Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints 17 HMR's First Ground Squirrel Hunt

In between rains today, I was able to take the 17 HMR out and shoot some ground squirrels. I slapped together a single page with a few pictures. I really like the 17 HMR. Great little caliber. I have captions on each picture with my impressions of how it went. Click on the link to take a look. http://www.varmintal.com/17hmr.htm
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<br>Good 17's... from Varmint Al

Nice shooting!
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<br>and love the pics! You have some beautiful country up there!

You got to like a guy who sights in a new rifle in the varmint field.
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<br>Al - just a couple of questions; Those are some big ground squirels compared to the little striped ones I have here. What are they? How do you think that 17 hmr would perform on prairie dogs?
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<br>Pretty little rifle... good pictires on your page...thanks for sharing it with us.

The scientific name for them is: Spermophilus beecheyi
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<br>I have never hunted any prairie dogs so I can't say about them. The little 17 HMR sure does the business on our ground squirrels and is not very noisy either. I have a 100 yard benchrest range up at my cabin, but after the recent rains, the roads are like mud slides. I will be able to get up there next weekend, I think. Then I will put the 17 HMR on paper. My sighting in was interrupted by rain showers. Sightus Interruptus.
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<br>There are more pictures of the ground squirrels on my Varmint Hunting Page: http://www.varmintal.com/avarm.htm

The grounds squirrel's are also called Columbian Ground Squirrels, I believe. They are about twice, maybe, of what a common stripped gopher is. They are about 1/2 to 1/3 of a prairie dog. Fun to shoot before the grass gets real high. I like my 30-06 with cast bullets.

Do those Squirrels live in large towns like prairie dogs? Our little striped "gophers" are about the size of big chipmunks but with a long tail. They don't build big towns as prairie dogs do. They are fairly spread out. That and the fact that they are so small are reasons that we don't do any serious shooting at them. I get a few with the .22 rimfire hand guns from time to time.

Yes, PDS, they tend to live in big towns but they do not build up a mound of dirt like the PD's do. Some will show a mound but many don't. Just a hole in the ground like a stripped gopher. Because varmint hunting is not as good as it is out in the prairie country, I think the Colombian Ground Sqirrels also get hit harder by the local shooters anxious to get out after a long winter. Also, they tend to frequent grassy areas which is also a favorite place for the campers who work on 'em all summer long.

New info on the 17 HMR Testing Page.
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<br>I took the 17 HMR up to my mountain cabin and shot 11 ea. 5 shot groups at 100 yards with it. I also measured the velocity on 15 rounds. Shot a Diet Coke can full of water at 30 yards with the 17 HMR and took a movie clip of it. If you look at the frame before the can is hit, you can actually see the bullet about 2 ft from the can. All of the info is on the 17 HMR Testing Page:
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<br>http://www.varmintal.com/17hmr.htm
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<br>Here is the impact crater from a 17 HMR on a 3/4" steel plate at about 30 yards. The lower impact was a 270 Win from close range a few years ago.
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<br>Good Hunting from Varmint Al