Surviving a Badger charge
Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 11:22 am
This Badger showed up at our prairie dog shoot last week in Central Montana. I always ask the rancher about badgers because some like the buggers. Most ranchers hate the big holes they leave and will tell you some stories about stuck or broken trucks and bad injuries to livestock, but some view the badger as a helper in the disposal of prairie dogs, so I always ask if I can shoot 'em.
First shot on this badger was 370 yards and just the back half was showing. When I hit him the bullet sound was PLUNK and he flinched hard. Then he started charging right at us on the fight. We were laughing so hard that I missed the next shot and he charged even harder. At about 350 yards he was looking right at us and coming for a fight, when I hit him a second time in the right chest. This shot really slowed him down and he hid behind a mound of dirt. I fired a fourth shot even though we could barely see him peeking from the mound and dirt flew from an inch below face and he was on the charge again. He stopped with head up and I finished him with a third hit right under the chin. No exit holes, but he felt like a big bag of mush. I was using 39gr SBK's from a Savage FV in 204.
Sorry about the black shadows in the pictures, boys. I'm still learning this camera stuff. I tried to shoot one back to the truck so you could see the varmint's view of us as he charged. That picture didn't come out at all. I took others before and after with good results untill I left it on and the batteries went dead.
First shot on this badger was 370 yards and just the back half was showing. When I hit him the bullet sound was PLUNK and he flinched hard. Then he started charging right at us on the fight. We were laughing so hard that I missed the next shot and he charged even harder. At about 350 yards he was looking right at us and coming for a fight, when I hit him a second time in the right chest. This shot really slowed him down and he hid behind a mound of dirt. I fired a fourth shot even though we could barely see him peeking from the mound and dirt flew from an inch below face and he was on the charge again. He stopped with head up and I finished him with a third hit right under the chin. No exit holes, but he felt like a big bag of mush. I was using 39gr SBK's from a Savage FV in 204.
Sorry about the black shadows in the pictures, boys. I'm still learning this camera stuff. I tried to shoot one back to the truck so you could see the varmint's view of us as he charged. That picture didn't come out at all. I took others before and after with good results untill I left it on and the batteries went dead.