Recovered my Groundhog!!

[only1harry]

I had a landscaping crew doing spring cleaning on my property today but I wasn't home.  
I came home late around 9pm, and my wife said "oh the landscapers found your groundhog"!  I said what do you mean?  She says: "I 've been meaning to tell you get rid of it, it's been out there for almost a week"!!  I said "what?"  She goes "oh yeah and it's BIG..!"  She said it was near some logs I had chopped up last year in the backyard where the grass ends right by the trees.  

I went outside in disbelief that he was out there all along, and sure enough the G-hog I had shot about a week ago (last Mon/Tue. I think it was) was laying there flat on his stomach.  He was only about 50ft from my shed where I had shot it with my 350 .22.  After he crawled back into the hole under my shed, he must 've tried to make a run for it back to his other hole that was about 15ft from where he expired.  He was definitely the biggest groundhog I have ever shot and recovered and I had recovered 13 others out of 15 over the last 3-4yrs.  I grabbed a stick and tried to turn him over.  He wouldn't budge.  I picked him up from the tail and he was really heavy.  I couldn't hold him up more than a few secs with my left hand.  I could tell just by his size and width.  This guy was fat and solid all around.  I looked briefly for the .22 pellet hole but couldn't find it except for what looked like a big tick had fallen off his behind, probably shortly after he died.  I had shot him in the neck area on the other side (his left).  There seems to be an indentation behind and below his left ear about where I was aiming and fired the Crow Magnum but there 's just too much thick fur and I wasn't willing to examine further after he 's been out there for a week.  There is blood around his mouth/teeth which means he died quickly, probably as I was making my way down the stairs after I shot him, he must 've made a run for it from the shed to his other hole about 65ft away at the base of a tree.      

He seems to be more than 18lbs because I pick up my mom's big male cat that is 18lbs and this guy was at least as heavy.  I really think he 's much closer to 20lbs.  I had shot a ~15 pounder last year and this guy dwarfs him in girth.  I can also tell by the size of his teeth he 's been around for quite a while.. He 's about 2/3 the length of my 850 rifle (350 is out for a very special tune).  I took the measuring tape out.  He is exactly 10" wide and >5" tall/thick off the ground.  Now here 's the amazing part.  He 's 23" long (w/tail) with his head down instead of up facing forward which might had have made him 1" longer.  Then my wife came out as soon as I had taken a couple of pics and yelled at me to get rid of him.  I was going to have a pic with the measuring tape but next to the 850 it gives you a good indication of his size and I also included my sneacker before I measured him which is 4.8" across (size 12).  
I ''m really glad he came out of the hole after he was shot that day and had been out there all along.  He was on some brown leaves and  hard to spot.  The funny thing is I was looking at the window about 2 days ago right at him (about 28-29yds out) and thought to myself that looks like a groundhog, but he didn't move and thought it was an illusion from the leaves :)

[longislandhunter]

Hey Harry,

Glad you recovered the G-hog. He sure is a fat one, looks like he had been eating well in your yard :)

Great pics too !!

Jeff

[shadow]

GREAT! Harry, very happy that you found em and.:) Great pic also. Ed

[only1harry]

I think I finally figured it out.  It was kind of bothering me what this wasn't a quick kill shot and was really interested to see the pellet POI and path.  

If you look at the last pic that I took before my wife prevented me from taking more (including the other side of his head), I think it gives me the clues I was looking for.  I took this close-up pic because his lower jaw and mouth on the right side looked strange to me when I flipped him to both sides to examine it, and remember it was pitch black out last night and was using a very small MagLite flashlight (my big MagLite has disappeared!).
 
Today I zoomed in and enlarged the pic and I believe I can see the exit wound the Crow Magnum made.  It seems to have exited through the part where the upper and lower jaws meet and it makes perfect sense now.  The POI seemed have been right below the left ear from what I saw last night, and because I was up on a 2nd floor window aiming down at him, the pellet traveled downwards and exited out near the back of the mouth.  You can see the exit hole right behind the upper teeth that are sticking out.  His mouth was actually closed shut on the other side and looked much better..  The g-hog was slightly at an angle facing away from me just a little when I took the shot, so the trajectory of the pellet through his head makes sense that it exited slightly forward from where the POI was on the other side.  I was almost certain that the heavy CM traveling at 745-750fps out of the muzzle, should have been able to penetrate completely at such close range of 23-24yds.  The pellet probably just slightly missed the brain, not fatal at first, but caused enough trauma in the head area and internal bleeding as is evident from the blood at the nose, etc. that eventually after a min. or so took its course.   It had rained here a few days ago so I assumed that had washed away most of the blood which made it harder to solve the mystery of the pellet impact..
So what do you guys think of my forensic evaluation?

[shadow]

Sound's about right Harry, no major bloodline or the fusebox took direct hit so he was a slow bleeder, just a matter of time but he was finished. Ed

[Archon]

Is this the largest animal posted on these forums that was taken with an air rifle?

[longislandhunter]

A few months ago I took a good sized raccoon with my Goldfinger, I posted some pretty good pics :)

Here's the link,,, hope it works....

http://www.gatewaytoairguns.com/airguns/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=5537&posts=14&highlight=RACCOON&highlightmode=1#M39754

Jeff

[shadow]

and P-DOGS, G-HOG'S and coons including a few possum can be some tough costomer's with a .177 or .22 shooter. Shot placement, word's to live by.:) Ed

[only1harry]

Yep, Jeff's racoon is a little bigger than my groundhog but mine could be a close 2nd :)  If I had racoons around here you can bet you 'd see their picture here :-)

My tuner has taken coyote with his power-tuned 350 .22 but we definitely don't have many pictures (if any!) of those type of hunts, but they do happen from time to time.