The first time I went hunting for groundhogs, I used a .223 centerfire and took a lot of shots between 150 and 250 yards. It was a fun way to control pests in rural farmland, but in the region of the Midwest where I now live, most farms are surrounded by suburbia. While the need to control these pests remains, using high-powered rifles to do so no longer fits. They carry too far and make way too much noise.

Driving from my home to my office, I take a country road that passes through small farms that are mixed with new housing developments. I frequently see groundhogs along the grassy borders where the trees meet the fields and wonder to myself how farmers are dealing with the holes and erosion caused by these animals.

One afternoon, I stopped by a farm to ask if I might be of service, explaining I am an airgun hunter and the guns I use are very accurate, powerful enough to dispatch unwanted whistle pigs and so quiet that nobody would be disturbed. It took a few stops, but I finally received permission. I had the strong impression that the landowner didn’t have much faith that my BB gun would do the job, but one sunny day after work I parked my car, charged the gun and suited up to prove to him what we could do.

I worked my way slowly and quietly along the edge of a field, walking about 10 yards inside the stand of trees bordering it. Spotting a groundhog grazing in the sunlight about 65 yards away, I froze in my tracks as it stopped eating and looked in my direction. It sensed something wasn’t quite right, sat up on its haunches and looked around intently. I held my breath and waited. After a couple of minutes the groundhog decided all was safe and went back to munching. I slowly moved forward and hunkered down next to a small oak a few feet from the edge of the field.

Bringing the Prairie Falcon to my shoulder, I put the crosshairs on top of the groundhog’s head. The discharge of the gun was a whisper. There was no recoil, and I could follow the arced trajectory of the pellet in flight as it impacted right between its eyes. It toppled over backwards without a twitch. Time after time, airguns have proven effective medicine for the chunky marmots.

As the afternoon progressed I stalked three more. Two more opportunities to shoot brought two single-shot kills. Gathering the three, I walked back to the car, and then stopped by the house to show the owner the results. He was amazed and had never even heard the gun.

It wasn’t long before one of his neighbors called and asked if I could come out and take care of some groundhogs on his place. Before long, I had several new hunting spots within an hour of my suburban home.

Airgun Choices for Ground Hogs

I used four guns on most of my whistle-pig hunts this year: the Prairie Falcon and Evanix AR6 rifles. Both are .22-caliber, multi-shot tack drivers that yield approximately 30 foot  pounds of energy (fpe). The Logun Penetrator pellets out of the Falcon are very accurate and carry energy well down range. The heavy Eu Jin pellet out of the more powerful (but louder) AR6 was also very effective, rolling large groundhogs with broadside shots. The third gun, the Career infinity .25 caliber gun shooting Field Trophy pellets at more than 50 fpe, was responsible for my longest shot of the season — an 85-yard frontal chest shot that toppled the groundhog. The last was the Airforce Talon SS, a .22-caliber        single-shot carbine that is my truck  gun. I keep it stashed away in the trunk and always available for a hunt. The gun is stored with camo 3D overalls, binocular and a few other  items I need when I hit  the field.

These groundhog shoots underscore the advantages of airgun hunting — opening up a lot of new opportunities close to home and extending the        season by allowing the hunter to stay in the field all year. It is a great way to hone stalking and field-shooting skills as these wary animals don’t let you make many mistakes. All this is possible thanks to the combination of accuracy, power and low noise levels generated by today’s high-quality adult airguns. The only downside is that my groundhog hunting is cutting into my fishing time!

Jim Chapman has been hunting with traditional firearms for more than 30 years. Over the last 20 years, most of his hunting has focused on the use of airguns. He has taken all manner of small game, varmints, predators and more recently, big game with both production guns and custom big bores.