High Ho, High Ho, . . It's Off to Chizzle I Go ! !

I disappeared out of work a few hours on Monday afternoon and went to meet with the Southern California contingent of Chizzler Hunters Anonymous.  We got together on the western edge of a circular and proceeded to mow down some crop stealers in wholesale fashion.  Bill and Brad are find shots and seem to know the ropes in chizzler reaping.  Basically, the idea is to 1.  Take no prisoners, and 2. Try for doubles to conserve ammunition when possible.  Here is a photo of the fine chaps from Shamu Town.

Preparing to reap.

88 yards from the squirrel-o-matic

MR. BOB ENDS HIS CHIZZLER SEASON

Trying to make it to cover . . .  too late

On Friday, 6-3-2016 I went to Enterprise at 8:10 a.m. to join up with Mr. Bob and go for his last chizzler hunt of the year.  He had to return home within the next 24 hours.   I was hoping this was going to be great event for him and me.  The conditions were more or less perfect for hunting varmints.  The weather was in the mid  to lower 80º's and there was little or no wind.  The sun was out but it wasn't overly hot.  I could feel it was going to be a great day for hunting farmers' profit stealers.   Not to mention -- I had been working all week and as I have said many times: WORK GETS IN THE WAY OF HAVING FUN!

When I arrived in the parking lot of the motel where Mr. Bob stays I was greeted not only by my dear friend Mr. Bob but also there were 5 other fellows there.  The were fine looking chaps about my age and I was pretty sure they were chizzlers hunters as well.  When I exited my truck I announced to them I was from PETA and wanted to take all their names.  The was a round of laughter at my foolishness.  Turns out they were indeed avid chizzler hunters from Southern California.  They had come up for a few days to help the farmers in Iron County eliminate profit eaters and thusly put away a significant pile of chizzlers.  I was glad to meet them and we were brothers in arms almost instantly.  The majority of them were firemen or retired firemen.  I have a "warm" place in my heart for firemen.  Bounty Hunter 6 and Mr. Bob are both firemen.  They risk their lives at work for you and yours and even your property.  They are not paid enough nor given enough respect.  One fellow was a beverage distributor and I am glad to make his acquaintance also.  They were all great guys.  Sorry they had to leave for home so quick.  I would like to have hunted with them this year.  Maybe we can connect next season.  I need to watch their style and learn some new tricks in reaping chizzlers.

Mr. Bob and I went to a new circular pivot spot and set up the Reaper Trailer.  We got into the squirrel-o-matics at around 8:35 a.m. and the rodent targets came out for their morning constitutionals.  Mr. Bob and I started to deny them their "constitutional rights" and administer to them "last rites."  I shot as fast as I dared always concentrating on breathing, trigger control, sight alignment, and follow through.  I was counting hits out loud as was Mr. Bob for the first while.  I racked up 46 hits out of my first 50 shots.  Not that my shooting was extra special, just the targets were slow moving, pausing lots allowing for my dead-rest target hold, and really not that far away.  I actually took 5+ chizzlers with my .22 handgun.  They were so close I could shoot them over open iron sights with my almost legally blind eyes, like 5 to 9 yards out from the Reaper Trailer.

Most of the brass fired

I only talked to Mr. Bob while we loaded magazines.  I was amazed at how many chizzlers there were in the small section of the circular we were hunting.  There was actually almost no alfalfa growing in the area as it had all been eaten by the chizzlers.  Mr. Bob and I agreed we had never had shooting like this before.  The Reaper Trailer with the squirrel-o-matics on top makes for a super platform to see and shoot from.  I calculate we were firing from a height of about 8 feet above the ground.  We had a distinct advantage as to visibility and angle of pursuit.  I have shot 1,000's of chizzlers from the bed of my pickup truck using a squirrel-o-matic over the years but the extra 4 feet of elevation afforded by the Reaper Trailer is perfect.  We shot and loaded magazines and shot some more.  We were taking down hundreds of chizzlers and more just kept coming.  Bounty Hunter 6 has told me about situations like this he has enjoyed but I had never experienced one for my self.  It was amazing.  I fired over 500 rounds in the 3.5 hours we were hunting.  Think about loading magazines, firing through a bolt action and using over 500 rounds in 3.5 hours.  It was quick and it was terminal for hundreds of chizzlers. 

Head shot while trying to peak out

Camp fire meeting, notice no alfalfa

I was shooting a .22 LR and Mr. Bob was shooting a .17HMR.  We both use Savage rifles.  Mine is a Mark II heavy barrel with a Burris 4.5-14X 42mm scope.  Mr. Bob shoots a Savage M93 stainless in .17 HMR with a Leupold VX-2 3-9X 40mm scope.  I like the Burris scope as it has stadia lines on the vertical crosshair for different distances.  The rifle is sighted in to hit dead center at 50 yards.  The first stadia line is for 75 yards, the second one for 100 yards, and the third is for 125 yards.  The scope works well for me.  The rifle is accurate and if I do my part the mechanism is exact.  When I miss I know where the fault lies, and it is not with glass or steel.

Mr. Bob is gone home for now.  Bounty Hunter 6 is fighting fire in Alaska. I am here by myself and accompanied only by those who can steal some time to help the agriculturalists in Iron County.  It is a tough job but someone has to do it.  I volunteer.

THEY JUST KEEP COMING . . . AND COMING . . .AND COMING . . .

Memorial Day 2016 -- I took the morning off and met up with Mr. Bob at his Chizzler Reaper trailer in Iron County, Utah.  He and I started the adventure at around 8:30 a.m.  The chizzlers were already there in scrambling around big time numbers waiting for us, and eating lots of alfalfa.  We loaded our .22 LR caliber rifles and started to "reap" them in vast quantities.  Bob and I went straight to work.  We didn't really get to chat and reminisce of olden days reaping chizzlers.  We were surrounded by targets and the more we shot, it seemed, the more they came up out of their underground hides (condos).

Bob is all business.

103 Yards from the squirrel-o-matic

A whole condo complex taken out.

We shot for 2 1/2 hours.  I kept loading my 3 magazines (2 ea. 10 round and 1ea. 5 round) and then would concentrate on each individual shot.  Focus for the shot, hold on the appropriate stadia line on the vertical crosshair, allow for Kentucky windage if necessary,  hold breath, press trigger consistently and follow through.  I was hitting the critters at from 10 to 134 yards with good consistency, over 70% I think.   I was not there to waste ammunition -- I was there to waste chizzlers.  Chizzlers were being reaped by the dozens.  Bob and I finally had to take a break at around 10:30 a.m.  The number or potential targets had not subsided to any great degree, but our fingers were sore from loading magazines and my scope eye was tired and needed a rest.  {You probably don't understand scope eye tired, but hours of concentrated eye use behind a spotting scope looking for game or targeting chizzlers while hunting will make your eye rather fatigued.  Actually, it is a lovely experience.}

I took a few old Herd Bulls in my efforts.  They are big targets but they don't go down easy to a 22 LR.  I had to head shoot some of  the monster chizzlers to anchor them.  I like to get the old ones out of the gene pool.  They are too big, they eat too much, and they have an attitude.  They seem to think they are wearing tiny kevlar vests or something.  They come and go as they please in their world, they knock around the smaller chizzlers, and they are cannibals.  Yes, they eat the dead ones or almost dead ones that are shot in their proximity.

red outline for cannibals

By 11:30 a.m. I was exhausted. My trigger finger has a slight blister, my shooting eye is exhausted, and I was more or less, out of ammo.  I had fired 300+ rounds of 22 LR.  I congratulated Bob on a wonderful shoot.  I packed up my gear.  I took these photos.  I drove home.  What a day !

A HUNTER---ING WE WILL GO !

My grandson and I went up to Iron County to help the farmers again.  Monday morning, 5-23-2016, we did our duty for agriculture and for "fun".  Hunter is a pretty darn good shot.  He harvested several dozen of the little profit eaters.  YES, I was/am proud of him.  He is a great kid {straight "A" student, honorable Deacon at church, active Boy Scout, great poet, helps with whatever job around the house or work project . . .} and a good shot, what else is there?  {Hopefully, someday he will learn to cook as well as his dad.}

HERD BULLS

I have been trying to get up to Iron County to hunt chizzlers as often as work will allow.  The major problem is: work won't allow it enough !  I always tell my friends, and family, and anyone who will listen, that "work gets in the way of having fun."  I did manage to get away on Monday, 5-16-16, and hunt for about two hours.  Unfortunately, in mid morning the weather started to go against me -- dark clouds, wind, and the rain started to fall.  I left the field of extermination way before I was ready {I actually still had some ammo.} and went back to work in Santa Clara.  I did manage to shoot about 200 chizzlers in the short time I was there.  The farmers are so glad to have the crop eating demons out of their economic picture.  I haven't written too much about my hunting adventures of late, sorry.  Maybe some photos will make up for my absence in cyber space. ?

Gang of chizzlers and one herd bull.

95 yards from the truck and they thought they were out of range.

Spy looking out of hole left me only a head shot.

2 herd bulls with a pistol to give relative size idea.

RICHARDSON GROUND SQUIRREL

Richardson Ground Squirrel a.k.a. chizzleramos maximus humori.  Let me tell you these little critters eat tons of alfalfa hay every year.  The farmers in Iron County Utah really want them gone as they chizzle their profits way down.  The framers trap them, leave out poison grain for them, and have gone so far as to pump poison gas down their burrows.  Bounty Hunter 6 and I have been doing our duty for the agriculturalists.  We have gone together to hunt on over 12 occasions.  I doubt we have taken less than 300 on any one hunting trip.  I believe Bounty Hunter 6 has taken many more on other hunts when I couldn't go due to work scheduling.  All-in-all Bounty Hunter 6 probably has taken over 3,000+ chizzlers this spring.  The rascals can relax now as he is out of town working for awhile.

My grandson came to visit on his spring break and it snowed in the chizzler fields.  We went out anyway and Hunter took maybe 40 or more of the beasties.  His father took a couple hundred the same morning.  We had a great time with the white background shooting at the brown/gray chizzlers painted with red on the snow.  I was honestly worried about delivering the great hunting I had talked about in email and on the phone due to the snow -- but the little vermin were hungry and out looking for food even with a skiff of snow on the ground.  My worry was for naught.

I need to wait for the weather to clear and my work to be caught up, than off to Iron County I go, high ho, high ho, high ho . . .  Looking for Richardson Ground Squirrels . . . . .

10 IN A ROW

We have been enjoying good weather, e.g. 75ºF afternoons, and  the emergence of more chizzlers from winter hibernation than we have ever seen before.  I shot the photographed vermin the other day with one single 10 round magazine full of .22 L.R. rounds in less than 10 minutes.  Yes, they were all out at the same time and within a 10 square yard radius.

I can only say there have been so many chizzlers out two different farmers have driven out into the field where I was shooting to ask me to come shoot on their land when I finish up where I am currently hunting.  The spring weather has the little varmints out and eating like combines.  On Fri. 3-25-2016 my two sons and I were hunting with Bounty Hunter 6 and we, four, managed to stop the crop damage of over 1,000 chizzlers in one field. 

It is the time of year!  We have found the spot! Chizzler hunting has never been better!  If only I had some good sources for ammunition. . . . .