Fella's;

Finally got out for the first time this year.  I didn't have great expectations as the weather was mostly cloudy & very cool.  My neighbor came along & we set out about 12:30 PM.  Wouldn't have done any good to go sooner, it was too cold earlier.  We turned off of I-15 south of town & got on the secondary roads.

The first place we stopped told us to go ahead & shoot all you want.  Trouble was, we saw one, count it, gopher.  Plenty of holes, & I knew that the little varmints were there from past experience, but no action this afternoon.  So we pulled out & moved on.

Got down the road some farther & turned in at an old reliable spot.  In driving up to the ranch house, we saw more than a couple, but did no shooting as there were cattle in the immediate area and I hadn't stopped in.  We got permission & were directed to a large field by the river that had always been good in the past.

By now, we'd moved some south, and the sun had come out which helped immensly.  The field was active.  There's no green on it though, just stubble, it hasn't even been turned for planting the new alfalfa.  However, the aerating project is going just fine via gopher express.

Because there's no cover, almost all the shots were 50 yards, or more.  This is one of the reasons I sight my .22's in at 100 yards.  If it's the height of a gopher, and you've got an eye for range, it's an easy shot if they're standing.  And they quite frequently stand up for you.

Due to concerns on the distaff side, we had to knock off about 4:00 PM.  Nonetheless, we got our shots and the hits kept on comin'.  It was a good day, though short.

My neighbor has a Ruger 10/22 Target with a 4-12X A/O Simmons on it.  His complaint today was not having enough magazines.  I used the CZ 452 left hand bolt with the Nikon Monarch 3.3-10X A/O.  I've got three 10-round mags for it & one 5-round.  My complaint is the cost of the CZ magazines.  The 10 rounder's run between $25 and 30.00 each!  Makes a $15.95 Ruger magazine cost look downright reasonable.  Though they're about half again as much as they were a couple of years ago.

Drat, now I've got to go clean guns.

 900F

glad you got out! i've been chomping at the bit to go prairie doggin and thought today might be the day. that was before the flippin' snow came... and we got lots o' snow!

i sight my 22's in at 100 yards and the few times i've gone after gophers it was an enjoyable time; great way to spend an afternoon.