Varmints!

[Rick in Oregon]

Being this is a dead time of year except for coyotes, I thought I'd post a few pics of some different varmints in my part of the world that we've had up close and personal experiences with in the field. I'm not talkin' squirrels or prairie dogs, I'm talkin' REAL varmints!

How about it you guys, care to post some pics of some of your local varmints in your home area? Here's a few of ours:

This guy was taken at 226 yds with "The Silver Princess of Death", my custom M700 in 204 Ruger Match with a 39gr SBK:



Yes, we have teeth!:



This one was a junior, just out of his hole. Rifle is one of my walkabout rifles, a Sako Vixen L461 in 223 Rem, taken at 426 yards just before dark:



My buddy John with a nice cat he got out of a cave near here with his Mini-14:



My hound-dog 'Rose' checking out the kitty's paw:



So you guys, how's about it? Got some narley varmints of your own in your backyard? Let's see 'em!

[wirelessguy2005]

Rick,

Very nice pictures, i may have to come out and visit sometime. However i would not be interested in any close encounters with the kitty cat. LOL

Brad

[Rick in Oregon]

Brad -Considering how good your reloading tools are, save up a few orders for the Pacific NW, hand-deliver and enjoy some of our varmints at the same time! We try to avoid 'kitty encounters' too, but the critters have a nasty habit of sneaking on you while you're hunting something else......while they're hunting YOU.

This buddy of mine uses his hounds and an old Marlin 22WMR and pops them while treed.....hopefully:



I had one creeping on me across a steep heavily black-timbered canyon a few years ago while elk hunting here. Only saw his rear end disappear behind a tree and never caught sight of him again, but I knew he was there......creepy feeling.

[Silverfox]

I don't have any kitty cat photos, but have a few digger photos.

Here's a badger that entered the PD town I was shooting in back on September 21, 2004. He waddled into the prairie dog town as I was resting in the shade of some trees, nosed around some of the dead prairie dogs I had shot earlier, and took one down into his den. I sneaked around his den hole, got up onto a small clay rise above him and squeaked him in for a close-up photo. When he got about 25 feet away, he stopped and was staring straight at me. I snapped a couple photos. I did not want him to get any closer so talked to him in a calm voice and said something like, "Hi there Mr. Badger, how's your day going?" He did a quick 180º turn and waddled back to his den hole as fast as his short legs would carry him. I did not shoot him with anything other than the camera.



Here's a couple more photos of a badger that had picked up a dead PD I had shot back on October 24, 2008. I had walked in from the west end of this dog town and was laying up on PD mounds and shooting and then walking further east and shooting. I finally got about a mile from my pickup and started walking back through a low spot and when I began to get up out of the low spot I saw something moving out to the west of me about 200 yards away. I put the rifle up and used the scope to check it out and it was a badger carrying one of the dead PDs in its mouth. I had to speed up my pace a bit to get up out of the low spot I was in so I could go prone and take a shot at him. He was about 130 yards away from me and continuing to waddling away. By the time I got the crosshairs on him and squeezed off the shot with my Savage 12VLP in .204 Ruger, he was a lasered 146 yards away. The 39 gr. Sierra BlitzKing bullet hit him in the heart lung area and he just keeled over and didn't move. The bullet did not exit and the entrance hole was almost impossible to find. When I got up to him, the dead prairie dog was still tightly clenched in his teeth.




10-24-2008

[Sidewinderwa]

Great pictures and it gets the ol' blood pumping to the trigger finger! I got a badger about 4 years ago and had a chance a couple hours later. Those little legs can really move!
Had one cleaning up some prairie dogs that we shot last year. It was 600 yards out and I only got one shot. Had a hard time locating it for a 2nd shot. It is still out getting critters.

[fishy]

Man, you guys really have me itchin for some shootin. Last weekend I drove out to some family ground about 140 miles from home to pick up my 4 wheeler and trailer that I had left out there during deer season. It happened to be a nice day out, somewhere in the 60's and sunny. Not thinking to bring a gun with me ( as it was just going to be a quick trip), went past one of our p dog towns and it was just loaded with dogs out sunning themselves. I know I know better than to leave the gun at home, but it was kinda an impulse trip and just got in the truck and left. Now I guess I know better. How many times can you say that to yourself before you actually know better though?

[JLJ223]

The thought of something sneaking up on me while out gives me the willies, I remember watching a show(cant remember the network) where guys were fishing on a riverbank and kept having crocs trying to get in behind them.

[steve]

Sorry for such a gruesome picture but this is one of the varmints in my area, unfortunately there are way too many like this here hopefully they will become extinct!

[ryutzy]

Here is a fox I shot a while ago behind my house with my 17 HMR.

[ryutzy]

I used a cable snare to get these coyotes a couple weeks ago. (I'm really slllooowww at posting pics). I only had 6 snares set and I got 3 yotes in one morning so it was a great morning. Two were snared only 15 yards apart and the other was 200 yards away. The yote on the left has bad mange but the other two look ok. Left and center are males and the one on the right is female and she was in heat at the time I snared her. By the way, if you want to get rid of coyotes snaring is so easy it makes me feel like im cheating. It is a challenge to keep your scent away from the snares and it's fun trying to outsmart them, but calling them in is still the best.

[Pinched]

Get a few of these dening nearby every year.