Pennsylvania Game News - July 2012 - 23

Model 700 BDL .22-250 with a Redfield 6-18x scope. Years later I had an opportunity to purchase a custom made .22-250 (something I had always wanted) and jumped at the chance. It had a 28-inch tapered air-gauged barrel mated to a Mauser action that I had cryogenically frozen to increase consistency in the rodent thumper’s performance. It was mated to a beautiful walnut beavertail forend thumbhole stock. Always seeking perfection, I glass bedded the floor plate and action. Then I glass bedded and free floated the barrel. I then installed a Sightron 6-24x by 42mm scope to the receiver. Over the years I’ve tinkered with a variety of brass, bullets, powder and loads to obtain optimum accuracy. Finally, I settled on using Remington neck-turned brass, CCI’s benchrest primers, IMR 4064 powder and Sierra’s 53-grain HPFB bullets seated just off the lands and groves. This combination is measured and meticulously loaded by hand with the first complete reloading kit ever offered — the Lee Classic Loader Kit (which neck sizes only). When fed this homegrown load, my rifle consistently prints ¼- to 3/8-inch groups at 100 yards. Any whistle pig offering me a decent shot out to 350 yards is definitely in trouble. Woodchucks typically vary from 5 to 10 pounds and can live to be nine or so. They have keen senses of sight, hearing and smell, and are fierce fighters when cornered. These rodents are powerful diggers and the holes they dig are often dangerous to livestock and farm machinery. They can also cause significant crop damage, getting them further into trouble with farmers. I gained access to the particular farm I was hunting through my lifelong friend Jim “Red” Brown, a Wapwallopen transplant from Wilkes-Barre. He introduced me to the landowner who was looking for a “friend” to help keep the local marmot population under control. After meetJULY 2012

ing with the landowner, discussing property boundaries, showing him my hunting license and providing him with some information about my character, I was graciously granted permission to hunt his well-maintained property. As any seasoned varmint hunter knows, woodchucks can produce several sounds, and the one we dread the most is their sharp whistle used as an alarm to signify danger. I don’t hunt ground “grizzlies” until sometime after late June or early July, when woodchucks of the year are leaving their burrows and establishing their own territories. A small percentage of these rodents are sometimes affected by malocclusion — a condition that results when the front incisors fail to meet. I actually harvested one with this condition in Susquehanna County back in 1990. The whistle pig, which appeared to be healthy, had teeth that reminded me of wooly mammoth tusks. All four of the incisors were at least two inches in length, with the longest measuring more than three inches. One oddly circled completely around and was growing into its upper jaw. I have this skull on display in my den and it remains one of my most interesting trophies. Woodchucks are one of the animals that can be hunted under the Mentored Youth Hunting Program. I can think of no better way to get a youngster involved in Pennsylvania’s rich hunting heritage. When it comes to instilling safe gun handling and shooting habits, there’s no better time or place than going afield in mid-summer and setting up to watch a large open field. In the process, the future hunter can gain valuable hunting experience and training in the field on the ethics, safety, responsibility and enjoyment of the hunting experience.
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Pennsylvania Game News - July 2012

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