Goldfinger .22 Goes Huntin

[longislandhunter]

Finished all my daily errands around 4pm so decided to head to the duck farm and spend the last hours of daylight skulking around.  I was gonna take the GAMO 1250 .22 "arm buster" and try to nail a G-hog, but as I looked into the gun cabinet I saw a neglected friend resting comfortably in her cushioned slot,,, my .22 Goldfinger.  I haven't had her out huntin in quite awhile so I carefully removed her from the cabinet,grabbed a container of predators and headed for the farm.  

When I arrived at the farm I exited the truck to see 4 starlings perched on the support wires of the old telephone pole that I shoot at all the time.  Distance was 30 yards from my truck to the pole.  I opened the rear door of the truck, got out the rifle, loaded a predator, set the scope to 30 yards and put the cross hairs on the bird closest to me.  I moved the cross hairs up just a tad, pulled the trigger and heard that beautiful "POP".  The bird did a death glide across the duck pen and into the drainage pond. I hid inside a barn for about 30 minutes but no other starlings appeared so I moved on.  

I roamed the entire perimeter of the farm slowly, pausing often to look for targets, but the G-hogs were absent and the starlings that were around were far to nervous to get close enough for a shot.  I decided to head straight over to the grain silos on the east end of the farm, set up a sniping position and wait for the G-hog that lives in the nearby field to present himself.  I've hunted this G-hog many times before and he's always won the game but thought I'd try again.  

I got all set up, partially concealed by the grain silos and their metal support beams, and waited.  Didn't take long for the G-hog to show his face,,, but that's all he showed.  For the next hour we played "peek-a-boo", with him coming up out of different holes and surveying the area, but he never completely came out of the hole.  I had numerous head shots to take, but he was always laying in the burrow entrance and I didn't want to lose him down the hole once I shot, after all, I was looking for dinner.  

Well, the game was called on account of the setting sun, and I never did get to take a good shot at him.  May try again tomorrow.  As I was driving out of the farm I scared up two pigeons that were pecking at  the dirt road for seeds.  They flew up and landed in a large tree about 30 yards in front of me.  I stopped the truck, pulled the rifle out of the back seat, loaded a predator and laid the rifle across the top of the open truck door,  Pulled the gold trigger and an instant later the pigeon hit the dirt road as dead as a stone.  At least I went home with something to cook  :)

Had to make a few stops on the way home so by the time I got home it was dark and I didn't get to take any pics, but that Goldfinger .22 felt so good to carry and shoot that next time I go to the farm I'll bring the goldfinger .22 again and hopefully will get to take some pics of her and her kills.  

Jeff

[shadow]

Great hunting story Jeff, sound's like a sly G-hog you got there. You'll get em I'm sure and good shootin on the feathered fellow's. Ed

[Big_Bill]

Great account of your hunt Jeff,

I'm sure you come out victorious with that G-Hog, one day soon !!

Good shootin at those flying grain thieves..

[only1harry]

Good story, one that I have experienced a few times :)
 
Me? now that I know what the Diana 350 can do to a G-Hogs head, I go for it if that's all I can see.  If the G-Hog sticks its head out of the hole, it just means he 's looking to meet his maker :)
I just put the crosshairs on their head and the 350 .22 does its job well.  Got 2 of them that way last month (4 in total in September) on my property here in upstate (well downstate more) NY.  
The first one I shot with the 350, (21yds out) I wasn't sure if an airgun can take a G-Hog because I had been shooting them with .22LR rimfire up until now.  All I could see was the head.  I have an advantage though.  They 're under my shed so I usually shoot them from a 2nd story window in my house.  I can see the top of their head a little more and usually the entire head and part of the neck that way.  The CP 14.3gr hit him hard in the base of the head behind the ear (neck area).  I look right after I took the shot and I don't see his head or anything sticking out of the hole.  As soon as I was ready to curse, (1-2 secs later) because I had bought the 350 primarily for these G-Hogs, his nervous system must 've twitched him and lunged his entire body more than 1ft out of the hole!  He rolled over slowly twice and that was it (looked like I had hit the spine too).  This was very familiar to me.  I had experienced the same "jumping" reaction with them when I shot them in the head with the .22LR while in the hole.  Their feet kick their body completely out of the hole when fatally hit in the head.  So it's worked well several times for me.  Twice with the RWS 350 .22.    

I only have (had, the 350 broke it) a 4x32 scope.  If you have a better scope don't be afraid and let him have it between the eyes or ear & eye.  Not sure what distance you were talking about though.  The R9 Goldfinger .22 is a 14-15FPE gun, whereas mine is 22+ FPE.  If you 're 40-50yds away I wouldn't risk it (only 6-7 FPE) just in case you were off a little and the power also drops a lot.  At ~25yds though your gun still has 9-11 FPE (depending on the pellet) so I 'd let him taste some led.  You could 've dropped him right at the edge of the hole, but they mostly jump out of the hole for you when hit in the head.  Try it next time and thank me later  :)   And if things don't work out, he 's not the only G-Hog there.  I thought I had only 1 because I would only see 1 at at time.  I would take one, and the next day therer would be 1 standing in the same spot, I was like WTH?  Take him, a couple of weeks later another would take his place.  I have taken 16 of them in 4yrs on my property alone!  Also if you kill all the inhabitants of that burrow, the next year new ones move in (skunks too sometimes) and have babies, so I 'm not worried.  I 'll have new ones to shoot next year.      

BTW, do you eat anything else besides game?  LOL.. all you talk about is killing your lunch and dinner.  It's pretty funny and I enjoy reading your stories because I sincerely believe you are looking for food when you go out looking for these critters, and if you don't get one, I 'm worried you 'll go hungry :)  Hurry up and open up that restaurant..  I want to taste all of this small game!  :)  I went to school in LI btw - Stony Brook SUNY back in the '80's.  I 'm only a couple of hours away.  I autocross race my car at Nassau Coliseum sometimes but you 're probably further out in Suffolk county, right?

[Gene_SC]

LOL Harry, Jeff has a huge freezer full of game he has taken down..:) Jeff would never go hungry and I only have envy in my soul for him..:) Gene

[longislandhunter]

Gene, it's funny you mention my big freezer cause I actually have 2 in the basement, one is a normal size freezer and the other one is a HUGE freezer. I  bought both of them just for the wild game that I harvest.  When I went to the appliance store to get the big one and the salesman asked me if I had a particular freezer in mind I replied "no, just give me the largest one you sell".  He looked at me kinda funny, but he wound up making a good commission on that sale  :)   Last year I packed 7 processed deer  into that thing, along with a ton of small game and fish, and I still had some room left.    :)

Harry,

I do eat "regular" meat on occasion, but my family and I actually eat mostly wild game that I harvest.  My kids were raised on venison, waterfowl, small game and fish that I harvest locally and at the hunting property I have upstate.  Got to a point where my kids ate so much venison that they didn't like the taste of beef anymore and wouldn't touch a burger or steak unless it was venison.  To this day they like nothing better than enjoying a meal of wild game.  

As for the 350 Magnum .22, I know what you mean about the power.  I have one and it's awesome.  I've taken many a G-hog with that gun.  As for the Goldfinger .22, I probably could've dropped that G-hog anytime, the distance was fairly close, but I just don't like to shoot them while they're still laying in the burrow entrance as I don't want to take a chance of them using their last ounce of survival energy to slide down the hole.  I was using predator pellets, which are really awesome, and I have no doubt would've stopped that G-hog fast, but I was enjoying the duel between the G-hog and me so I waited.  

You're correct, I'm way out on the east end of Suffolk County near Southampton.  Still alot of wilderness out here with plenty of places to hunt and fish, especially if you get to know the local farmers and landowners.  

Jeff

[only1harry]

Jeff:
Wow 2 freezers just for game.   Now that you explain it that way it all makes sense.  Just hope the power doesn't go down for a long period of time, but I 'm sure  you have a generator and plenty of fuel.    

I know what you mean about that side of LI.  I grew up in Rockland County and my uncle used to take my brother and I to Port of Egypt in LI in the '80's when we were younger, rent a boat and go out fishing alll day for Porgies & flounder.  I could not believe the vast amounts of open fields and farms.  I thought that might be all built out now, but I guess a lot of it is still preserved.  Even when you drive East on the LIE, you see a lot of open country (some of it looks like swamps).  I still do a lot of fishing in the LI Sound from the Westchester side.  I love eating fresh fish.  
We used to go to a beach in South Hampton when I went to school at Stony Brook U.  The thing I remember the most, were all the exotic cars like Ferraris, Lamborgini, Porsches and the rich people in that area.  Now we know how you can afford so many guns and 2 properties :)  Well on the other hand, you do save thousands $$ per year by eating what you shoot, so that helps too I guess.  Just kidding.  I really admire people that "live off the land".    

Where upstate is your property?  May I be a allowed to hunt on it?  I can keep an eye on it too if you have a house there, depending how far it is from here.  I 'm in Orange county but it's getting over-populated here and the farmers don't seem too friendly when I approached a couple of them the other day and asked if they wanted any pests eliminated for free.  They don't like people snooping around their property it seemed.  I need a mentor to show me all the tricks of the trade and what to say to farmers, also how to skin some of these critters.. any volunteers?  :-)  My wife is getting into guns too finally after 18yrs of being married to her.  She likes shooting both my 30-30's and 20ga. at the range, but I have not been able to get her to shoot at anything live yet.  If I told her that her dinner depends on her killing something, then she may come around.  I have not hunted for deer or much of anything really in 15-16yrs, except for whatever lives or comes onto my property now and then, but I am getting back into it now.  A lot has changed in 15+yrs, like the technology (calls, scents, no-scent, hand warmers, etc.), namely the hunting gear.  There 's too much stuff out there.  I wonder do people really carry all this stuff with them when they 're in the woods?  

Anyway, an honor sir and a priveledge, meeting a true hunter that eats everything he kills.  I bet your family is a lot healthier than most of us.  I threw out my son's cup cakes today.. cause my wife ends up eating half of them and gains weight, besides they 're garbage and not good for you.  I abolished cup cakes in my house!  It's a step in the right direction, no?  :-)

[longislandhunter]

Hey Harry,

Yup, house is wired with an emergency electrical panel and generator transfer switch just in case I lose power and I have 60 gallons of gas stored to run the generator.  Can't take a chance on all that meat going bad  :)

My property is in Delaware county, pretty good hunting and a nice trout stream running through it.  Wish I got up there more, maybe after I retire.  

As for all those fancy expensive cars running around here,,,, I look at them too but I can tell you none of them get parked in my driveway at night, but it's ok,, I'm more than happy with my truck  :)

Glad to hear you're getting back into hunting,,, no better way to spend ones free time.......


Jeff

Have you ever noticed that starlings are apparently so nasty that even cats won't eat them?
Years ago, as a youngster, I took out scores of them and English sparrows, later taking them to the cats as protein supplements, and the cats eagerly wolfed down the sparrows, but the starlings, they only sniffed, then ignored.
Those mean old birds must either smell bad, taste awful, or be really tough.

I took out one of those whistle pigs years back by exploiting a fence post only a yard from his main entrance.
He had been whistling for about a half hour, poking his head out of the hole, which was right under my grandparents' huge old barn just around a corner, which btw, had been badly undermined by them, so it was open season on all those g-hogs due to the damage they were doing.
I went by his corner, peaked around just long enough to see him withdraw into the tunnel, put my Crosman 2100 pump gun on the fencepost, then waited.
He slid out of the hole almost all the way, being untroubled by something resting on that post, then I ironsighted him right behind his right ear.
Pop! went the Daisy flat point.
He flopped over and expired in seconds.
I wonder if you could do something similar to bag that wary old g-hog, i.e. conceal yourself, then put perhaps that Gamo 1250 behemoth up where it is already in position.

[longislandhunter]

Hey Scott,

I'm thinking of setting up my pop up blind directly behind his burrow.  There's a patch of tall grass and weeks that is 10 yards from the hole,,,, would give me a clear shot at real close range.  May give that a try next time, cause this old g-hog is to wary for conventional methods  :)

Jeff

[USNCop]

with the G-hog.
Enjoyed your story and looking forward to some pics.