Aspiring Varminter

[bru]

I've been lured by the year-round possibilities and the promise of variety that comes with varmint hunting. I appreciate the broader skill set demanded by not specializing in one species. I guess some of you do. I haven't found my niche yet. I am accustomed to meat hunting so I'll start by asking if any fo you enjoy eating any of the many smaller animals running around out there? Besides that I'm the crafty sort. Are any varmint hides workable? Coyote seems like it would be. In general what is the etiquette governing varmint and coyote disposal? Your guidence is appreciated.

P.S. I wish I could find the pigs spotted out by Greys Harbor a couple years ago. Would they pick up and move on? I guess I would if some dudes were after me too.

[Skinny Shooter]

Ahhh, another soon-to-be member of the red mist culture... I mainly shoot groundhogs. Due to smelling too many roadkills, I will not eat one. My friends will cook up the occasional young one and they say it tastes just like chicken.
Depending on how bad a chuck is blown apart it might stay where it lays. Otherwise, they get tossed into the nearest fencerow. If you shove the carcass back down the hole you lessen the chances that another chuck will move in in the short-term.

What kinds of firepower do you have?

[bru]

Thank you for the friendly freeting. I've got a Savage 10FXP3. Great rifle. Might bed the voids in an effort to immitate the alluminum sceletons of molded syth rifles. Cheap expirement. More interestingly I've been enjoying Grandpa bru's Ranger .22 Heavy, long barrel with a crappy wooden stock. I refinished it and added 1/4 lb in the stock. the stock sits too high on my shoulder. Thats the only issue with it. It's too in line with action. Is that whats called the "pull" or " comb"? I also carved a pistol grip for it out of cedar to fit over the stock handle. I'm welding together a sort of monpod/bipod variable height devise from an accessory that belonged to a Rhodes electric piano that I rebuilt. (The sustain pedal rod/shaft component + a "U" shape welded on top and rubberized +a broader "V" prong on the ground with flat feet.). I fear the wood may be too light weight to hold onto a bipod mount. It's been fun bringing it back to life. I may scope it and make a sniper out of it this week. Getting ready to get this years lic.

[Jack]

"Thats the only issue with it. It's too in line with action. Is that whats called the "pull" or " comb"?"
What you are describing is called 'drop'. 'Drop at comb' for example, is the distance the comb is below the bore axis. The comb being the front top of the buttstock, right behind the pistol grip.
"Drop at heel" is the distance the rear top of the buttstock is below the bore axis.
If the drop at heel is a lot more than the drop at comb, you have a buttstock that slopes downward.
A straight buttstock will have very little dfference between the 'drop at comb' and 'drop at heel' numbers.

[fabsroman]

The stocks with a large difference between the drop at comb and drop at heel will tend to rotate upward and smack you in the face because the recoil is not going straight backward.

I know this from a bunch of trap shooting. The more inline the stock is, the more recoil is transferred to your shoulder and away from your face. Straight combs work just fine on trap guns and rifles because there isn't much variation in shots. However, a field shotgun or sporting clays shotgun needs some varaiation because a person's face will adjust along the comb depending upon what kind of shot presents itself. Hard to explain.

Glad to see that you are getting involved in varminting. I do a little here and there, but Skinny is a pro at it.

[skb2706]

We don't have ground hogs here, per se, tons of prairie dogs tho. Nope never considered eating one.....they can get pretty tore up depending on where they are hit, what they were hit with and how far away they are.

[Rocky Raab]

I'll add my welcome, bru.

I may have missed it, but what cartridge does that Savage shoot? If it's a .223 or .22-250, it'll make a fine varminter. Be sure to post pictures of the bipod thingie you're crafting. You have my curiousity piqued.

What are the dominant varmints where you live? Coyotes are everywhere, of course. Do you have ground squirrels or such?