Ground Goon #23

I was upstairs glassing the back of my renovation property, when I heard a familiar sound that this pest groundhog makes as he squeezes in and out from underneath my rear porch and rattles the lattice skirt. Most of the time I hear this, he is returning to the burrow under the porch, but this time I am here much earlier, so I hope I can catch him roaming around the back yard. A few weeks ago, I noticed something had been crawling under the fence at the abandoned house next door.

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I figured it could be my nemesis. but I could never catch him in the act. Lo and behold, I heard a rustling in the heavily overgrown yard next door, and went to turn on my scope which was already recording, and accidentally turned off the video! There have been many sparrows living in the dense brush, so I am still not certain what is making the noise, until I see movement that no mere sparrow could make. I had already ranged to where the whistle piggy had created an express way, hoping I'd catch him as soon as he clears the fence. But a moment after that thought crossed my mind, he was visible in the brush, and was looking up to the second floor right in my face!

I was in a pickle, as the last time I shot through the fence using Polymags, the round clipped the fence wire and disintegrated. Would the JSBs harder lead alloy afford me terminal performance in the event of deflection?

The first shot rang true, right below the right eye and the ground hog flipped over on its back and did a few slow kicks. A follow up shot was deflected by the fence and sank into the dirt right in front of the groundhog's ear. The last shot right to the sternum slipped through the fence and all movement ceased.

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You’ve had an interesting series of posts. I’ve never run into anyone who’s had such trouble with these little beasts. I shoot a couple of them every year. I’ve been chastised in the past for shooting them, ‘for no reason’. Frankly they dig huge holes. And I hate it when I walk up on them and long tall grass and they run at me instead of towards their hole, or maybe I’m by their hole?

This year there was a mama with two babies. I kept missing on my shots. They finally left after realizing that they kept having lead flying around them. Now I know to wait until they turn their heads and blow their brains out from behind.

how many would I have in the area if I wasn’t thinning the each year? I don’t want your problem dude.

Good shooting.

mike
 
You’ve had an interesting series of posts. I’ve never run into anyone who’s had such trouble with these little beasts. I shoot a couple of them every year. I’ve been chastised in the past for shooting them, ‘for no reason’. Frankly they dig huge holes. And I hate it when I walk up on them and long tall grass and they run at me instead of towards their hole, or maybe I’m by their hole?

This year there was a mama with two babies. I kept missing on my shots. They finally left after realizing that they kept having lead flying around them. Now I know to wait until they turn their heads and blow their brains out from behind.

how many would I have in the area if I wasn’t thinning the each year? I don’t want your problem dude.

Good shooting.

mike

This is the problem that you don't wanna have:

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This is the basement wall at my property. And guess what is on the other side of this? A groundhog burrow! Estimations for repairs have range from $12K-$17K. I have already spent over $10K on the last one, but this one has a roof pillar bulging. I am not certain what I am going to do. If I rented the property out today at the high end, I would not make my repair cost back for 3 years. So when I get crap from people about a shot a half inch off, or that I should have waited for these elusive bastards to have presented the perfect kill shot for me, now you know where I am coming from.

A groundhog can kiss my ass.