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 I cannot say I would call it hunting. It's more of a shoot-to-kill situation. One where the target is an unwanted tenant upon your land and I am speaking of woodchucks. These large and destructive rodents are a true pest. Generally during the summer months, these animals tend to migrate looking for new territories to set up dens and often this means trouble, as they like to dig deep burrows in farm pastures, which can cause devastating injuries to horses and cattle. They tend to concentrate feeding upon one's ornamental gardens. This year being no exception, several had set up housekeeping under my front porch, chewing an entry hole through the front step. What I thought was one animal was not, it was three. I could hear them banging around, fighting under the porch. I have some beautiful flowerbeds along the front of my house and I knew what they were after.
Sure enough, they began devouring them in earnest just as my large Black-eyed Susans were about to bloom. I went for my Ruger 10/22, which is an efficient rifle for pest control, to amend the situation. I set up along a stone wall I built in front of the house frontage and took a comfortable position waiting for the first chuck to appear. It wasn't long before my first target came up. I had to wait a bit for it to clear a boulder positioned near the Black-eyed Susan. Once it did, I dropped it on the spot with a hollow point .22 bullet delivered superbly by the Ruger. I quickly moved in and took the downed chuck and positioned it away from the entry hole as a decoy. I knew this would quickly lure another marmot from under the porch.
 Things were about to get interesting.
I retook my position and soon heard some quickly approaching footsteps from behind. It was my two hand-raised chicks that the new mother had abandoned when they hatched, so I had been raising them. At five weeks of age they were fully feathered and about half their full size. They spent the days outside on the front lawn and yard areas, as they are too small to join the flock of adult birds on the farm. Nights were spent in a large cardboard box, but they were coming, running full tilt right to me.
 Since these birds think of me as their mother they want to be around me when they see me. If sitting on the ground they will immediately fly up to perch on my shoulder. This is what they did as I was waiting for my next chuck target to appear. It is a waste of time to try and shoo them away so I left them. They squabbled over position on my right shoulder, finally agreeing upon a spot, which put them right over my buttstock. I could feel them settle down and sit and their feathers were warm on my shoulder. They also had a premium view of the proceedings. Soon the second chuck came out from under the step. I had to wait several minutes to allow this second target to assume a clear stance. It was naturally spooked at the noise the first shot caused upon its roommate.
As soon as it reached a clear shooting lane I fired dropping the second woodchuck. I figured this would send the chicks flying and scatter them to some far corner of the property. Was I wrong! The little rascals stayed put, not moving a muscle on my shoulder.
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