Annual right of spring.

pitw · April 03, 2011, 12:11:26 PM

Spring has sprung and the gophers has riss

. When that happens the annual right of our younguns takes a hold on life.

The boys have used 3 bricks of shells so far and I'm being paged at the moment to drive them over to a neighbor who asked them to eliminate as many as they could for him. So I guess being as we get to use his equipment, land and knowledge anytime, we'll go do the job as everyone has to work sometime

.

nastygunz · April 03, 2011, 01:37:31 PM

That sounds like a lot of fun...what kind of gophers?....do they live in towns like prairie dogs?...what are you using for rifles?...are they agricultural pests?...thank you in advance for expanding my knowledge base.

HuntnCarve · April 03, 2011, 01:55:47 PM

All that shootin, it's a good thing you boys have some snow to cool your barrels in!

Way to go fellas! You have to keep those varmints in check. Looks like the job is in the proper hands.

Dave

HaMeR · April 03, 2011, 03:46:04 PM

Your neighbor sure knows who to call on for mass gopher annihilation Barry!!

How many will they knock off in an hour/day/week or whatever timeframe??

FinsnFur · April 03, 2011, 03:57:20 PM

And with open sites mind you

By the way...I looked up the word RISS

pitw · April 03, 2011, 05:28:45 PM

Nasty, they are the Richardson Ground Squirrel. They are definitely an agriculture pest

, as I've seen them clean off 70 acres of a 160 acre canola crop, they also make the fields rough with there holes, cows can break a leg in the holes, They don't live in towns like prairie dogs but very similar. 22's are our weapon of choice because of the price of ammo, but many like to use their big guns cause they do look cool when hit, with a piece of hide kinda falling back to earth like an autumn leaf. Poison is the only way to really control them, but shooting them is good fun. On a good day a thousand gophers isn't out of the question to shoot with a couple shooters. The boys get better every trip out too

.
There are a lot of farmers who will supply ammo if you'll come and shoot for a couple days. Boys had me take them over to Butchs meadow for a couple hours and even with shoveling a stuck truck out

, I estimate they shot some 175+ for him this afternoon. Shooting one now is like killing 8 in a month due to them having so many younguns. Donny wanted to gather up enough for a picture and ended up with really wet feet as the snow is still 2 foot deep in most places

. But he did gather enough for this.

Carolina Coyote · April 03, 2011, 06:06:38 PM

Thanks for posting the pictures Barry, give the Lads my Kudo's for doing a good job.

cc

nastygunz · April 03, 2011, 06:40:54 PM

Thank ye sah!...damn that sounds like alot of fun, and this is prett near poetic !:

"they do look cool when hit, with a piece of hide kinda falling back to earth like an autumn leaf"

Hawks Feather · April 03, 2011, 06:45:20 PM

Don't those little squirrels mind digging out of the snow? Obviously, they don't. But if they knew what was waiting they would stay underground to live another day.

Good shooting.

Jerry

coyote101 · April 03, 2011, 07:46:58 PM

Way to go guys! That certainly is a target rich environment.

Pat

HaMeR · April 03, 2011, 08:09:53 PM

Holee smoke that's a bunch of ground rats in one day!! That would be soooooooo cool to do!!

pitw · April 03, 2011, 08:13:13 PM

Quote from: Hawks Feather on April 03, 2011, 06:45:20 PM
Don't those little squirrels mind digging out of the snow?
Jerry

Jerry, up here all living things learn to dig through a bit of snow if they want to procreate

. The snow is as deep as I've ever saw it this time of year but gophers must run on daylight hours cause they are out

. Sure easier to see them on the snow than in the grass

.

nastygunz · April 03, 2011, 09:47:43 PM

KACHINGGGG !!

http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Animals,%20Richardson's%20Ground%20Squirrels.htm

KySongDog · April 03, 2011, 10:09:23 PM

Great story! Those ground rats even spelled out "Fins N Fur" when they fell back to earth.

iahntr · April 03, 2011, 10:37:03 PM

Cool !

riverboss · April 04, 2011, 05:19:21 AM

Man that looks like fun your boys sure are getting some good shooting lessons and plenty of practice that looks like a load of fun Ive always wanted to go prarie dog hunting but cant stand the thought of being out in the hot sun all day with a smoking hot barrel i believe this would be alot easier on your equipment , I hope they get to kill a bunch more.

HuntnCarve · April 04, 2011, 06:52:03 AM

Having mastered the open sights. Looks like the young fellas have stepped up to more precision scoped weapons. That'll definitely extend their range.

I got a scoped heavy barreled Ruger 10/22 Target rifle, with a couple 25 round clips, that would be just the ticket in the boys hands. Here in PA we're not allowed to use semi auto rifles for hunting? I guess I bought it in the hope that someday I would end up in a target rich environment like that. LOL! Great job once again boys!

Dave

golfertrout · April 04, 2011, 07:30:54 AM

Thats awesome there. Way to go fellers

Hawks Feather · April 04, 2011, 07:54:49 AM

They look good in the new logo too!

JErry

pitw · April 04, 2011, 07:55:39 AM

Quote from: HuntnCarve on April 04, 2011, 06:52:03 AM
I got a scoped heavy barreled Ruger 10/22 Target rifle, with a couple 25 round clips, that would be just the ticket in the boys hands.

A lot of folk have them clips here and a hand cranky thingamajingy that reloads them too

.

Quote from: HuntnCarve on April 04, 2011, 06:52:03 AM
Here in PA we're not allowed to use semi auto rifles for hunting? I guess I bought it in the hope that someday I would end up in a target rich environment like that. LOL!

I know just the place for you to start wearing that baby out

.