I sat on a low ridge glassing a distant rock pile. The early morning air was thick with the smell of sage and at that moment, there was no place I'd rather be.. The world around me was waking up as a Meadowlark sang his song from a Juniper tree near me.
I scanned the rock piles looking for that tell-tale dash of rusty-orange color between the gray & black rocks. It wasn't long and a Yellow Bellied Marmot (rock chuck) crawled up out of his den to catch the warming rays of the early morning sun!
My old mind started trying to figure out how I could approach the chuck and get close enough for the .22 caliber 250z to send an AEA 21.9gr to the ever cautious prey! I decided to use a low depression that wound it's was across the open terrain up toward the rock pile where the chuck lived. Slightly hunched over, I slowly made my way toward the rock chuck denning area. After about 300yds I was within about 80yds of the sunning varmint when as it often happens in open country, he saw me!
In an instant the wary chuck dove down into the crevices of the rock pile and was gone! The hunt wasn't over as chucks are too curious to stay down in their dens for long. I knew that after some time the wary chuck would come back up to carefully scan his surroundings to see if the danger had passed.
I found a good place to set-up my turkey-seat with a square rock I could rest my left side against. With the 'Z' sitting on the shooting sticks, and my body steady from the rock, I had a solid and steady rest to shoot from.
It wasn't long and I caught color showing in a crack between the rocks. I slowly raised my 8X glasses to see the head of the chuck peeking out of the den to look for danger. Seeing nothing that resembled a predator, he slowly crawled up out of the rocks and resumed his favorite spot on the rock pile.
A quick scan with my rangefinder showed the chuck to be 63yds. Having already adjusted my 16X scope's parallax to the rock pile, I steadied the reticle just behind his left eye! The unaware rock chuck was very slightly quartering toward my position so my aimpoint should angle the shot right through the center of his brain!
I slowly applied pressure to the Z's 8oz single-stage trigger and in an instant I heard the tell-tale sound of the pellet smack it's target!
In an instant the chuck tipped-over and was out of sight! I knew the shot was true as all the details leading-up to the shot were accurate and the accuracy of the 250z did it's part!
This same scenario played out several other times through the day, and each time, the 250z proved it's accuracy with well placed shots to humanely dispatch the targets.
Hope you enjoyed sharing my morning with me out chuck hunting in the West.
The 21.9gr pellet hit this unsuspecting Marmot just at the back edge of his eye and exited just in front of his ear on the opposite side!
I scanned the rock piles looking for that tell-tale dash of rusty-orange color between the gray & black rocks. It wasn't long and a Yellow Bellied Marmot (rock chuck) crawled up out of his den to catch the warming rays of the early morning sun!
My old mind started trying to figure out how I could approach the chuck and get close enough for the .22 caliber 250z to send an AEA 21.9gr to the ever cautious prey! I decided to use a low depression that wound it's was across the open terrain up toward the rock pile where the chuck lived. Slightly hunched over, I slowly made my way toward the rock chuck denning area. After about 300yds I was within about 80yds of the sunning varmint when as it often happens in open country, he saw me!
In an instant the wary chuck dove down into the crevices of the rock pile and was gone! The hunt wasn't over as chucks are too curious to stay down in their dens for long. I knew that after some time the wary chuck would come back up to carefully scan his surroundings to see if the danger had passed.
I found a good place to set-up my turkey-seat with a square rock I could rest my left side against. With the 'Z' sitting on the shooting sticks, and my body steady from the rock, I had a solid and steady rest to shoot from.
It wasn't long and I caught color showing in a crack between the rocks. I slowly raised my 8X glasses to see the head of the chuck peeking out of the den to look for danger. Seeing nothing that resembled a predator, he slowly crawled up out of the rocks and resumed his favorite spot on the rock pile.
A quick scan with my rangefinder showed the chuck to be 63yds. Having already adjusted my 16X scope's parallax to the rock pile, I steadied the reticle just behind his left eye! The unaware rock chuck was very slightly quartering toward my position so my aimpoint should angle the shot right through the center of his brain!
I slowly applied pressure to the Z's 8oz single-stage trigger and in an instant I heard the tell-tale sound of the pellet smack it's target!
In an instant the chuck tipped-over and was out of sight! I knew the shot was true as all the details leading-up to the shot were accurate and the accuracy of the 250z did it's part!
This same scenario played out several other times through the day, and each time, the 250z proved it's accuracy with well placed shots to humanely dispatch the targets.
Hope you enjoyed sharing my morning with me out chuck hunting in the West.
The 21.9gr pellet hit this unsuspecting Marmot just at the back edge of his eye and exited just in front of his ear on the opposite side!
