The wife got her first kill

[RAMMONT]

I'm really proud of the wife, she got her first animal kill of her life - a marmot.

She grew up in Kansas and her dad ran a trap line but she has never shot an animal of any kind. So here we are up to our backside in marmots and I have been shooting them as often as I can, they've taken up residence under our barn and I don't need them digging holes every where. So the other day the wife saw a marmot beside the barn and she decided it was time to learn about shooting pest critters. She served 10 years in the Marine Corps so she does have some training and experience shooting rifles. But I think she has brag rights; the shot was 50 yards from our second story bathroom window and she did it from a standing position. The rifle was my 50 year old (my very first rifle that my dad bought for me when I was a kid) Mossberg Palomino .22 cal lever action with a scope on it. She took one shot and made a perfect heart lung hit. The critter was just past the wood pile and in front of the barn.

[Phil McGrath]

Marmot, never seen one??? looks like a deformed and under developed porcupine? Do you skin it and tack the hide too the barn..... I once blasted a big Nutria (think huge rat crossed with a beaver) at just under 50yds with the Wife's AR using a 77SMK it just erupted, parts and chunks everywhere and what remained fell back and rolled into the creek and floated back down stream. The wife wasn't so happy, the neighbor thought it was the coolest thing he had ever watched and asked what I used. I tried too down play it a little and said it was just a .22 he made comment, Yea! I want your .22 tested for steroids.

[RAMMONT]

Marmots are the same animal as a groundhog or a woodchuck, their rodents that are technicaly just big squirrels.

[Phil McGrath]

Ok, seen plenty of those. I guess it depends on what part of the country your from.

[RAMMONT]

Yup, it's more common to hear marmot in the Northern Rockies closer to the Canadian border. Here they get more yellow colored than most other places in the U.S. This one was a female so she's more grey and brown.

[Phil McGrath]

Did you skin it and hang it on the barn? I hear that if you dry the pelt and cut it into strips you can weave it into a cool place setting.... I had a Aunt that bagged a snow hare and did that, she put in under the table light like a lamp doily.

[RAMMONT]

Nope, it was left for the foxes.

[m14brian]

Tell the wife congrats on her first kill from us, nice shot! That rifle is in sweet condition too for being that old, it looks great. I know that thing has done it's duty over all the years!
m14brian

[RAMMONT]

Thanks, I'll let her know, I was really proud of her. My little .22 has done in a lot of rabbits and squirrels over the years, I'm still impressed with how accurate it is.