Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints 2022 Dead Critter Thread

Caught a garden thief. Stevens 840 (aka Savage 340) in .222 Rem. 52 grain berger pushed by 20 grains of 4198. About 70 yards.

You, Sir, are my hero.

Finally got the pocket gopher thats been tearing up my back yard around my porch all year. Went outside to empty my bladder and saw him popping in and out of his newest hole. Went inside and grabbed my .22 wmr, ended his reign of terror. Shot him a couple extra times, for good measure. Hence the unidentifiable mess. He was really pizzing me off. Little jerk finally slipped up.

Gopher and a porcupine with a Winchester 1895 40-72...

I don't shoot many coyotes this time of year, but this one was out back last night. He was with-in 40-50 yards are bedded twin antelope, although he had no idea, and momma doe was not happy, AND he was mangy. Got situated on the deck with a bipod and rear bag and the 393 yard shot was a piece-o-cake with the .22 Creed.
IMG_0290 by Tim Richard, on [bleep]

Nice punch out. Well done, Sir.

Good shootin' slim.

Another mangy coyote, this one in my yard at the ranch. Felt like I did him a favor.

Sat on the hill above a water hole, for about a hour, after lunch,114 deg. everyone needed a drink. 310 yrds 6mm Creed. Rio7

It's been 105 to 115 deg. every day for the last 10 days, been putting water on the horse pastures, this little sow came in for a drink this morning.

Had a business trip that took me through an area with a few prairie dogs. So I took my Sako L461 that I had rebarreled along for the ride. I had a couple extra hours on the way home so I pulled off the highway into an area that looked promising. Never saw any big towns, just the occasional mound here and there so I got a couple here and there. Made a loop on the way back out and found an area that had a dozen or so mounds ranging from 100-400 yards. I popped a few close ones here and then picked up on a mound just ahead of the sage brush with two dogs on it. I misjudged the distance with the 223 and put the first round just below them and threw dust everywhere. One went down the hole and the other ran off the back of the mound. I reloaded and waited until he finally snuck up the backside and showed his head. He stood up for just long enough for me to let the 55 gr Varmageddon fly! I thought I had the holdover right this time buy he disappeared with no satisfying ‘pop’. I shot one more and the drove around towards the back of the field to see what was beyond the rise, but it was filled with brush. No chance of seeing anything out there.

When I turned around, I recognized the 400 yard mound where I missed those two earlier, except I didn’t miss the second shot! There it was, hit right in the middle where I had aimed. I went ten dogs for eleven shots! Not too bad really, but nothing really long range either. That old Sako is just a pleasure to shoot. I had Pacnor put a 10 twist on it when the original finally gave up the ghost. Figured I can shoot up to 69 gr with it if I want.



The 55 gr Varmageddons are very accurate but not as explosive as I was hoping for. The 40 gr BT blows em up a lot more than this. They get the job done though.

HP or Tipped Varmageddon?

Explosive at 200 or less?

I have about 500 of the tipped, was hoping for maximum expansion for a 55.

Tipped. Don’t get me wrong, they do the job. They’re not like a Varmint Grenade though - he he. Nosler was selling 222 35 gr lead-free as factory seconds a few years back so I bought 500 of them. I shot a few hundred last year and the dogs definitely do aerobatics when you hit them. They say they are running 3800 fps and are more spectacular than the 55 gr at 3240 in the 223. I have some 55 gr vg loaded in the 22-250 and will have to give them a go next time.

Will be awaiting some posted results.

With the heavier varmint bullets like the 55 grainers, if you want carnage.... Instead of actually shooting the sage rat or prairie dog, I usually
aim right in front of them as close as I can get to them in the dirt.... let the round ' bounce' up as shrapnel on them instead... I get pretty consistent about it, just by a little scope adjustment... when that is within 200 yds or so.... when the round comes up after just exploding like they are designed to do... that is a lot of shrapnel, hitting them... more like a mini bazooka or RPG.... they blow into "parts"....

if it hits them just right it can put them 5 to 8 feet in the air, especially if they are standing on the edge of a hole, and there is dirt mound wall behind them...

other times if you don't have the mound wall behind them, and it hits them just right.... the right half of them goes flying 10 to 20 feet in one direction.... and the left half does the same in the other direction...

originally fell into this experience, just coming up short on them when shooting at them, and hitting in front of them...

after I saw those results... I just wait for those type of shots to present themselves...

guess that is where the term " Red Mist" originated... sure motivates kids and even other adults when you've taken them out..

have also entertained Mexican farm workers when they break for lunch and sit near by watching me doing that...

This one is still wearing diapers Shrap....

I need to work on some coons this year. How do you like that Swampfox? I put a Sentinel on a Hellcat 9mm just this week but haven't shot it yet. First foray into handgun red dots.

Like 'em.