Monday, June 30, 2008

Confounded Rodents!

I have been forced to take up arms in defense of my property.

Before we left for California, we were getting daily afternoon visits to our small patch of lawn here at the Aerie. The visitors were not the cute, nose twitching cottontails (they come out closer to dusk to feed on the clover). No, these were whistle pigs, woodchucks, aka: Ground Hogs.

Now being in Pennsylvania, from which Punxsutawney Phil makes his annual predictions, that the Ground Hog would be considered to be more hero or iconoclastic. And when it's out there in the middle of the lawn nibbling on the grass or in some farmer's field or along the side of the road sitting up on their hindquarters like overgrown prairie dogs they may look cute. But when they start to dig it's another story.

We had at least three of the little buggers--well not so little buggers--out on the lawn at a time. Two looked to be youngsters and as near as twins as you could get. The third is a bigger animal with a ring of white just behind it's black nose. When we came home I discovered one of them had decided to try and burrow under the retaining wall I built last year on the west side under the deck. A nice big hole with a mound of dirt and some sizable rocks had been excavated.

Out came the air rifle.

Now, there is a reason people shoot the ground hog from 100-150 or more yards away with a .223 scoped rifle. I reckon that next to the eagle the dadgum critter's eyesight is the best in the animal world! I'd see one out in the lawn grazing away about 20 yards out and slide open the porch door as quietly as possible. Ease myself out the door and slide it closed. (It wouldn't do to have one or more cats go racing outside!) Tip-toe into position so as to get a clear shot and as soon as I would raise the rifle to peer through the scope...ZIP! That fat little bag of blubber would move like greased lightening and dive into the tall weeds. Sometimes it might stop just inside the weeds and sit up to take one more look over its shoulder before disappearing altogether. It didn't help that if there were mourning doves out under the bird feeders or on the wires, they would flush with a lot of twittering sounds warning the ground hog of my presence. Occasionally, early on, I could follow its progress in the tall stuff by the shaking and quaking the tops of the weeds made as it brushed past--at least I could if the wind wasn't blowing. As they cut trail in the tall weeds they no longer shook the weeds and any idea of where they were or where they were going was pure conjecture. Once in a while the little bugger would scoot across a small cleared trail on the other side of the yard and disappear again before I could get a shot off.

I confess, I may have merely wounded one or two before they hit the weed beds. I also missed a couple of easy shots before, scratching my head in disbelief, I checked the scope and found I was hitting high and to the left a couple of inches at 12 yard. The cross hairs were off by more than enough for me to be missing completely at 20 or 25 yards. I fixed that last evening.

As of a little after 5 PM this afternoon, there is one less ground hog about the Aerie.

6 comments:

JDP said...

Good Shootin. I would not even bother with the air rifle. I would use a shotgun. Much more efficient though I would admit not as "sporting."

JDP

joated said...

The 12 guage seems a bit much and the .22 is at the Bolt Hole (red squirrels) so it's the Gamo Varmint air rifle with the velocity of a .22 that I'm using. I'd use my bow but then I'd have to go and retrieve any missed shots. And probably ding up the arrow on stones, too.

Rev. Paul said...

We've had some bear attacks here in town, this summer, and I'm gonna have to re-arm myself. Haven't had any guns since we moved to AK, which sounds a little counter-intuitive. Now I have to decide what I want in a handgun.

Most of the encounters are going to take place with animals between 200 lbs (black bear) and 1400 lbs (moose). I kinda favor large calibers, but a .454 is a little too much. Any suggestions?

joated said...

I read about the attack on the girl bicyclist in the 24hr race outside of Anchorage. Hope she's doing okay.

Never had the opportunity to go after a moose and I've only been carrying my .30-.30 carbine (or the .50 muzzleloader) during the bear season in the Adirondacks (as out-of-stater there's no handgun for me in NY!) and here in woods of PA.

I'm hardly the expert to ask about what caliber would be useful, but if I were up there and could, I'd be carrying at least my .44 mag Redhawk revolver when working in the wood lot or as a back-up during the bow season. I have seen some of the locals in NY carrying .357s on their hip as they walk the road in the evening "just in case." Don't know how that would do vs a 1400 lb moose.

The other gun in my "arsenal" that I would consider is the 12-guage slug gun. Up close and personal it would do a world of hurt. And if not, I could use it as a club!

Rev. Paul said...

I think both suggestions (slug or .44 mag) are good. I loved the old .45 ACP in the military, but it probably won't stop a brown bear or grizzly. Maybe a Desert Eagle in .44 .. hmm. Thanks!

joated said...

You read the diaries of Lewis & Clark and you begin to wonder whether anything will stop a determined griz. Granted they were using the arms of 1803 but 2 or 3 balls should have been enough, yet they report as many as 8 or 9 needed. Me? I'd rather be in the next valley when griz comes calling.