Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Rockchucks around irrigated fields

I have been hunting rockchucks for over 20 years and have seen some crazy things about their reproduction. Generally speaking, I put off hunting them until the little ones are able to survive by themselves.

My experiences tell me that there is a pattern of never seeing the very large, old chucks. I have observed them for years from distances and see what happens when the old chucks hear or see a vehicle. They head for the den and don't poke their head out for extended periods of time. I have been able to shoot two very large chucks, one sitting on a rock sunning himself at 100 yards. The other poked its head out of a den and I shot it from 200 yards.

The latter chuck was 28" from nose to base of the tail. I figured it weighed over 25 lbs. I was recently in central Oregon and the land owner told me he killed a big one years ago that he weighed. Said it went 32 lbs. That is a huge chuck and he had no reason to stretch the truth.

Another observation, is if one wants the chucks to abandon a den, is to cripple a chuck and let it go underground and die. In those situations where I have had that happen, the next season there would not be any chucks or sign of them at that den.

On the two pieces of ground we hunt in central Oregon, we have shot over 60 chucks each of the last three years. It seems to not matter how many we shoot, they continue to produce more young. In the piece of ground I shoot in s. Oregon, we have shot between 56-66 chucks each year for many years. Yet the populations tend to be about the same each year.

So, it makes my case that the survivors are those older chucks that no one sees very often. I would also have to figure they are the producers of the young chucks that show each year. I realize that there are some 2-3 year old chucks that survive, but mainly the old one sustain the populations.

I would be interested in others experiences regarding chucks. By the way, I called the rancher in S. Oregon and he said they have a bumper crop of chucks this year. He also stated that after we left last year after killing 66, he saw very few until spring.

a week ago I saw a young one out in a field.. but he saw my truck about 500 yds away, and didn't show his face the rest of the day...

last one I shot was at 350 yds...

they are smart enough to figure out, seeing humans is hazardous to their health...

Taking them off of nice irrigated crops , , ,

Do ya ever eat any of them?

Louis, I have never ever thought of eating them, although I have heard guys talk about how good the young ones are. I have eaten gray squirrels here in W. Oregon and can't imagine they would taste much different.

I am taking off wednesday to southern Oregon for a couple days trying to take the populations down.

When I lived in S. Ore we used to use the chucks for stalking practice for this very reason. It was a challenge to oneself and our buddies to see who could get the best shots on them. The sneak was always fun but not always rewarded.

Only hunted around irrigated fields a couple of times. The areas saw lots of hunting pressure and we didn't do all that well, only ever got a handful of shots.

I spent many years hunting hard for chucks and finally learned areas that saw little pressure and had lots of chucks. Having good hunting partners, with excellent equipment also helped. On two occasions we shot over 100 chucks in a single day and both times in the same area. We didn't wait for the babies. Populations never changed much even when we hunted the same general area hard - I had 333 confirmed hits one season, figured we took over 700 chucks that year. Wild fire went through the area and all but annihilated the population

I believe the cannibalistic nature of the chucks results in better feeding opportunities during the critical time when pups are still in the den.

In other words, I'm helping feed the survivors.

Boise, you are a rockchuck hunter in my book. Seven hundred chucks in one year is quite an accomplishment.I just got home this afternoon from S. Central Oregon after experiencing the most dynamic event ever. We got there on wednesday afternoon and spent about an hour scouting. I have never seen the likes of chucks ever.We ended up shooting for three hours and the three of us shot 70 chucks.

We then hunted on thursday and my son joined us. We shot an additional 110. Then this morning, we shot another 38 with three of us, then hightailed it home.

As I stated earlier, when we left last june, the farmer saw very few chucks. Then came a good winter and the carryover and birth rate just escalated. There are sage rats and chucks eating into the alfalfa 40 yards out from the perimeter and maybe a hundred yards long. I have never seen the numbers that we are now seeing. We only shoot around 60 per year on the same real estate.

What an extra ordinary experience.

Jealous here.

Fred, appears you've out done me - never shot 110 in a day, got over a hundred but not 110. Odd thing was when we hit an area hard I would swear it was even better the next season. Will continue to believe its the supplemental high protein feeding until someone teaches me other.

Always enjoyable being in a target rich environment with a fine shooting rifle, superb optics, and great people.

Boise,my two shooting buddies and I shoot the year round just to stay in shooting shape for chucks. The oldest of the group is 75 and the youngest is 66. Getting out like that is like the little kid in us coming out except at the end of the day, we are spent. Damn it is awful to get old and only be able to last a couple days of intense shooting.

You are so correct about the food being the key to high numbers of chucks. In fact, the farmer had sage rat numbers really low on his farm and this year the populations have exploded. They are all over the fields of alfalfa. Just like it was years ago. Oh, by the way, the weather last winter in the Klamath Basin, was mild compared to years past. That seems to be the belief of why so many survived the winter and reproduced.

Fred and Boise, what are your favorite rockchuck calibers??? Last ones I shot used my pistols as they were under old buildings and the rancher wanted them shot..

Wyo, That is a difficult question to answer because of where we shoot. We have lots of horses and cattle to continually be on the lookout. I have two favorites in the case above, one a mini mauser with a PacNor barrel in 20 TAC. Use a 40 Vmax at 3650 out of a 1-10 twist. The other is a Sako with a PacNOr barrel in 223. I shoot 50 gr. SP Hornadys at 3350. Since I twist knobs max speed is not an issue. I have killed chucks out pat 325 yards with these two guns.

When shooting over 350 yards, I shoot a Sako HB 243 w/75 gr. HP. I use it when were not dealing with livestock or houses/equipment. I usually know with all three guns, that if I miss, it is my fault.

The live stock issue and buildings seems to be one many have forgotten these days.. Nice to hear someone mention safety again..

I just got home from a 5 hour trip. This was a truly unique hunt as both of my sons and a grandson were all shooting chucks. Started out on Monday afternoon about 4:00 pm. There were three 223's, a 17 Fireball and my 20 TAC.

We kind of threw my grandson from the frying pan into the fire. Seems he thought he knew more than anyone else and his success that evening caused a softening of his attitude. He wanted to know what he was doing wrong. His improvement the next day was memorable. Most shots were at 200 yards and further. We ended the day a little after 7:00 with 80 chucks. Very few came easy.

The next day, Tuesday, started off at 6:00 and very few chucks were seen unless we were hidden in the shadows. It was hit and miss until late afternoon when they came out of the rock dens to feed. We intercepted them as they came to the alfalfa fields.

Incidence of importance:

Grandson made his first kill at 250 yards.
Youngest son made a killing shot at 338 yards w/my Sako 223 and this was the first chuck hunt for them both.
My oldest son shot the most as he is an excellent shot and can spot chucks when no one else can.

My best shot with a 20 TAC was at 369 yards with a 40 Vmax. He was lying on top of a rock sideways to me. At the shot he vaulted into the air in almost two pieces.

I have never seen a crop of chucks like this year. They have eaten the perimeter around the alfalfa fields for about 100' or so. This is a small farm that produced over 350 chucks for two trips this season. I have never seen anything like it in my 22 years of shooting chucks.It is what I call a bumper crop. It was such a memorable trip and finding that many chucks was a treat of a lifetime for my sons and grandson.

Sound like fun was had by all, sure wish I was near some great chuck hunting. A good area like yours will draw in chucks from the surrounding area to fill the voids you're creating. I see some marmots in the Black Hills but I think they may be protected. But don't feel too bad for me since I have a couple of prairie dog towns on private land within 30 minutes.

In answer to the other poster's question which cartridge I use most, that would be my 220 Swift followed by my 6mm. The Swift is a Remington VSSF and the 6mm is a 40X.

In the late 70's, there were very few people that had the equipment to take out a lot of chucks, and the pest populations were high. We hammered them very hard with Rem 700's Varmints in 6 Remington and Ruger varmint in 243 Win. I had 6x-18x Redfields on my rifles.

We would set up to shoot 350 yards away from the closest shots, so our shots would range from 350 yards to 600 yards. We laid down on the ground and shot after we had driven the truck approximately half a mile away or out of sight, this is key in shooting large numbers of chucks. My hunting partner and I took turns laying down shooting, while the other guy sat in a short leg lounge chair(spotting), they called Beach Chairs back then. We never stood up and walked around or talked with a loud voice, chucks are scared to death of a human's voice.

We took our time after setting up, getting ready to shoot. Spotting the "big" ones that called out the alarm to the others was first priority. If you could shoot the big ones in the head, it would just lie there. When others could see the big one, the rocks just kept pumping out more chucks. Smaller chucks were feeding in and out of the hay fields constantly.

We hammered the chucks so hard after 3 years, the numbers were not the same ever again...we had to keep finding new spots. The farmers loved us, and they spread the word on the good job we were doing. One farmer in particular had a problem with chucks in his cattle feed yard. He told is that if we happened to hit a cow to come and get him, he needed meat in the freezer anyhow.
We never hit a cow, and we hammered the chucks Hard in that feedlot.

Our best day was a little over 330 chucks, and that year we got over 900 chucks....we did not think to much of it at the time. We only hunted around hay fields.

The rifle range that we were members of had target butts to 550 yards. So by the time that we got to the chuck hunting, our equipment was dialed in for distance shooting which is critical for chuck hunting.

We had tried a large number of different calibers and loved the 6 Remington due to the fact that the bullet did not blow in the wind much, and it had enough remaining energy to give really good blow ups on chucks.

Keith, I have to say I really enjoyed your history of shooting chucks. I recall some old time friends of mine talking about
those days in the 60's and 70's shooting chucks. I was too busy working those days and just never got into hunting them until the 90's.

I especially agree with your ideas of being stealthy. One of the advantages I have is we have lots of Juniper trees to hide under with the sun at our backs most of the time. Many seem to think they can just go out and there are tons of chucks to shoot. When I first started hunting this particular place, we were after sage rats and had no idea the populations were in shootable numbers. One day at noon, we stopped
to have lunch under a large cottonwood tree. My partner had his spotting scope set up and we started seeing chuck numbers like never before. That is when we started shooting them.

When we left after our last trip, we saw dozens of them running around. I always try to be responsible in our killing of chucks. Part of the ranch we hunt, we have really not even bothered.

Thank you so much for posting on this thread, as your experiences are what I was looking for .

Fascinating stories of the old days and today.. Thanks..

many of my fond memories of hunting were hunting rock chucks. My Grandfather had irrigated fields, surrounded by lava flow rock piles near Idaho Falls, ID. Each summer when we went to visit him, my brothers and I would get his old 22's and sit out there and simply have the time of our lives. Looking back now, those times hunting rock chucks were what got me into hunting.

Man, that was over 40 years ago.

Thanks for bringing up the topic. My mind will be swimming now for the rest of the evening in some of the happiest days of my life, surrounded by times and people who are no longer with me.

I grew up eating cotton tail rabbits. I still think that Rabbit gravy and biscuits is some of the best eating on the planet.

Always wondered how the young chucks would taste, all they ate was hay, should have been some really fine eating.

Flagstaff, one of the places that I hunted was near Idaho Falls. We hunted a lot around Twin falls, The Gooding area, and Shoshone. Sherriff Brown had a place that had a large Horseshoe Canyon that was lined with lava rock, alfalfa fields all around. We parked out in the mouth of the horseshoe and the canyon was 500 yards wide and 700 yards deep with the 30' canyon walls. Chucks had ate up the first 50-75 yards of the alfalfa field, and we designated that short stubble as "No Man's Land". The chucks fed from the tall alfalfa to the rock pile, and as they crossed No Man's Land, they got hammered. We got to where we could hit them on the run pretty good.

When they got their belly's full, they would want to lay out on the sun and feed. The younger chucks looked like gold Kleenex boxes laying on the jet Black Lava rock. The shooting was hot and heavy as we would dump out 50 rounds and fire as fast as we could acquire targets and stuff the magazine full. I had to put a band aid on my right thumb from stuffing rounds in the magazine after 4 days of shooting.

Sherriff got the word out that he had hunters shooting on his property and neighbors had not need to be concerned. Our shooting must have sounded like a war. As we left to go to lunch or coming or going off his property, neighbors would block the road and at first we thought that we were going to get robbed. They insisted that they had more chucks than the sheriff and we should come to their ranch immediately. We had more than one rancher tell us that between the jackrabbits and the chucks, that they might loose their ranch. We shot the chucks mainly, then went back up for the jacks after the chucks had hibernated.

I was lucky that I married a Southern Girl whose uncle and brother hunted at every chance available. Most women would have divorced me.