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08-10-2013, 08:15 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: East Central Alberta
Posts: 8,315
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Gopher hunting vs Gopher shooting
Between 1100 - 1700 hrs today, a buddy and I took about 90 gophers and I can tell you it was a tough go... long grass and no shots under 35M. They seemed very wary and numbers were down from years past. Never saw a pair on the same mound all day.
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08-10-2013, 08:24 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Location
Posts: 4,961
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What's your point? Illustrating the hunt as opposed to easy shooting? 90 sounds fantastic to me.
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08-10-2013, 08:35 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Camrose
Posts: 45,159
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Quote:
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What's your point? Illustrating the hunt as opposed to easy shooting? 90 sounds fantastic to me.
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90 in six hours is a slow day, in some locations, during some years.
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Only accurate guns are interesting.
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08-10-2013, 08:41 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: WMU 108
Posts: 6,308
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elkhunter11
90 in six hours is a slow day, in some locations, during some years.
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Yup , in a good location or should I say a location with lots of the varmints .. It is not unusual to take 400-500 in a day . A brick of shells doesn't last long .
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08-10-2013, 08:49 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Lethbridge
Posts: 4,050
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Quote:
Originally Posted by H380
Yup , in a good location or should I say a location with lots of the varmints .. It is not unusual to take 400-500 in a day . A brick of shells doesn't last long .
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second last time I was out it was a brick and a half, last time was just about half a brick, although I wasnt out for long, just a couple hours, had somewhere else to be  good times 
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08-10-2013, 08:56 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Look behind you :)
Posts: 27,780
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All this talk of bricks?
I empty and refill my quiver many times....not sure how many shots I take
Is there a conversion factor to convert quivers to bricks and vice versa?
LC
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08-10-2013, 09:01 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Lethbridge
Posts: 4,050
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lefty-Canuck
All this talk of bricks?
I empty and refill my quiver many times....not sure how many shots I take
Is there a conversion factor to convert quivers to bricks and vice versa?
LC |
Lmao, no pretty well the same, 500 or so bow shots = a brick
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08-10-2013, 09:04 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: WMU 108
Posts: 6,308
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lefty-Canuck
All this talk of bricks?
I empty and refill my quiver many times....not sure how many shots I take
Is there a conversion factor to convert quivers to bricks and vice versa?
LC |
LOL .. Only you would be looking for a conversion factor.. 
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08-10-2013, 09:09 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Look behind you :)
Posts: 27,780
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Quote:
Originally Posted by H380
LOL .. Only you would be looking for a conversion factor.. |
It's got to be measureable somehow
That's how my analytical mind works
LC
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08-10-2013, 09:18 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: WMU 108
Posts: 6,308
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lefty-Canuck
It's got to be measureable somehow
That's how my analytical mind works
LC |
OK .. you truly are a lost cause .. lol.
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08-10-2013, 09:41 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: East Central Alberta
Posts: 8,315
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elkhunter11
90 in six hours is a slow day, in some locations, during some years.
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A couple of hundred would have been "normal" ... I'm not sure if the long grass/hay has cut back numbers as they don't like the habitat so much...
Did see a couple of badgers duke it out..they are ferocius.
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08-10-2013, 09:58 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Look behind you :)
Posts: 27,780
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 260 Rem
Did see a couple of badgers duke it out..they are ferocius.
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Did you lay them to rest? I saw two big bad badgers duke it out in the middle of a gravel road a few years back.....I wouldn't want to break up that fight.
LC
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08-10-2013, 10:36 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: central Alberta
Posts: 12,629
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 260 Rem
Between 1100 - 1700 hrs today, a buddy and I took about 90 gophers and I can tell you it was a tough go... long grass and no shots under 35M. They seemed very wary and numbers were down from years past. Never saw a pair on the same mound all day.
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The numbers might not be down. The mature gophers will go underground in August and go into a light hibernation. After July you will usually see just juveniles above ground. Adults might not come out much again until spring. So you might think the numbers are down.
I would say if you are shooting 90 in a day, that might account for the numbers being down too.
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08-10-2013, 10:37 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 12,558
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elkhunter11
90 in six hours is a slow day, in some locations, during some years.
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It sure is.
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08-10-2013, 10:41 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: East Central Alberta
Posts: 8,315
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Let them live to eat more gophers Kind of a toss-up. Badgers kill lots of gophers = good.
Badgers leave big holes after digging out gophers = bad. Cows don't run much so very seldom injure legs in badger holes. Horses in that pasture would have likely changed the outcome. The sound was something I've never heard before ... like two cats with laringitis except it was real loud.
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08-10-2013, 10:47 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: East Central Alberta
Posts: 8,315
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elkhunter11
90 in six hours is a slow day, in some locations, during some years.
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We have taken close to 500 in about the same amount of time (but in early June), but not for a couple of years now. I should add, we had never shot this field before. There were lots of mounds..could be like Red said, and adults were staying down?
EDIT: They were also very wary. Don't think we had a single gopher surface within 35M. In fact, most shots were in the 60 - 90 M range. Both my .22's performed well. The VQ did most of the work because with long grass and long shots, a miss means working the bolt gives you a good chance of losing sight of the little bugger. At the end of the day, I was pretty close to an 80% shot/kill ratio.
Last edited by 260 Rem; 08-10-2013 at 10:59 PM.
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08-10-2013, 11:47 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Red Deer
Posts: 1,467
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Sounds like the VC (Varmit Cong) are getting a bit wise this year,
Time to break out the big guns!
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08-11-2013, 07:44 AM
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,024
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Quote:
Originally Posted by winger7mm
Lmao, no pretty well the same, 500 or so bow shots = a brick |
That brick of arrows is gonna be huuuuuuge
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08-11-2013, 07:51 AM
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Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 337
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Richardson Ground Squirrel Plague?
A friend in my area went out in spring to hunt/shoot some Richardson Ground Squirrels and there were none to be found, is there some kind of plague preventing us from honing our hunting/shooting skills? 
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08-11-2013, 08:03 AM
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Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Viking
Posts: 1,220
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Best I've done was arrowing 145 in a day back in June. Now a dozen is about the most I can stick.
As for how many arrows in a brick? I'd have to go with a 100, the guys with .22s seem to average 5 shots to my one arrow. Shoulder is a lot sorer after a brick of arrows lol
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08-11-2013, 09:08 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Look behind you :)
Posts: 27,780
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Quote:
Originally Posted by C Taylor
Best I've done was arrowing 145 in a day back in June. Now a dozen is about the most I can stick.
As for how many arrows in a brick? I'd have to go with a 100, the guys with .22s seem to average 5 shots to my one arrow. Shoulder is a lot sorer after a brick of arrows lol
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I like your thinking! 5:1 conversion it is!
LC
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08-11-2013, 09:34 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: East Central Alberta
Posts: 8,315
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If it's legal to shoot a bow out of the back of a pick-up, it would be big advantage for the tall grass situation
I do think that numbers are down in some areas previously badly infested due to easliy transferable disease -- similar to rabbit die-offs?
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08-11-2013, 02:05 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 12,078
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It is the middle of August. The torpor process is starting to take effect. That means less gophers coming out.
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