There’s Always Tomorrow Bob Bell
ing for Chuck to get com- fortable behind the Ander- son rifl e rest and fi nd the grayish-brown potbellied critter in his scope. Wisey and I studied the distant animal through our bin- oculars and waited for the boom. Well, it wasn’t really distant, not much more than 200 yards according to the laser rangefi nder, and that should be easy for Chuck’s 22-250, a No. 1 Ruger with a Weaver K-12 aboard. Al- most the exact range he was zeroed for. And obviously it was
I
easy, for I saw the little animal sort of puff up when Chuck’s bullet slammed into it. That sight and the rifl e’s crack seemed simul- taneous to me – it doesn’t take long for a 50-grain spitzer kicked out at a whis- per over 3,900 foot seconds to go the length of two foot- ball fi elds – but I knew the bullet’s travel had to take at least a small amount of time. Of course, it took the rifl e report a moment to travel the few yards from the gun to me, so maybe the sight and sound were simultaneous. No matter. It was late afternoon on a hot
t took a few mo- ments of scrooch-
“Nah. They’d get suspi-
cious if they saw us moving around and probably drop into a hole. I was just thinking we should make the routine shots a little tougher. The ones we’ve had so far were just too easy.”
“How about a minimum range of 250 or 300?” “No, we’d have to pass
up a lot of shots and the land- owner wants ’em killed. Be- sides, we like to shoot. That’s why we’re out here.” “How about if we just
try for head shots?” Chuck asked. “Up to 200 or 250.” “And the shooter gets
only one shot. If he misses, another guy can shoot, assum- ing the ’chuck doesn’t run off. And if anyone tries a running shot, he doesn’t have to try for the head.”
“OK,” Wise agreed.
Woodchucks have been a favorite target of the author and his hunting friends for decades. Leave it to this group to make the pastime into a competition ... with rules.
fencerows in February, sniffi ng in bur- rows for any sign of a willing female – but almost all ’chucks were well un- derground, snoozing till spring. Chuck ejected his empty, pocketed
September day, and the three of us – Chuck Fergus, Bob Wise and I – had been glassing the area for an hour or so. It was typical east central Pennsylvania terrain. Low rolling hills with ragged tree-studded fi elds mostly too rough for farming, edged by dusty woods. The trees were still in their summer green, but that would change in a month or so. That was one of the reasons we were out there. Autumn’s chilly weather would put a crimp in woodchuck hunting. Oh, there would be occasional ’chucks out till late November – I’ve even seen amorous males traipsing through snowy
Page 10 Winter 2012
it, and slid another cartridge into the Ruger’s chamber. He didn’t completely close the underlever, which meant the gun couldn’t be fired accidentally. I guess he didn’t trust any safety, which is always a good attitude, I think. I don’t trust them either. “That makes one apiece,” Wisey
said. “Not bad for as long as we’ve been out. No misses, but there shouldn’t have been. None were very long shots.” “You could always back off a
hundred yards if you want to make it harder,” I said. “A couple of hundred if you want to show off.”
“That should make the rou- tine changes enough tougher to be interesting, and we oughta get enough hits to make the landowner happy.” After a few moments’
thought, I said, “And if every
shot has to be longer than the previous one, it will keep getting tougher as we go along. Chuck’s last kill was at 213, according to the laser, so the next one has to be farther. And if his kill had hap- pened to be a head shot, whoever shoots next has to make a head shot too.” “I didn’t hit that last one in the head,” Chuck said. “I know you didn’t. Looked like
you hit that one right behind the shoul- der. You probably automatically aimed there. That’s where most guys usually try to hit a deer.”
“That’s because it kills deer.” “Kills ’chucks too. But so does a
head shot, and it’s tougher to make, and that’s the point of Wisey’s suggestion, right?”
“Yeah, I guess it is. Anyway, I
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