Although a bow is my preferred weapon of choice for most of my hunting excursions, I’ve always had a love for accurate rifles and long-range shooting. I own a couple of deer and elk rifles that I consider to be fairly accurate by most hunters’ standards, but I’ve never had a rifle that was capable of producing the groups required by hardcore varmint hunters who consistently take shots at over 400 yards. But all that was about to change after a visit to East Coast Gun Sales earlier this summer.

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO BELOW FROM OUR HUNT!

I knew I wanted a rifle primarily for groundhog hunting, but also capable of taking coyotes, so before I made the trip to East Coast, I spent a lot of time researching different calibers. After a lot of reading and some talks with some experienced varmint hunters, I had pretty much settled on a .22-250 for the low recoil, flat trajectory, and superior accuracy with a wide range of different loads. My conversation with the staff at East Coast confirmed these facts and after some time examining several different models, I left that day with a new Remington 700 VS SF II and a few accessories guaranteed to help me drive tacks.

The new .22-250 during its first trip to the range.

I could hardly wait to get back home and head to the range to sight it in. After a few rounds at the 100-yard target, a couple of the bullets appeared to miss the paper until I realized that they’d found the same hole as earlier shots. Yes, this rifle was something special! Some fine-tuning at the reloading bench produced even more impressive results, and after a session at my neighbor’s 300-yard range, I was confident that I could kill a whistlepig at that distance.

John glasses the field, looking for grass grizzlies.

Fortunately, not long after getting my rifle sighted in, Jason and I received an invitation from John and Chris O’Hara to come and hunt groundhogs near John’s home in central PA. John works for Summit Treestands and his son Chris is the Event Director for the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show held in Harrisburg, PA every year. After hearing that John and Chris were die-hard varmint hunters with many years of experience under their belts, I was excited to hunt with them and learn as much as I could.

Taking aim while Chris and John watch for the impact.

Jason and I met John and Chris on a Friday after work with plans of hunting that night and again the following morning. The weather was perfect with lots of sunshine and light winds. We were soon perched on top of a knoll overlooking several hundred acres of rolling hayfields interspersed with strips of corn. The plan was to sit for a while and see if we could catch any woodchucks feeding in the freshly cut hayfield.

My first whistlepig with my new rifle from East Coast.

At first, the action was slow. But after about 20 minutes, a cautious grass grizzly emerged from the woodline and slowly entered the field. Without a rangefinder, our group decided the shot would be roughly 200 yards. John took careful aim and sent a 55-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip through the varmint’s chest. We all congratulated him on a nice shot and were happy to be on the board.

John takes careful aim at a distant hog.

A short time later, another whistlepig appeared at the end of the long field. This time, it was my turn and the distance to the hog was slightly over 300 yards. I was hoping my first shot of the evening would be a little shorter, but I wasn’t about to pass up a good opportunity to test the new rifle. When I squeezed the trigger, a puff of smoke flew from the top of the marmot’s head and he dropped in his tracks. The other guys whooped and hollered and I breathed a sigh of relief, happy that the gun performed so well and relieved that I hadn’t botched the shot. Not that I wasn’t confident, mind you, but it’s not often that I shoot at that distance!

Chris with a nice hog he took after a well-planned stalk.

The rest of the evening, we took turns shooting as more chucks emerged from their holes. It sounds funny to say, but the O’Haras take an approach to varmint hunting that would probably be characterized as “run and gun” by most hunters. We moved from one spot to the next, glassing the known hole locations and moving on if no hogs were visible.  The tactic proved to be very effective!

John gets in position for a 450+ yard shot.

The action was steady and we harvested hogs from a variety of locations. John was the MVP of the night, notching kills both off-hand and at distances over 450 yards. We all had an absolute blast (pun shamelessly intended)! As the sun began to sink below the rolling hills, we had taken 13 whistlepigs and were all excited to find out what the next day would bring.

The makings of the infamous “double”, two hogs with one shot!

Saturday morning came with the threat of thunderstorms as day progressed, so we grabbed some quick breakfast and headed for another one of John’s hot spots.  Storm clouds loomed in the distance, but we got set up overlooking a likely spot and hoped to get a few shots in before the rain started.  As we glassed the fields below, I heard John say, “There’s one! No, there’s two!”

My face was priceless after taking both chucks off the bale!

John later told me that the chance to take a “double” usually occurs about once a year for a die-hard varminter.  And John would certainly know, after averaging between 500 and 700 groundhogs a summer!  Being the excellent hosts that they are, both John and Chris wanted me to have the chance to take the shot.  We didn’t have time to argue, so I quickly found the hogs in the crosshairs.  As the .22-250 barked, both marmots tumbled off of the back of the hay bale.  I was ecstatic to say the least!  And that’s when the effects of Groundhog Fever set in…I shook and laughed and bawled all at the same time!  Well, maybe it wasn’t quite that bad, but I was pretty wound up!

Whistlepigs beware, we’re coming to a field near you!

I can’t thank John and Chris enough for the invitation to hunt with them and showing us how the pros kill hogs.  Well, maybe there’s no such thing as varmint professionals, but if there were, these guys would be it!  I learned more about long-range shooting in those two days than I probably could have in two years on my own.  On the way home, I was actually taking notes and trying to remember all of the tips I’d received over the weekend.  No kidding!

I can tell you that if you’ve never given varmint hunting a try, you owe it to yourself to set aside some time this summer.  It had been quite a while since I’d set my sights on a whistlepig, and I honestly forgot how much fun it is!  Plus, it’s a great opportunity to introduce youngsters to hunting while the weather’s warm and sitting motionless for hours isn’t a requirement.  And like John told me, he rarely meets farmers who aren’t accomodating and happy to rid their fields of the burrowing pests.  Give varmint hunting a try this summer, you’ll be glad you did!