Taking out Rock Chucks

Taking out Rock Chucks

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Many of you may know that I produce three very different radio programs. Two of them focus on agriculture and one focuses on outdoorsman. I found a story that's the perfect combination. If you would like to help a farmer and sharpen up your marksmanship, listen up. "There is nothing here that's clear down. I can't even cut is that short. Then you get out here and you see where they have been in it. You've got a good 10 to 12 inches of growth out here and then it gets gradually less as it comes back." Every year, Lincoln County farmer Darren Tabor battles the rock chuck. "Look how busy this trail is. It leads right to the alfalfa field. It's like an interstate highway for rock chucks." Each spring the rock chuck population explodes. Thousands will nest under the rock piles on the edges of the fields and each year, Tabor loses more ground to the varmint. "They just decimate the alfalfa. It can't come back, they keep it mowed down as fast as it can grow. You get a big enough population they will take out three or 4 acres of alfalfa at one time." Enter Ken Mills, a sharpshooter from California who for the last 20 years has ventured into the Idaho high desert to help farmers control the rock chuck population. "300 yards is 13 so I will set it on 12 clicks. The only other thing you can do is poison them and that isn't 100% effective.
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