I have gone to hunt chizzlers four times in Iron County, Utah in 2020. All four trips have been the CRAPS compared to other years or current expectations.
I am so displeased to say there are few -- to almost zero chizzlers eating the farmer's crops in 2020. Farmers kind of love this bonus in income from the estimated $10,000,000 in agricultural products often lost to vermin in the fields. (Utah State University did a study a few years back to estimate the $ value of crops lost to vermin in the fields in the Beryl area)
Bounty Hunter 6 and I went up in later March and we saw a few and shot at them. We finished up a three hour hunt in various fields taking just seven each or so out of the crop harvesting mode. We went up to hunt again in mid April and had a great, comparatively speaking, hunt and shot about 11 each in three hours of hunting in three different fields. We went up in early May and shot in two different fields and took just seven or eight each. The shots were long and the chizzlers very wary. {I kind of like long shots with .223 Rem or .22-250 Rem rifles
but 200 yard shots with a .17 HMR it is hard to connect on a regular basis.} Our final outing in late April was also a bust. We ended up taking about eight each after 3+ hours hunting in two different fields. On the long and quiet drive home we both agreed that the season is over and the chizzlers won. Nature has its cycles and the Universe has decided the low end of the chizzler cycle is upon us for a year or two more. Why didn't Mother Nature consult with me on this?
I want to admit that I was so ready for a good season this year. I was excited at the prospects of getting into the dealing out the wholesale death mode again in 2020. Last year's hunting, 2019, was poor and this year was to be the turn around. NOT SO! I have schooled The Supreme Commander on how to shoot her Savage H.B. .22LR with really pretty good precision*. She and I have gone practice shooting a few times in the desert near my home. She actually said she wanted to go hunt with Bounty Hunter 6 and myself on the last trip in May. I told her to wait until the chizzlers came out more and she would have a more enjoyable hunt. She has gone with me in days of old, 2017 and 2018, and done her duty taking over 150 in a day with the accurate little Savage bolt action. She runs the scope at about 7 power all the time and if the little vermin are within 75 yards of her they are usually toast.
Who really enjoys chizzler hunting is Bounty Hunter 6's dog -- SKEET. He went with Bounty Hunter 6 a couple of times this spring and caught and killed more than a handful each time. Skeet smells or sees them than puts his "4-paw drive" in high gear after them. He quickly learned to cut them off on their way to their burrow. The chizzlers would stop and stare at him when confronted by the 100 pound labrador and he would do the death-chomp on them. He was really proud of himself. Bounty Hunter 6 thought it was fun to watch and then finally realized he had been hunting for about 2 hours and not fired a shot as the big bad black lab had done all the hunting and Bounty Hunter 6 was just an observer.
I guess I will have to go to Idaho and hunt rockchucks and The Unitah Basin and hunt prairie dogs. Chizzlers are on another planet for now. {Maybe I can sneak close to Area 51 and find some space chizzlers, I have made the targets for practice already.}
* Practice target for the Supreme Commander. Just in case you wondered.
