Small Game—Pests and Varmints

A generation ago, the sport of "varminting" was in its infancy Shoot­ing crows, chucks, and jack rabbits was considered kids' stuff in many parts of the country and usually was done with .22 rimfire rifles. In the West, especially, a man would have been considered a sissy if he shot such small stuff for sport.

Two factors changed all that. First was the growing hunting pressure on big game with the ratio of hunters to animals becoming increasingly top-heavy. More dramatic was the development in the mid-thirties of high-intensity, centerfire .22 cartridges shooting jacketed bullets at the unheard-of speeds of 2,000 to 2,600 foot-seconds velocity. The .22 Hornet was a landmark and turning-point in this development.

Since that time, the sport of varminting has grown into a national institution. Today we have cartridges, rifles, scopes, and riflemen capable of laying 'em into a chuck at 400 yards; a whole army of varmint hunters; and more powder burned in the sport than in most other forms of shooting.

It is difficult to define either a "pest" or a "varmint." In some areas an animal which is a real pest to one segment of the economy would possess great virtues to another. In other areas, sheer numbers change the status of a bird or beast from that of an innocent little creature to names unfit to print. Lastly, the line of demarcation between varmints and predators is often extremely thin, even nonexistent.

For the purposes of this book, the more commonly accepted pests and varmints will be considered.

GROUND SQUIRRELS

One of the smallest pests is the western ground squirrel, closely allied to the prairie dog found in the Great Plains regions. These rodents breed and live in colonies, eat grain from farmlands, cause leaks in irrigation ditches and sinkholes in farmlands, and destroy high big-game ranges through their burrowing.

The small squirrels are widely spread and offer sport to many shooters. The common rifle used for shooting them is the .22 rimfire. High-speed, hollow-point bullets will pop them adequately, and many a youngster gets his first rifle training on this species.

In areas where experienced riflemen find little else to shoot, ground squirrels are shot at longer ranges with the new WMR .22 cartridge, or with calibers suited to chucks. Archers, too, get in their practice for big game on the lowly rodent, using flu-flu arrows, or blunts made by capping arrow shafts with empty .38 pistol brass. Another form of sport rapidly

Western ground squirrels, which destroy crops and irri­gation ditches, are generally hunted with rifles shooting .22 rimfire cartridges.

Shooting jack rabbits in the snow, the author wears white coveralls and assumes a steady sitting position.

growing in the West and Southwest is the shooting of ground squirrels with handguns. The "magnum" pistol shooter, like the archer, gets his practice for big game and at the same time improves his reloads and special game loads.

JACK RABBITS

The blacktailed jack rabbit (Lepus californicus) is another real pest of the West. It multiplies faster than an adding machine, inhabits vast desert and sagebrush areas, and often eats marginal ranchers out of any profit. In many areas, jacks will girdle the bark off young orchards, graze alfalfa and grain lands into nothing, and, at night and in droves, will eat stacked hay until the stacks will topple over.

Jack rabbits are wonderful quarries for the serious varminter, though very cyclic. Some years their numbers dwindle to virtually nothing; then within a cycle of approximately every seven years they multiply to hordes. One real virtue of hunting them is the fact that the same farmers who would not allow a hunter to hunt pheasants on their lands, will welcome any hunter who wants to "bust up a few jacks."

The .22 rimfire long-rifle hollow-point bullet, used in a repeating rifle, has long been the standard jack-rabbit outfit. All during the settlement of the West, jacks were numerous enough so that a larger cartridge was hardly needed. Not over a decade ago, in some desert regions of the West,
a good shot could go into the desert, on foot, and shoot up to a hundred jacks in a day, using no other outfit. Winter jack rabbits were that concentrated.

The past few years, intense pressure from agricultural interests has diminished the jack's numbers. The pests have been mass-poisoned, shot, and slaughtered in community rabbit drives. Such virtual warfare has thinned the rabbit numbers and made the remaining animals more wild. They therefore become ideal targets for the serious varminter with the precision rifles and cartridges he uses for other pests. Standing shots on jacks range anywhere from 150 yards to as far as the shooter wants to

Heavy-barreled       target   rifles equipped    with scopes   will zero-in   on   the  fast-stepping jack  rabbits.

bang away. Running jacks break cover at all distances, and the shooter who can take running jacks with any consistency—say two out five—will have no trouble hitting running big game of any species.

The best way of going about a jack-rabbit hunt in any western desert country is simply to inquire locally about the pests' whereabouts—then go shoot.

A cartridge that is rapidly replacing the humble .22 rimfire for serious jack-rabbit shooting is the .22 Magnum Rimfire, which sends a 40-grain jacketed bullet at 2,000 foot-seconds. This is the "poor man's varmint cartridge" and gives the beginning varminter an adequate load without the necessity of reloading. This cartridge is fine on jacks and similar pests to approximately 150 yards.

The confirmed chuck hunter, of course, uses the same outfit on jacks as he uses on chucks. Good calibers include the .22 Hornet, .218 Bee, .220 Swift, .219 Zipper, .222 Remington, .22/250 Varminter, the .243 Winchester and the .244 Remington. Many hunters tune up these last two cartridges, frequently used on deer, for use on the desert jacks.

A good scope of approximately 4 power is best for jack rabbits, and a sling is a necessity both for carrying the rifle and steadying it in use. The sitting position (unless shooting running animals) is by far the best. It allows the hunter to see over the ubiquitous sagebrush, and yet have a steady aim.

COTTONTAIL AND SNOWSHOE RABBITS

Cottontail rabbits are hunted in two ways. One is with a small-calibered rifle or handgun such as the .22 rimfire, and stalking the edible little animals along brushy dikes, in sagebrush, on rocky bluffs and in swampy areas. Unlike jack rabbits, the cottontail will usually run a short distance, then stop—often on the brink of its hole. This makes for short-range shooting at a stationary target. For this reason, and because of its fine eating qualities, head shots at cottontails are all many hunters will take.

The second way of hunting cottontails is with small hunting dogs such as the beagle. The dog flushes the rabbit from bushy terrain, and the zig-zag race is on. The hunter tries to shoot the animal as the dog drives it past him. Often two or more hunters will hunt cottontails together, to double the chances of a hunter being in the course of the running rabbit. A choice weapon is a 20-gauge shotgun, modified choke.

Snowshoe rabbits are found in the more northern timber areas, and have many of the characteristics of the smaller cottontail. They will hop a short distance, then sit up. They are hunted much as cottontails are, often in conjunction with a species of big game, as meat for the pot.

CHUCKS

The chuck, both the eastern woodchuck (Marmota monax) and its western counterpart, the rockchuck {Marmota caligata), is the big quarry of the varmint hunter. The sport of chuck hunting has become nation-wide, and currently at least one national organization of chuck hunters has been formed. Interest in the sport has reached the point where the single big problem is where to find enough chucks.

Many of the most serious and far-seeing chuck hunters have arrived at the point where they will not shoot the first adult breeding animals which emerge from hibernation, but wait until well after the young animals come from their dens, and then shoot only a portion of the colony. Since the chuck is considered a pest and is given no protection, the fraternity of chuck shooters have to take such conservation measures in their own interests in many places. Otherwise they would soon be out of anything to shoot.

Chucks feed heavily on alfalfa and other hay and grain crops. They den adjacent to such feed when it is available, but the rockchuck is often found in rocky, bluff country, and among the lava out-crops of desert lands far removed from agricultural lands. Heavy hunting pressure, drought in desert regions, grazing sheep bands and similar factors will cause chuck populations to move. But unless such pressures are too great, the colonies will remain in the same general areas from year to year.

Chucks are generally wilder and more wary today than formerly, and must be shot at longer ranges. The basic procedure is to locate the animals, either by glassing likely country or by the presence of fresh dung and tracks around den areas; then post oneself at a considerable distance away, bed down to a prone position, and wait for the animal to appear from the den or burrow. Many times it is possible to shoot several chucks from a single position. Often several shots at some wise old chuck, just sticking his head up, results in nothing except noise and profanity.

Often in the desert and hill country of the West, rockchucks are located by driving a jeep or other suitable desert buggy through rough country, and glassing rock heaps, lava upthrusts, and areas where outlying dry farm­lands meet the sagebrush. Many times two or three avid rockchuck hunters will buy and maintain some old clunker of a vehicle to be used for nothing else. Usually the location of the good, remote chuck country they locate and use from year to year is kept as secret as their own undiscovered sins.

Adequate chuck cartridges begin with the .22 WMR. This cartridge in a suitable rifle, with scope, is a reasonably good chuck outfit up to 150 yards. The other cartridges mentioned for use on jack rabbits are all fine ones for chucks. The tendency today is to shoot chucks at the longer ranges, and many shooters self-impose a limit of 200 yards, under which they refuse to shoot at a chuck.

For such reasons, plus the fact that they double well on deer, the newer high-intensity 6 mm cartridges are gaining in favor and replacing many of the older stand-by .22 centerfires. For chucks, bullets of around 70 grains are used in the .243 and the .244; and 100-grain bullets are loaded later for use on antelope and deer.

Winchester Model 70 in .243 caliber, with custom Fajen stock and Weaver 6-power scope, accounted for this big rockchuck.

Three of the most popular and efficient chuck cartridges in use today are the .222 Remington, the wildcat .22/250 Varminter, and the .243 Winchester. The .222 is adequate up to around 225 yards; the .22/250 will take care of chucks to 300 yards, and the .243 will handle chucks regularly to 350 yards. The choice depends largely upon the intended ranges, the degree of human settlement in the chuck area, and whether the cartridge-and-rifle must double on larger game.

FOXES

Foxes are considered fur-bearing animals in some regions, predators in others, and varmints in many sections. The two main species of foxes are the gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) and the red fox (Vulpes fulva). The ranges of the two species overlap, and in combination cover roughly eighty per cent of the entire United States, as well as the wooded portions of Canada as far north as the Arctic Circle and southward to the Mexican border. The red fox has three color phases—red, silver, and cross. Within the Arctic Circle there is another species of pure white fox, the Arctic fox. For the most part, foxes are woods-hills-forests creatures, but the Arctic fox lives in the treeless, ice-bound northland, subsisting largely upon the re­mains of seals killed by polar bears and left after the big bruins eat the oily blubber.

Foxes are notoriously cunning and have lived on man's domestic poultry at the periphery of outlying farms to the point where man has long regarded him as a pest. As a species he has long been hunted with dogs, trapped with steel traps, and his dens and young destroyed.

Fox hunting as a sport began with the early history of our country, and coursing foxes with hounds became a pastime of the elite.

Today the basic forms of fox hunting are hunting with dogs, still-hunting, coursing with light aircraft after heavy snowfall, and driving.

The most productive way is to hunt with dogs, and the foxhound, one of America's oldest breeds, was developed for the purpose. A lone hunter may use a single hound, or several hunters may hunt as a group. Winter is the best season as fresh tracks may be easily picked up and the general location of the fox ascertained.

The general procedure is to let the dogs loose after having posted the hunters in the most strategic spots. The intention is to have the dogs chase the running fox past the locations of the hunters. In patches of woods and country where the quarry can be "contained," such a plan will work. Posted hunters use shotguns loaded with BB, Number 2, or Number 4 shot. Number 2 is "standard."

Brush and timber patches containing fox sign are similarly hunted by groups of hunters without dogs, or with possibly a single hound. The idea in this is to drive the animal from the protection of the woods, and towards a posted hunter or hunters at the far end. This is comparable to driving whitetail deer.

Still-hunting foxes in midwinter is a cold sport, but an animal may oc­casionally be taken by the patient hunter who can view a large area of sign-infested country from his single position. For such hunting, and where the ranges may vary greatly, a sniping rifle similar to the one used for chucks and coyotes is the best weapon.

In the less wooded country such as the Dakotas, winter-flying for foxes is becoming an increasing sport. As with coyote coursing, the best: time is after a fresh snowfall. The pilot pushes the animal from sparse cover with a low-flying plane, and the gunner shoots the fleeing animal as it runs ahead. A repeating or automatic shotgun is the standard weapon for this. The high cost of this type of fox hunting is somewhat offset by the pay­ment of bounties on foxes, in the regions hunted.

RACCOONS

Of recent years, studies have indicated that the raccoon (Procyon lotor lotor) has been destroying the nests of upland game birds, especially those of the wild turkey. In areas where such destruction becomes too intense, the status of the raccoon changes from game to pest.

SKUNKS

Another pest-predator is the common skunk (Mephitis mephitis), a small animal about 2 feet long, with a long bushy tail. The skunk is black with white stripes along the back and has white patches on its face and the tip of its tail. It can be detected by its foul odor alone, which hangs on the air almost everywhere it goes. This awesome odor is, of course, the skunk's defense against other animals and man, and few other creatures will have anything to do with it.

A skunk lives on large insects, mice and gophers, and small frogs. It also likes young birds, poultry, and game-bird eggs. It lives in wooded and swamp areas, and is often found around brushy fence lines and in or around old abandoned buildings. The animal has an overall range con­sisting of almost all of Canada and the United States. It is seen mostly at dusk and is a nocturnal hunter. Many skunks are killed while crossing roads, and many a skunk is seen in the carlights of traveling automobiles.

Skunks are killed by hunters with the weapon they happen to have— usually a shotgun or .22 rifle. One's main concern in any contact with a skunk is to give it plenty of room. The malodorous, acrid fluid which it expels to a distance of several yards is most horrible, and will virtually strangle and blind a person if he gets any in the face.

WOLVERINES

A larger pest resembling the skunk, but actually of the weasel family, is the wolverine (Gulo luscus), often called the "glutton" and other more colorful names.

This animal weighs approximately 30 pounds, is dark-brown in color, and except for its short legs, looks like a small bear. Pound for pound there is no more tenacious fighter on the continent, and an adult wolverine will drive many a larger animal from its kill. Its fight with any opponent is to the death. It inhabits most of the wooded country in Canada and Alaska.
Trappers, especially, hate the wolverine. In the North, trapper's caches are located at intervals of about ten miles on the trap route. These caches, often built upon three or four sawed-off trees growing close together, and consisting of a platform and boxlike hut on top, are stocked with food and equipment during summer months. Often small log cabins, dug into the ground, chinked with moss, and sod-roofed are used for the bunk and heavier camp equipment. On the winter trap line, the trapper plans on an overnight stay at each cabin and cache.

A wolverine that gets into such a cache ruins it like no other animal. The beast eats all the edible stuff it can gorge, then fouls up the remainder with its own excreta and foul odor.

The wolverine hunts largely at night, is one of the hardest animals to trap, and is seldom seen by dude hunters. The animal's one virtue is that its fur won't freeze into ice under human breath in extremely cold temper­atures and is therefore especially desirable for use as the ruff on parkas. In many modern down parkas meant for arctic use, a combination of wolf and wolverine fur is used, due to the relative scarcity of wolverine fur. For the hunter, a wolverine is a real trophy and makes a fine rug mount. Any rifle large enough for wolves or deer will handily kill a wolverine.

BADGERS

Badgers (Taxidea taxus) are considered pests in some areas of western United States, due to their digging holes in agricultural and range lands. Badger holes are especially dangerous to horseback riders, and will, if the horse is moving at a fast gait, usually break the animal's leg if it steps in one. Many a rider has been thrown and sometimes crippled due to an unseen badger hole.

Badgers are stockily built, gray with white stripe down the back, sharp-nosed, short-tailed, and weigh from 15 to 20 pounds. They are great fight­ers and will give any fighting dog a bad time. Many a youngster has tried to dig a badger from a hole, only to find that a badger in soft earth can dig faster than he can shovel.

About the only reason a hunter would have to shoot a badger would be for the fine belly hairs, so useful in tying trout flies. Generally speaking, badgers are useful in keeping down rodent colonies, which they dig from the ground.

PORCUPINES

The porcupine (Erethizon dorsatus) is another squat, quill-studded ani­mal of the rodent family, weighing around 30 pounds. It lives on vegeta­tion and prefers the bark and twigs of trees and willows. It has earned the name of pest mainly through its habit of girdling the bark from whole stands of valuable coniferous timber and causing it to die. One porcupine can cause a serious economic loss.

For many years porky was given legal protection. It was considered to be the only edible creature which a lost hunter could kill with a club and subsist on. This notion has gradually died out, and currently in any timber country a porcupine is shot on sight as a conservation measure.

Another reason for the porcupine's pest status is that it habitually sticks the nose and face of hunting dogs full of quills. These quills are most painful, are barbed like a fish hook, and will work deeper into the flesh until removed. Dogs love to bite porcupines, seem never to learn from the experience, and will repeatedly bite any porky they find. The best way to remove quills is to hold the dog down and pull the barbs with hog-nosed pliers.

Due to its waddling movement and slow gait, a porcupine can be ap­proached closely. Contrary to the belief of many, it cannot "throw" its quills, but sticks them into an enemy by switching the opponent with its quill-studded tail.

A handgun is a suitable weapon for killing a porcupine. Only head shots should be taken; a porky is hard to kill with body shots.

MAGPIES

One of the smallest, smartest, hardest to hit, and ubiquitous varmints is the common magpie. This black and white bird weighs only a few ounces, but will reach 18 inches in length including the long black tail. It is widely spread over big-game country, has the keenest vision and will come out of nowhere to any game-kill or offal. The bird feasts on carrion and cackles the news of any carcass to other woods scavengers.

In settled country magpies are habitually found around domestic stock, along fence rows and in such foliage as willow patches and cottonwood groves.

This skinny little pinto predator is most gun-wise. One will sit on a fence post, often within mere rods, as a car pulls slowly along a country road. But the second the car is stopped, or a door slams, it will fly leisurely away. A person may wander about a field and magpies will sit within short range; but have the same person carry any kind of gun, and the birds will fly off. And if a half-dozen birds are working about a feed lot on a ranch, one shot will send them flying to the protection of available trees where they will stay concealed high in the branches, often for an hour or more, before returning.

The magpie's biggest claim to the title of pest comes from its destruc­tion of the eggs of pheasants and other game birds.

Two methods will often net the varminter a magpie or two. One is to conceal himself within sniping-rifle range of an old game-kill or animal carcass, and shoot an occasional bird as it comes in to peck, or lights on a post nearby. Any precision chuck rifle is suitable.

The other method is to stalk through heavy growths of willows or cot-tonwoods where magpies are and shoot them flying overhead or sitting in the trees. A sporting gun for such hunting is either a double-barrel or repeater shotgun shooting the 3-inch .410-gauge load of fine shot such as Number 7½.

CROWS

The crow is the most sought-after winged target of the varmint hunter. Like the magpie, the crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) is a cunning and wise old bird with a built-in suspicion of man. There are four subspecies of crows, which together have a range covering most of the continent.

Crows are black (both sexes), weigh up to a pound and are identified by their guttural caw-caw-ing sound, which can be heard for up to a mile.

The pest has earned man's hatred because it destroys corn, one of the basic crops, and game-bird eggs. The fact that crows are among the best scavengers is usually overlooked because of this.

Like some other birds, the crow migrates southward during the winter and many head back northward with spring. The biggest overall chance for the varminter is to catch the flocks on these group-pilgrimages and do the bulk of his crow shooting at these two seasons. In their winter ranges, they may, of course, be pursued most of the year. Roosting areas are choice locations for winter hunting.

OWLS

The owl is a natural enemy of the crow, and one form of crow hunting is based on the fact. A stuffed owl is placed on a post in a crow area; the hunter conceals himself within shotgun or rifle range nearby; then he uses an artificial call to attract the flock's attention. He does his shooting while the crows fight the stuffed owl. Live owl decoys are far more effective.
Another method is simply to locate a large crow flock, conceal oneself in camouflage clothing either in natural-appearing blinds or in sparse foliage, then call the birds into range on an artificial crow call. Crow decoys are often used in this method, and it is comparable to calling ducks into a stool of decoys.

An incidental method is to shoot at any crow while hunting other pests such as jack rabbits or chucks; or while traveling marginal ranch country, where the black pests like to sit on fence posts, walk around in open fields, or perch in fringing trees.

EAGLES

The black desert eagle is often considered a pest when in antelope or wild sheep country. This great bird, often attaining a wingspread of 7 feet, kills numerous fawn antelope and wild lambs. However, because the desert eagle also kills innumerable rodents, the agitation against it as a pest has largely died.

Crows and chucks are the varmint hunter's two main targets. The ideal chuck rifle, shooting a small-calibered bullet of "explosive" construction at high velocity, is also the best crow rifle. Three of the very best calibers are the .222 Remington (or its magnum version), the .220 Swift, and the .22/250 Varminter.

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