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Woodchuck Hit analysis

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Bob_O

Bob_O

Member
Dec 19, 2017
5,132
110
MICHIGAN, United States
Okay guys.......let's see how this discussion play out.

Here's footage of a woodchuck I hit yesterday at 148yds with a 22 caliber 40gr HP slug going 862fps (65fpe). A couple of you have seen the raw footage. One person has seen it in slow motion and is confident it was a lung shot. I'm also confident it was a kill shot. I'd rather have hit it in the head so I could have recovered it, but that's the way it goes. Chances are it died in it's hole (right below where he was sitting) within one minute of being hit.

The shot is played in slow motion with ten quick replays so you can try to identify the point of impact as well as get an idea of how much energy was transferred. This was a full-sized woodchuck. My intent was to hit him in the back of the neck/base of the skull, but the shot dropped and drifted just a bit more than I calculated. I'm satisfied with the shot and would take a similar shot in the future without hesitation.

For those for an against long range hunting with air rifles, let the comments flow.

https://youtu.be/5dy2jOZSABc
 
Well, I will say this: you take very good care in your shooting, in both accuracy and ethic kills, as much as humanly possible. Frankly, from the video, personally, I can’t tell where it did hit. Except, it did hit. That is a pretty long shot, I’m not against long range shooting, specially if the shooter is very skilled and has his heart in the right place. I know you do. 💩 happens, it just does.

Humanity and technology would not be where it’s at if boundaries would not keep getting pushed further out. 
 
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I took one with the Cricket 25 at 157 yards, a shot I was not too proud of. I was hitting soda and beer cans at 150 with great consistency feeling confident a large male was posing standing on it's rear legs. I had the Hawke data that was tweaked and confirmed on the gun. I took a shot that I figured for a rear head- spine shot. The chuck was posing in a well cleared pathway, my first pellet hit and it thrashed in the immediate area. I shot five more times while it was still moving. I walked up and saw the last breathing it had. There are more than enough shots at closer ranges, I'll bust a clay, or a beer can if I want to impress myself with long distances. 
 
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Hmmm, tough to see it really well on a small screen. From the way the fur and pelt bunch up, it looks like you hit about down one and right one bar from POA. From his posture, it may have happened that the slug did not violate the thoracic cavity and engage the heart/lungs, rather it may have skidded across the rib cage under the muscle layer. Hard to say from just the video, though. 



I don't have any problem with long shots. Pest control is straight up war on pests. I do prefer insta-results, but a dead varmint is a good varmint.
 
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I’ve hit them with a 17 HMR and even a 223 and had the same.

On fhe other hand I’ve dropped them on the spot walked up and could never find a entrance or exit wound. 

They can take a pretty good hit and get back into the hole.

Bob your kinda asking I guess if we think this is ethical hunting. Given your abilities I vote yes but I would say if it happens often make a change (I’m sure you will). 

I couldn’t tell about your hit. Looked to me like you hit him on the back or shoulder area. He didn’t seem to be hit all that cleanly but that’s my opinion. He didn’t fall and then get back up . That’s what I am basing my opinion on . I could easily be wrong.

You are showing the bad with the good. I respect that .

Looking at the video again you might have just knocked the dust off of him.
 
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I'm not critical of what folks do with woodchucks. But, I prefer a high velocity CF that liquefies their insides. I've never had one hit in the front half that moved more than a few feet, and that was often the result of the hit. They are tough critters, and air guns don't do much tissue damage. But, if it's not close to home where you have to smell'em rot for a week down in the hole, or under the shed, then I guess the rules are flexible. 
 
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Definitely a hit, although it doesn’t seem to be a head shot or a shot to the vitals, but instead upper right shoulder from behind. He may or may not have died in a short time, we just don’t know and have no basis to say either way since he ran off and went down his hole... Good shooting? Yep. Ethical kill? I’d say that’s debatable. It appears he leaped to his left and landed on his right front leg, the one that connected to his shoulder, which appeared to be hit... and kept going...
 
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Aloha Bob, 

In your video with the slow motion replay it does appear to get hit upper right half of its body. We don't have woodchucks here in Hawaii so I don't know the animals lay out of its vitals or brain/spinal cord but its definitely a hit. I know that when I hunt goat's here if I don't get a perfect shot placement the goat won't drop in its tracks but does drop later. From the looks of how it was hit, I think it would bleed out. To me pest are pest and if they are damaging the eco system, then they need to be controlled one way or another. 

Mahalo,

Keone
 
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I've watched it several times and the way his body ripples from the impact and the way he went down with that kick from the back legs I'll bet he didn't last long in the hole.

I've had similar thing happen a couple times and could hear them expiring down in the hole. Even had one whistle a couple time before dying! They do great damage to farm land and live stock and have no real natural predators so shoot them at every opportunity is my analysis!!!!

James from Michigan, 
 
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Bob For what its worth it appears to be high on the shoulder but one has to look at that shock wave done to the body & the fluids coming out . I for one seem to think it is lower than what appears ( force of impact ) clearly shows it was hit hard . As far as jumping & getting away that to me is a instinct & shock to the animal hell I shot a rabbit in my yard the other day it came 3' off the ground ran 15' behind the bush's then expired . So get a shovel & lets see just exactly where it was hit or borrow someones beagle . Darell
 
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I agree it was hit lower. I've played with the raw video, adjusting contrast and such, also looking at each frame (120fps) and can see the slug coming down to the left of the spine and rearward of the shoulder.

I did move some rocks to try and find him but couldn't budge the boulders. I hope to get back there in a week or two and check on him as well as two other woodchucks I saw. 


 
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