Woodchuck Alert!

These guys are fun to watch... from a distance. Every year it seems I have one move in and inevitably I get charged by one who’s trying to get back to his hole. 


they certainly are not the brightest creatures. And there’s nothing like having a 10 pound rodent run straight at you. 


this one had to go after a couple false charges. I took him off hand at 60 yards with the Steyr A5. I was aiming at the neck, apparently I was about a1/2 inch high and took him in the head. That’s a nice thing about the neck shot. If you miss low you Blow out the heart. If you miss high you get the head.

mike
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I walk up on them in the thick grass. Freaks me out. Inside 10 ft. Feet not yards. 3.3 yards.


He was not charging while being dispatched. He was posing for me a little bit sideways, not unlike the cover of Varmint Hunter magazine from Fall 1991. He dropped like his circuits were cut.

I would vastly prefer to live in harmony with Chuck. I carried the Steyr for a week before he gave me the right shot.

mike


 
Lol been around them for 60 years. Never saw one or heard of one charging after anyone or anything, harmless. Or was it just the fact it was a target.

I had a small one charge the fence in our backyard years ago, trying to get to my dogs...something had to be wrong with it. My son, about 6 at the time said: "The little bear wants to play with the dogs..." I didn't have a pellet rifle, and the only thing I did have was a PB in 9mm, NOT something you want to use in the suburbs. So I put the dogs in and kicked the fence (chain-link), booting the beast about 3 feet back. It stood there a minute, then took off for a grove of trees about 100 yards away. I could hear it whistling for about 20 minutes after.
 
I've shot them since I was barely big enough to hold and shoot a .22 but my biggest surprise came just a few years ago when I found out that they are also great tree climbers. Came up on one down the fence row sitting up in a tree. He made it up and down that tree numerous times before he and my rifle found each other. Never have seen another one do that but I suspect they all can if they want to? 😃
 
I've shot them since I was barely big enough to hold and shoot a .22 but my biggest surprise came just a few years ago when I found out that they are also great tree climbers. Came up on one down the fence row sitting up in a tree. He made it up and down that tree numerous times before he and my rifle found each other. Never have seen another one do that but I suspect they all can if they want to? 
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I had one in a tree in my back yard ... the dogs were going nuts. Couldn't shoot it though, no airgun at that time and a PB would have blown right through. Not good in a suburb.
 
I've shot them since I was barely big enough to hold and shoot a .22 but my biggest surprise came just a few years ago when I found out that they are also great tree climbers. Came up on one down the fence row sitting up in a tree. He made it up and down that tree numerous times before he and my rifle found each other. Never have seen another one do that but I suspect they all can if they want to? 
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Whoa..up a tree? That would freak me the %$#k out! We have countless GH in Ohio and I've never seen one even try to climb a tree. 
 
I've shot them since I was barely big enough to hold and shoot a .22 but my biggest surprise came just a few years ago when I found out that they are also great tree climbers. Came up on one down the fence row sitting up in a tree. He made it up and down that tree numerous times before he and my rifle found each other. Never have seen another one do that but I suspect they all can if they want to? 
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Whoa..up a tree? That would freak me the %$#k out! We have countless GH in Ohio and I've never seen one even try to climb a tree.

I think it's just the young ones that climb trees. The one I saw in the tree couldn't have been more than a few years old.