but he made it back to the hole. I was happy though. They are tuff critters.

ShooterGranny

· #17 · 9 d ago

Back in Ohio our small town was surrounded by farms. Major crops were corn and soy beans. A couple of the farmers provided regular target practice for hubby and his Ruger Redhawk. When they saw one they phoned and hubby went and "got it!" He didn't keep a tally but it was respectable, for sure.

Here in our retirement "heaven" we have one enormous one living in the woods between two of our condo buildings. That thing is super big and FAT - and fearless: No shooting allowed.

Hair Trigger

Discussion Starter · #18 · 9 d ago

2

Here's the layout, the groundhog was between the rows to the left of the scarecrow (from my perspective), and about four feet behind the scarecrow. I leaned on the left trunk of the tree and aimed through the gap, he couldn't see me from where I was. The corn was a little shorter, it's been growing fast, even though we haven't had more than a shower in three weeks. Those are half runner beans to the right of the corn, he also liked nibbling on them. The barn was where his burrow was, around behind under a foundation wall.

Garden from out in the yard:

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Abby'sDad

· #19 · 9 d ago

Hair Trigger said:
That's what I'm afraid of. They seem to be as plentiful as squirrels in an oak forest around here, you see them lying dead on the side of the roads all over this area. I'm sure I have another one somewhere close by, I've found their burrow entrances in the woods. Hopefully, they have a different range where they feed. The one I got had lived under the foundation of my barn for at least two years, maybe three, and it's only a short 50 yards to the garden from the barn, straight across the pasture. I'm keeping an eye on his burrow to see if it's been abandoned (no fresh dirt or tracks at the entrance) and will soon fill it in after flooding it with the garden hose. I consider myself lucky to have even seen this little rascal, and even more lucky to have gotten a shot at it, and even luckier to have hit it where I did.

If you found the hole, some gasoline and a M-80 should take care of them

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!” - Hunter S. Thompson
"I believe that people have a right to decide their own destinies; people own themselves. I also believe that, in a democracy, government exists because (and only so long as) individual citizens give it a 'temporary license to exist'—in exchange for a promise that it will behave itself. In a democracy, you own the government—it doesn't own you."- Frank Zappa
"I mean, I've always been a Libertarian. Leave everybody alone. Let everybody else do what they want. Just stay out of everybody else's hair" Clint Eastwood

Mtman725

· #20 · 6 d ago

Good shooting, many years ago how I would hunt them every year, have fond memories of the people and place's that would let me shoot. We left Ohio in 79, moved west never looked back.

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