My inner Buddha

[lazs2]

thanks bustr....did you get that dude?  I heard that each gs destroys up to 9 lbs of grain a day (they eat the roots)

I think what you're hung up on is that some people (myself included) enjoy the challenge of killing em.  More fun than a can or paper target.

If they were edible I would either eat em or not hunt em and let people who ate em hunt em.   If they were allmost extinct or of any value I wouldn't kill em,

They are vermin tho and it is win win... I like shooting em and everyone (including dude)benifiets from me doing so.

You are just really really wrong on this one dude.   you have no point whatsoever unless it is that my aura will be damaged or something.

lazs

[FUNKED1]

Originally posted by SLO
question is...

Do you really REALLY wanna shot gophers?

what I'd like to do is grab that guys gun and stick it were the sun doesn't shine and pull the trigger, see if he likes it, just for fun.

Yeah, because murder is morally the same as hunting.

[FUNKED1]

Originally posted by Nash
Okay so... I overheard the owner of one of the printing companies I use talking about blowing gophers away.

This was last year, sometime. He was all "I just bought this gun" and "OMG" and "just 'XPLODED!" and everything.

So a coupla days ago, I re-stumble across that video where this dude is shootin' gophers. I thought he'd like it. Maybe. So... I emailed him the link with nothing else in mind than "Hey, check this out."

Next thing ya know... today... He comes busting into my office, just juiced. He navigated me to a website about this kind of ammo he uses... "See.... these are 5 cents a round, but the stuff I use is 25 cents a round - and here's why."

A half-hour passes with non-stop talk about ballistics. And then he lays it on me. "We gotta go shoot gophers!"

"Sounds good", I say... thinking, that must be Alberta-speak for "lets do lunch."

"Lets do it this Sunday!", he says.





Thing is, he's got it all figured out.  He's talkin' lawn chairs, beers, custom-made tripod mounts for his guns, how to get property owners to let ya onto the land to do it... Everything. It's a done deal.

So I'm thinking.... This guy is a bit nuts to begin with. I wouldn't mind trying hunting sometime... but gophers? It's almost corny.

I throw every road-block in his face. "Aint they hybernating or something?"..... "It's way too cold for this, aint it?"

"No, man! If it's cloudy, we're hooped... only the bull gophers come out when it's cloudy... but..." and he goes www dot weather dot com and shows me the forecast. Warm and sunny on Sunday.

Neat.

So now.... I'm lined up to shoot guns at gophers.

My entire belief system advises me that this isn't such a good idea. I don't have much of a problem with, like, moose and elk and bear because, well, they're bigger than me and if we ever went toe to toe in the ring they could prolly kick the living daylights outta me so I'd best just shoot them. I know it's fickle and full of holes and all that... but so what.

Plinking gophers?... It's almost arcade-like. Those things just stand upright and don't even move for chrissakes.

All that being said... It does kinda sound like fun. I can back out at any minute no problem, but....

I need your advice.

Nash they are vermin.  Happy hunting.

[Nash]

Yeah, I'm goin' for it.

[NUKE]

get pics.

[Nash]

We're swingin' by the office on the way out, so I'll grab the camera.

[Toad]

You have become Shiva, Destroyer of (Gopher) Worlds!

Wrap that inner Budda well and put it in a safe place.

[Lizking]

Yeah, well Buddha don't Surf!

[Airhead]

It is a fact that up until a couple of centuries ago gophers existed in vast herds roaming the Great Plains, and lived in harmony with Native Americans who stalked the gopher herds, basing their entire existance of this balance of nature, and used the gopher for everything from shelter to food....and that was the way it was for countless generations.

Unfortunately for the poor gopher in the early 1800s the Easterners developed a taste for gopher skin jock straps and gopher tongue soup, and soon exploiters of this demand used BB guns to silently decimate entire herds of gophers as they set peacefully munching on praire grasses.

The result, of course, was that the Native Americans, no longer able to subsist on the now decimated gopher herds, turned to Indian casinos and are doing great, thank you very much-

And the gophers? They went underground. They are cunning and devious and the gophers who you see above ground are only there to test your reflexes, and if they notice a manobit of hesitation- that is, if you FAIL to shoot them-

So shoot them Nash. Laugh like a hyena as thier little bodies explode, just make sure you park your car far enough waay that you don't get blood on your car.

Go have a good time man.

[Nash]

Yeah that's the thing about this. At first I was thinking it was a lawnchair type thing. That's the impression he gave me, anyways.

But there's been a coupla references here about shooting from the truck and.... talking to him today...

Basically we're gonna be driving onto the property and not disembarking. Instead, rollin' around, and with the gun pointed out the window, using the side mirror as a.... a... mobile tree stand mount.

[Toad]

Never shot 'dogs from a truck. We always set up in a little swale and sniped them. As you shoot, they wise up and only pop up in holes farther and farther away. So, at first it's easy. Then, next thing you know, they're out at 400 yards+. That's when it gets fun. One guy spotting, one guy shooting.

[Nash]

I think the most he mentioned was 150 yards.

But he also mentioned there being a lot of downtime once they got spooked.

If I remember right, he said theres about a half inch of bullet drop at 100 yards.

And he bought this "wicked-ass" scope.

And that if you could see them, you could hit them.

And if you hit them, it didn't matter by how much, they were going to explode.

400 seems long... But then this guy is kind of a putz.

[Toad]

Well, it all depends on what he's using. 150 yards is truly far for a regular .22 rimfire and scope but it's a piece of cake for a .22-250 varminter.

The serious varminters say 500-700 yards is do-able with cartridges like the .220 Swift, .22QT, etc.

Being the plebian that I am, I never went after 'dogs specifically. There were just 'dog towns where we deer hunted and the ranchers usually suggested that if we wanted to hunt deer, we'd best repay the favor by spending some time working over the 'dog towns.

So, I often went out with a .22 rimfire and my deer rifle, a .270 Win. Used the .22 until they wised up and moved out past 100 yards. Then I switched to the .270, which would handle things nicely as far as I could shoot accurately. Generally, 400 yards or so was where my hit percentage started to drop off. I have an old 4x Weaver on that gun and no bipod or anything.

Someday maybe I'll get a real varmint rifle and go back out there. Who knows.

[Nash]

Yeah, I know that he said these were 22 rifles... but that the ammo wasn't yer typical 22 ammo... Something like that.

I'll know for sure tomorrow.

[Toad]

.22 Rimfire cases, from the CB caps up throught the Shorts, Longs, Long Rifles to the .22 Magnum.




The three on the right are .22 Centerfire varmint type rounds; 223 WSSM, .22-250 REM., .223 REM. The .22-250 is a popular varminter.