one late tonight

[country gent]

Went out tonight to watch the bunnies this was around quarter to nine. 4 bunnies and 2 wood chucks out. Wood chucks ran. Got the 10-22 from the garage went out in a safe direction and sat in the wheel chair played tag a few times about 9:15 he came out and the rifle barked. one of the 2 down and played tag with the second until almost 10:00. The one left was up in the pear tree when I first went out.

[georgerkahn]

Went out tonight to watch the bunnies this was around quarter to nine. 4 bunnies and 2 wood chucks out. Wood chucks ran. Got the 10-22 from the garage went out in a safe direction and sat in the wheel chair played tag a few times about 9:15 he came out and the rifle barked. one of the 2 down and played tag with the second until almost 10:00. The one left was up in the pear tree when I first went out.

Sounds like you had a great eve! Waaay back we used to get wood chucks by placing monofilament fish line about their holes -- a small brass swivel at the end, with line threaded through it. Each of us would have four lines so set, and then... the wait. Chucks almost always look up; drop; and... the second time up was the time to quickly yank on the line with your fish pole and lasso the critter. If you've never had the experience it is WILD to say the least. While most chucks are perceived as sluggish type critters, wait until you have one on the end of your line! Bion, mostly scared of Rabies or ???, when (if lucky) one got the chuck within five or six feet the line was cut -- and the chuck would waddle off. Cut off another four or five feet of line, tie on a new swivel, and repeat. Lots of fun! (Fwiw, this was done on State property -- any firearms very much prohibited -- hence the "catch and release".)
geo

[dverna]

Sounds like you had a great eve! Waaay back we used to get wood chucks by placing monofilament fish line about their holes -- a small brass swivel at the end, with line threaded through it. Each of us would have four lines so set, and then... the wait. Chucks almost always look up; drop; and... the second time up was the time to quickly yank on the line with your fish pole and lasso the critter. If you've never had the experience it is WILD to say the least. While most chucks are perceived as sluggish type critters, wait until you have one on the end of your line! Bion, mostly scared of Rabies or ???, when (if lucky) one got the chuck within five or six feet the line was cut -- and the chuck would waddle off. Cut off another four or five feet of line, tie on a new swivel, and repeat. Lots of fun! (Fwiw, this was done on State property -- any firearms very much prohibited -- hence the "catch and release".)
geo

Never heard of this but what a blast. Must have used 50lb test!!!. Chucks can get big.

[Txcowboy52]

I snag a bull frog on a top water lure one time and I thought that was a crazy fight ! I can’t imagine something the size of a woodchuck!!

[country gent]

Ive caught bull frogs on a fly rod with a woolly worm fly letting it float in the breeze. it is a fight.

I made my last critter check yesterday about 3:00 in the afternoon, all the holes were dead, after I shot the one I made a pass and 3 holes under the shed were opened up roughly 5 hours later.

They stay in the fields away from the buildings fine when they get around the buildings then I deal with them

[centershot]

Sounds like you had a great eve! Waaay back we used to get wood chucks by placing monofilament fish line about their holes -- a small brass swivel at the end, with line threaded through it. Each of us would have four lines so set, and then... the wait. Chucks almost always look up; drop; and... the second time up was the time to quickly yank on the line with your fish pole and lasso the critter. If you've never had the experience it is WILD to say the least. While most chucks are perceived as sluggish type critters, wait until you have one on the end of your line! Bion, mostly scared of Rabies or ???, when (if lucky) one got the chuck within five or six feet the line was cut -- and the chuck would waddle off. Cut off another four or five feet of line, tie on a new swivel, and repeat. Lots of fun! (Fwiw, this was done on State property -- any firearms very much prohibited -- hence the "catch and release".)
geo

ROFLMAO!!! What a hoot! I gotta' try this, I've got an extra muskie rod loaded with 30 lb. mono, it'd be perfect for this!! Thanks George!

[popper]

snag a bull frog on a top water lure
Try a big turtle on a fly rod sometime. Not much fun.
I did catch a duck on a wooly bugger once, not much fun for the duck.

[country gent]

This afternoon I got a bullet in the second one bad angle on him but should have been a solid lung hit. He jumped went about 10 feet further from the shed then back under the shed.

If you get one thats hard to get, sitting and waiting can be very effective. They will poke their nose out then back in then their head comes out. Then the whole animal this one was grooming and scratching for a few mins. when his head went down to feed I slowly raised the rifle aimed and fired.

[missionary5155]

If it dies under the shed you may regret that shot....

[georgerkahn]

Never heard of this but what a blast. Must have used 50lb test!!!. Chucks can get big.

Actually I used 14lb mono on pretty much all my rods at the time, with a Sutton swivel at end to go to a (generally) lighter four-foot leader. Through the Sutton swivel I slipped a five-inch piece of bent piano wire which effectively swept away weeds/kept them from followng down line to lure. Mostly, too, the leader was 8-pound fleuro- for bass; 4-pound fleuro- for trout. For "chuck-getting" we just added nothing to the Sutton swivel, 'cept generally we'd snip that off and replace it with a cheaper one. One "hoot" we had -- note I wrote "'chuck getting" as opposed to any term such as "catching" -- one DEC LEO would really give us grief whether we were fishing or hunting, and using a fish pole was NOT a listed, acceptable means. (A few years later we learned he was just "busting on us ) -- good fellow, now surely retired and maybe passed...

[country gent]

Seen 1 sank same. One of this years, their making the targets smaller.