Reflection

[Double D]

I am going to get my 17 HM2 back out this spring and try to kill a couple of Gophers for the Taxidermist. This will probably be my last year to Hunt Montana Gophers. I need to have one.

I started shooting Montana gophers in 1997. Didn’t shoot any from 2003 to 2007, I went off to Washington DC, where I was important in my own mind. Then I started shooting them again in 2008 when I retired. Took another break in 2013 to go to Afghanistan and earn enough money to buy a lifetimes supply of ammo. My life has change as I get older-big Seven-Oh this year. Widower-hood didn't agree with me and finding a widow that likes gopher shooting made it possible for me to continue to be the first line of defense for Montana farmers. / This makes it 15 years of Montana gopher hunting.

Haven’t kept real close count lately but for a real long time we (mainly me) were shooting somewhere between 5000 and 10,000 rounds a year of rimfire-.22LR and centerfire at gophers. Last couple of years have been slow and we shot just over 3000 rounds average a year. I would not feel uncomfortable saying over that 15 years We averaged 3500 rounds a year. Running a spread sheet based on averages I have shot somewhere around 67,000 rounds with an average kill ratio of about 67% or about 45,750 gophers shot..

I started with a 10-22. Quickly gave that up as a waste of time and went to the Remington 581. Shoot that all the way up to 2002. Very accurate little gun, that badly need a good trigger.

During that time I also shot Ruger M-77 22-250 but that was way too much gun. I shot a number of different other Guns. I had a Cadet .357 Mag, lousy gopher killer. A couple of Contenders in 22K Hornet were handy. A Nice Martini in 218 Mashburn Bee was lethal a long ways out. I tried the .219 Donaldson Wasp in Simonson Pug on them. A 17lb gun is too big a gun. Good gun on the shooting table for prairie dogs. Sucks hanging out the window of the truck. Also had a Remington 700 VLS, that shot so well out of the box, I never got around to tuning or bedding it-ain’t broke don’t fix it. Was good for longer ranges, poor on shorter ranges and touch too big to be a steady truck gun. Handy to have along for the odd coyote, rock chuck or jack rabbit way out there though.

When I finished my adventure to Washington DC and South Africa and returned to Montana in 2008, I started using the BSA 1215 in 17HM2. Accuracy-Wow!!! First very obvious thing was hit ratio went up-sometimes way up. A 100% hit day was not unusual. It had a bit more range than the .22LR. Shot that for a while until about 2011. Not a lot of good in that year except I built a BSA 1215 in 17HMR. Not as accurate as the 17HM2, but enough more range to make it worthwhile. Ammo was easier to find also. That gun became the lead gun. Got introduced to the bore-snake with that gun. The gun would suddenly stop shooting accurately. Pull the bore snake through a couple of times and get back killing gophers. Can’t remember the last time I cleaned the bore on that gun, 6000-7000 rounds ago.

When I got back from Afghanistan in 2014 I started chasing this Okie gal, until she caught me. Still managed to get out for gophers, but she slowed me down a bit. Still used the 1215 .17HMR. I also started shooting the 17 Hornady Hornet built on a BSA Model 8, ex-Canadian .22 Hornet. Now this is a Gopher killer. It is a 100 yard gun for sure, 200 yard shots are doable with care. I also built a .219 Donaldson Wasp on a Westley Richards Sherwood action. Haven’t shoot very many rounds through it yet. After shooting the 17’s it like shooting a cannon. Still need to build accurate loads for it.

Okay so I killed an hour typing, time to go get in the shower and get ready for church.

[Hog Patrol]

Hey, I enjoyed your story but I'm partial to 17s in any flavor.

[Double D]

Sorry guys just a bit of "waxing nostalgic."

I will be putting my house up for sale and after deer season will move to Oklahoma.

My Montana adventure will end.

[BS2]

Enjoyed your Reflections and best wishes with your future!

Not sure where I would move, if I ever do?

[georgeld]

so: WHAT ABOUT THE OKIE GAL??

[Double D]

Originally Posted by georgeld

so: WHAT ABOUT THE OKIE GAL??

After I loaned her my Savage 92 to shoot gophers, she kept it. Loaned her a Martini to shoot Rock Chucks and she kept it.

So, I married her.

[l h jenkins]

if you still have it , with some modification, a 788 trigger will work. they are really a buy for the money.

[Double D]

Still have the 581, would never change the trigger, not the purpose of this post anyway...its about nostalgia.

Thinking back on the past, reflecting, that's why I made this post. Like right now, thinking back on shooting my first gray digger squirrel up Griffin Creek out of Medford in 1963-54 years ago with a Steven Model 15YB. I was 15-16 years old. A lot of time spent out in the field shooting varmints over the years since. Diggers in Southern Oregon and Northern California. Picket pins and rock chucks there also. Wood chucks in Vermont and Pennsylvania. Prairie Dogs in Texas, Colorado, Montana and Wyoming. And of course gophers and Rock chucks in Montana.

While remembering those days, a person come to mind-probably the reason i am writing an additional bit on thise thread. My friend of almost 40 years, Doug Watt's passed away last week at the age 68. I haven't lived close to Doug for a while, but I have never passed through his neighborhood with stopping to see him. In the 80's we made a number of trips to Wyoming together for Antelope and prairie dogs and a bunch of trips to Northern California for picket pins and rock chucks.

After I moved to Montana, Doug drove up from California twice a year to hunt gophers in the spring and deer in the fall. We have spent a lot of hours driving around the gopher patch.

I will miss him.



Doug Watts 1948-2017

[Bill K]

Way too young, he is ten years younger than I am, to be gone.. However it is nice to have fond memories and photos, too reflect on. Bill K

[Double D]

I just realized what that picture of my friend Doug is about. That is his 500 yard Rock Chuck for the VHA 500 yard club. Seems to me I remember it was closer to 600 yards.

The rifle is a 22-250 built on a post 64 Model 70 and has a heavy sporter barrel from Chick Donnelly. I built that gun for Doug in 1999 or 2000. It was one of the last guns I built for anyone other than myself.

Last year Doug sold it back to me for "what he had in it" As I recall he bought all the materials and I put them together for him. He told me he wasn't able to get out any more and I might as well have it. I told him I had no need for it, but would take it off his hands and sell it to some one who would appreciate it.

I sold it to another friend's 14 year old son who wanted a rifle for Coyote hunting. The kid is going be working this summer and will pay me from his summer job. We made a deal for about a 1/3 of what I paid when I "bought it back. The kid is thrilled.

I think I got a bargain in the deal.

Doug would be pleased.