Left Tacoma @ 03:30 got home @ midnight.
It is something TOTALLY unfamiliar to this guy to shoot chucks in July, but my buddy stumbled on this population, after hooking up with a hay grower. The locals say they are up THROUGH August every year. I was skeptical, so skeptical in fact that most of my rifles have been broken down, scopes have been sent off to Leupold for overhaul and reticle modifications as soon as I got home from my last shoot.
I am changing out the reticles w/stadia lines for fine CH & 1/4 Minute dot and am going to dial range on the 17 Hornets. That little devil shoots so flat that anything that is not point blank is two and a quarter bucks out and dialing range is much more precise. A chuck at those ranges is going to give me plenty of time.
Hey, I am not used to seeing chucks up in shootable numbers after the third week of June, and I have been doing this for a long time.
We shot 17 Hornets exclusively, a CZ American and the Contender I have already introduced you to in prior posts. This area is built up and populated w/ten-acre parcels and standing 350 yards away the 17 Hornet sounds quite like a rimfire.
We saw a real monster, but he was in a place where he was safe. Shot a few trophy size chucks and missed what was easily the largest chuck I have ever seen. The first one was at one of the new places and the one we missed was at one of our old favorite shooting spots.
One of the property owners (the hay grower has leases all over the area) told us that he was keeping an eye on us and was rather reluctant, even though we were introduced with impeccable references, but he kept an eye on us and we are "true gentlemen".... and his sister has a place that is absolutely overrun and he will introduce us the next time we make it over. He said her husband doesn't like anybody shooting the two sections she owns, but she owns the place and it's up to her and he already talked to her about it. The same lease holder is farming that place and losses to his yield are totally unacceptable. The lease is based on a % of yield and even if her husband can't do the math, she was able to calculate her loss in her head.
I got 15 and my buddy got 25, and that would be a good tally most places in late May. Being as I have NEVER seen a shootable population of chucks anywhere in July, a population that justifies a round trip from Tacoma... I was likin' it. The downside is that I now have to budget for shoots in May, June and July instead of just May and June and depending on how valid that "August" information is - this may bankrupt me. August may not work because I am following the rodeo circuit starting w/Omak Stampede week the second week of August and fitting in a shoot or two in ??August??
I tried to take a few shots to give those of you who are new to the game an idea of what to look for. Keep in mind that there is irrigated crops right smack up against, or south of a hundred yards away from where chucks live and breed. RR grades, especially abandoned RR grades are "gold" too.
That is all the help you are going to get from me unless and until you figure out how the game is played and then some day you have something to offer and we swap hunts together w/each other. You have to have something to lose before I am willing to take a chance on you.
Once bitten, twice shy is the watch word. Between someone showing up uninvited by ME, especially with every Tom, Dick & Harry and losing a good spot to interlopers who will kill every last chuck and leave nothing for next year and bigmouths who post latitude & longitude on the internet... I have learned my lesson the hard way.
Hay growers want every last chuck dead and will accommodate a shooter who will kill off the breeding stock for them gladly and will invite you back... to a barren colony. But more importantly, growers will tolerate a certain level of damage before PAYING to poison out a colony. If you are a gentleman, and the damage is tolerable after you knock the dookey out of them the first year, you do the math.
What I am saying is that you are "up on the tight wire One side's ice and one is fire" and you don't have WDFW looking over your shoulder. If you want to shoot chucks next year in that spot.... it is up to you to be your own game biologist. The simple fact of the matter is a lot of people are not competent in that roll. Now listen to me, if you are a gentleman you have a shootable population, nothing like the first year, but worth making the trip, and you "own" that colony. Someone else may stumble on to it, but what they will hear is: We have chucks, but there are guys who come over to shoot them and what is unspoken is you have DEVELOPED A RELATIONSHIP. Those are your chucks to shoot so long as you have a history of maintaining the colony at a tolerable level in perpetuity.
You, being a "known commodity" are gentlemen who are trusted and "they" have liability attached to them. Did you see where I posted that we passed on a real monster above? Well, he was on the property line and the neighbor could have witnessed you take that 100 yard chip shot, that was perfectly safe and legal, but your host has to live with that neighbor 365 days/year and they told you that there is already bad blood. Just because a shot is safe & legal taking it doesn't mean it is a smart thing to do. Taking that skylined fifty-yarder isn't either even though a miss is not something you worry about at that range. Stranger things have happened. Hey, you got the hard part (gaining access) behind you. Don't screw it up.
Speaking of access - give a LOT of thought to getting a Hunting GPS chip. Knocking on a door and having a name to address - like in: Hi Mr Smith, I noticed you have a lot of whistle pigs chewing up your crop. I would like to shoot some of them. What do you think? OK now the guy is already wondering if a neighbor sent you. It works. I guarandamntee it.
Here is another suggestion: If you own a 10/22 or an AR 15 LEAVE IT HOME OR IN THE TRUCK on your initial foray onto that property. Don't even let the fact that you own either factor in for AT LEAST three years and then, and only then, talk it over with the property owner before proceeding to shoot even a single shot from one. I own them, I shoot them, I like them, and I hate them with a passion.
Bam, bam, bam from an AR or Bam, bam, bam, bam bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam followed by a magazine change and a repeat performance from a 10/22 will result in "gentleman" status turning into yayhoo status pronto and even being seen w/a semi auto "black rifle" can as well.
Don't bother me with the apologetic, I am trying to help you, shut up and listen, there is none I have not heard. I am telling you how to develop a LONG TERM relationship. If you want to argue the point go elsewhere. I am telling you how to, if you are serious, shoot chucks year after year.
You have to get it through your head that the "golden rule" applies and in the case of chuck shooting the gold is access. He who has the gold, makes the rules. Live it, learn it, love it. Property owners have neighbors they have to deal with 365. Don't piss ANYONE, and I mean ANYDAMNONE, off. I couldn't give two hoots in a barrel about what apologetic you have to offer. I am familiar w/everything you can possibly bring to the table and I agree with most of them. Don't show up with either a 10/22 or an AR the first three years on a property you are trying to develop a long them relationship with the owner on. After the three years has expired... still NO volley fire or nine times out of ten you are done!
See that abandoned RR grade in the first two pictures? Hint, hint. Especially through cropland. BNSF no longer cares what goes on there and a lot of times chucks have established ownership.
