9mm Ammo for Groundhogs

[joemd11]

I pop them in the butt with a BB gun when they're up in my fruit trees.

How the heck do you get close enough to pop them with a BB gun? My wife swears the hogs around here are smarter than I am! I mean sometimes as soon as I crack open the basement door the hog, over 100 yards away, makes a beeline for its hole.

 

[dodge man]

I wonder if some people aren't talking about different animals. I think of a groundhog as being something that weighs about 15 pounds and is pretty good sized. Maybe some people are talking about ground squirrels which are more like the size of a rat?

 

[DuckSlayer1017]

From gundata.com:
9mm KE @ 50 yds= 290 (Federal American Eagle)
17HMR KE @ 50 yds= 189 (Hornaday)

I've killed plenty of them at 50 to 100 yds with my 17 HMR. If you can hit them with a 9mm hollow point it should do the job just fine. Don't over think it, ground hogs aren't that hard to kill. A good pellet gun and a head shot would do the trick, anything larger will not be a problem.

 

[k0ua]

I wonder if some people aren't talking about different animals. I think of a groundhog as being something that weighs about 15 pounds and is pretty good sized. Maybe some people are talking about ground squirrels which are more like the size of a rat?

ground hog, woodchuck, whistle pig, chuck, : These guys.

https://www.google.com/search?q=woo...iRsQSb_oLwBw&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1001&bih=434

 

[joemd11]

I wonder if some people aren't talking about different animals. I think of a groundhog as being something that weighs about 15 pounds and is pretty good sized. Maybe some people are talking about ground squirrels which are more like the size of a rat?

This has to be the case. A hit from a pellet gun, even a head shot, on the hogs around here would only make the hog jump and head for its hole.

 

[RSKY]

Several years ago we killed about fifty from one field. This was over about three years. We used everything from a 22 to a 30-30 to a 243. My mother used a Remington Nylon 66 with a scope. We were not hunting them for sport. The field they took over had gullies starting from were their tunnels washed out. Didn't even realize we had a problem until hay was cut off the field. Since then if we see them working I use a twelve guage shotgun with #4 buckshot. A 3" shell has 41 pellets and spreads out pretty well. No long range shots though.

 

[DuckSlayer1017]

ground hog, woodchuck, whistle pig, chuck, : These guys. https://www.google.com/search?q=woodchuck&es_sm=122&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=_WXEVJSRPLiRsQSb_oLwBw&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1001&bih=434

I guess I should clarified I meant the new supersonic .22 cal pellet rifles, not the old 800 FPS .17 cal pellet rifles.

 

[rmk700]

ground hog, woodchuck, whistle pig, chuck, : These guys.

https://www.google.com/search?q=woo...iRsQSb_oLwBw&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1001&bih=434

Here towards the west we call them rockchucks.

https://www.google.com/search?q=roc...=Px3FVJLzOsaxogTYmIG4BQ&ved=0CB0QsAQ&dpr=1.65

 

[LD1]

I think 15lbs would be on the small side of what we have here.

I would guess most full grown ones are closer to 20-25#

 

[k0ua]

I think 15lbs would be on the small side of what we have here.

I would guess most full grown ones are closer to 20-25#

It depends on how much alfalfa out of the farmers field they have been chowing down on! Back here in the hills, they don't get that fat and sassy. 50 miles north of us with real crop fields, or someones cabbage patch, yep they get that big. Some waddle when they walk.:laughing: