GUNS, GEAR AND GAME Stan Trzoniec


VARMINTS!


school was let out in New Jersey. For the next few months, my friend “Little Jimmy” and I would be two Huck- leberry Finns fishing, hunting small game, and drinking fresh, clean water from the stream that ran full length through 300 acres of roaming land we both enjoyed. In fact, we both got so well-known that on occasion we would come home and find “bounty” ammunition on the kitchen table from farmers on the surrounding spreads. As I was growing up, I got my


Remington Thumbhole Varmint in the 204 Ruger cartridge.


The place: upper New York state. The date: mid-1950s. The time: late afternoon. After carefully placing myself in


a position to do some good, I finally began to see movement in the alfalfa some 30 yards distant. The ’chuck was a big one, its den matched his might, and my uncle was wanting his hide. The cutting was due and Uncle Frank dearly wanted to get rid of both that mountainous mound and the host tenant. The way it was played out you would think I was under the gun, not the rodent, but it was now or never as that piece of straw in my mouth was getting shorter and shorter in antici- pation of what the next few minutes could bring. This young hunter had worked


hard this lazy summer afternoon in order to field a proper location rela- tive to a speedy dispatch. The creek was low as I carefully skirted some of the bigger rocks in search of a snip- ing position. Being the experienced 10-year-old hunter that I was, plan- ning on my part a few days earlier resulted in finding the perfect spot


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in the shade where some ground erosion had made the prone position easy to take. The rifle was my uncle’s trusty Winchester 22 rimfire bolt- action single-shot void of any optical gear but equipped with rugged iron sights and an awful 26-inch barrel. Checking my aim over these sights for what seemed like the hundredth time, l saw a head begin to appear over this slightly windswept field. As I crouched down on the stock, my finger found the trigger and started that long, hard, and agonizing pull to the rear for which this type of gun was famous for back then. Then … in a heartbeat it was


over. The 50-grain rimfire bullet had found a new home and the wood- chuck was sent up to the big blue without him even knowing about it. This was only one afternoon in the summer life of this big-game wood- chuck hunter who lived on his uncle’s farm during the warm season in the east in the Empire state, and the start of a lifetime full of fun pursuing the elusive woodchuck. The season for me usually started one or two days after


first exposure to longer ranging cen- terfire rifles. My uncle would allow some of the boys from Utica or Coop- erstown to come and practice with their heavy barrel rifles. I still can see them now – all dressed up with their bull barrels, Unertl scopes, and with those exotic centerfire cartridges like the 219 Donaldson Wasp. They could take ’chucks at distances that I might do only in my wildest dreams. I always was amazed by how far they would shoot and connect as compared to the striking distance of my little 22 rimfire rifle. Over the years, ’chucks are still


the same breed, but my hunting meth- ods and gear have changed, much to the better whether you are hunting ’chucks, fox, crows, coyotes, or other small to medium game. Like all hunt- ers, time spent beforehand is just as exciting as the hunt so when it comes to rifles in the past 50 years, I’ve prob- ably used them all ... or nearly all. First, let me say that back then it


seemed that the rifle of choice was the heavy barreled version of the more common Remington or Winchester. Hunters would stake their territory on a mound distant enough to make the challenge worthy of their time and, for the better part of the day, stay there and snipe away. Today, with the rifles as accurate as they are right from the factory, and with the excep- tion of a few heavy barrel guns that I just can’t get rid of, my choice is the


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