Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Plethora of Rock Chucks

Don't know why, but every spot in this region that looks like good habit has several of these guys sitting or running around this spring. I think the rut might be on as well. Rock Chucks aka Yellow Bellied Marmots. As a kid I was passionate about pursuing the eastern version (Wood Chucks). Don't know why, but I give these a pass here unless I'm in need of some fly tying materials.

Neat little critters to just sit and watch. I suspect in some areas they may raid gardens or lawns, but ours seem to be in the isolated rims and boulder fields where they do no harm.

Any public land areas there to hunt?

I'll let 1minute answer that specifically, but it is in E OR. Only a few million acres near him.

I shot one off my front deck this morning. He saw me peeking out the garage door and dived off the side. Then he had his eyes barely peeking over the edge watching me slowly opening the door just enough to poke the gun out. 40', just right for a scoped .22 to skull cap him. We don't need chucks living under the deck.

Loved shooting those when I lived in Oregon. Made my longest confirmed kill at 535 yards on one. They’re around here just not in places or numbers where a guy can shoot them. Thanks for the memories!

We have a few million more acres of them here in so. central ID. The chucks are out in force. The grass hasn't greened up yet, though, so I don't know what they're eating.

We got their eastern brethren the groundhog here, but each year they get harder to hunt it seems. Used to find them as easy targets everywhere in wide open fields etc, now they seem to be more in the wooded areas and near the houses etc. Still manage to shoot a dozen or so a year though.

In Alberta, we have the hoary marmot in the high mountains, the woodchuck in thinly scattered in the boreal forest and the yellow-bellied marmots on the plains and foothills where there is rimrocks. Strangely the yellow-bellied marmot (rockchuck) is protected. I have no clue why.

I go to Idaho every chance I get and shoot as many as I can. They cause millions of dollars in damage to alpha fields.

As Valsdad said:

Funnest trip I did last year was do a chuck hunt. I have converted one of my guns over to chuck specific. I am ready to go nuts on them. 243 ai pumping 75 vmaxs to 3700. The Handful I got with that combo, just exploded, provoking a speechless moment from the other guy in the binoculars. Any recommendations for southern Idaho?

Plethora: 1. a large or excessive amount of (something).

Never caught that. Will have to pay better attention on the next viewing.

Oregon

I grew up in Idaho. Bought my first .22-250 with money I earned mowing lawns, I was twelve years old. Got a loan to add to the balance that my folks signed for me at the local credit union! Wow, diid I love that Remington Model 700 in .22-250 I could smoke those chucks at 300 yards or better. Still have that rifle today but it is now a .22-250AI. Had it re-barreled and customized, a thing of beauty.

My story is similar

My story is similar to yours. I bought a 700 bdl in 6mm with lawn mowing money. I killed lots of chucks around the Milner area with it. I still have the rifle.

I'm going to have to make a trip to burley this spring. I have several old spots that I haven't been to for a few years. It was shooting chucks that got me interested in long range shooting. 25 years ago I was ranging with a mil dot reticle and dialing with scopes not really set up to dial. I remember when the first weaver grandslams came out how excited I was to be able to reset the dial to zero and have clicks that were pretty consistent. My first Lazer range finder in the late 90s was a game changer.

Bb

Same here in Ohio. Damned coyotes.

I've noticed that too in Virginia. Use to shoot them in the middle of hay fields. Now they all live under barns. I've heard coyotes get a lot of them, but never witnessed that.

Ah, the life of a rock chuck. Eat yourself sick. Spend your days sitting on sunny rocks whistling at pretty girls going by. Sleep for 6 months.

One of my favorite activities is rock chuck hunting. I will be moving to Ontario Oregon next week and have a spot near there that I am hoping I can still hunt. Was last there in 2016.