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woodchuck shotgun question
mossberg500man
Member Posts: 833 ✭✭✭✭
Friend of the family asked me to take care of a woodchuck problem shes been having but the problem I'm running into is a .22 isn't a safe option which leads me to a shotgun, i was thinking a .410 3 inch with 4 shot since its her backyard, but ive never shot a woodchuck, will the load im thinking of do the job or should i move to a 12 ga and bigger loads?
Comments
Can you get any larger shot? #4's are small for a hairy critter.
Not going to be a clean kill if you ask me.
I do my chuck shooting at 100 to 450 yards with a 22/250 Rem.
I think with the #4's you are going to wound a lot of them.
While they are a pest, I still don't like that thought.
I would use a 12 gage with #2 or something like that.
You can make safer shots if you are higher than the target.
This way your shot is angled down into the ground and the misses will not travel far.
Hunting woodchucks from a tree stand????
[:D]
Chucks can be hard to get a shot at in a case like this, but they aren't hard to kill. 4's will work fine, I've killed them with 6's. Also remember, the larger shot you fire the more distance they retain energy. Get to large and you may as well use a .22lr.
If you could get elevated, a .22cb, at 710fps, to the head or chest will kill them. Shot out of a long barreled single shot the slug hitting the chuck will make more noise than the shot.
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1200fps. Not much different than a 22lr. Lethal range on them would be 100 yards or so. [B)]
Use the most powerful,hi-brass shells U can find and s mentioned,pattern it. Whatever range gives U the right pattern,Hide at that distance.[;)]
Have you ever considered a blowgun? I have a friend who dispatches pests quietly and efficiently with such. Tubes come in different lengths and darts range to very deadly blades. Woodchucks are standard targets and a bit of practice yields surprising results.
Just a though for those of us in urban areas where a shotgun blast might not be welcome.
If your friend lives anywhere near inside the city limits you can get in more than a bit of trouble for shooting a pest. Trapping and drowning, you're in the clear.
Catch it in one of those Hav-a-hart traps and buy a big tub at Lowes. Fill the tub with water and slowly lower the trap into it. I say slowly because if you tip the trap the doors can swing open. Go do something for 5 or 6 minutes and then bury the woodchuck in the garden.
If your friend lives anywhere near inside the city limits you can get in more than a bit of trouble for shooting a pest. Trapping and drowning, you're in the clear.
IMO that's pretty cruel[V] Drowning would have to be one of the worst ways to go, even if it is a critter that you don't want.
if they Will Kill A Hog it Will
Certainly Dispatch A Whistle Pig
quote:Originally posted by mlincoln
Catch it in one of those Hav-a-hart traps and buy a big tub at Lowes. Fill the tub with water and slowly lower the trap into it. I say slowly because if you tip the trap the doors can swing open. Go do something for 5 or 6 minutes and then bury the woodchuck in the garden.
If your friend lives anywhere near inside the city limits you can get in more than a bit of trouble for shooting a pest. Trapping and drowning, you're in the clear.
IMO that's pretty cruel[V] Drowning would have to be one of the worst ways to go, even if it is a critter that you don't want.
Fair enough. However, I actually looked into this. Releasing the animal far away will about 90% of the time result in it starving to death. Other animals that already live there will drive it out, it won't have a burrow or nest made to sleep in, etc. Death from starvation and exposure is a very ugly way to go. You could shoot it in the trap, but animals in traps bounce around like crazy and move nonstop. Getting a good head or heart shot is quite hard. And I've got a powerful air rifle, but even so it took quite some time for a squirrel to die unless you got a very good head or heart hit. And by the laws of my area, you're not allowed to shoot squirrels or woodchucks period. Even with an air rifle. Poison is an ugly, very long death, and the poison often travels up though the food chain and that's not good.
So drowning. It's not an instant kill, but it's the closest I've found. Considering that squirrels have done thousands of dollars of damage to my home, drowning it is.