On the subject of marmota monax. Otherwise know as the common Grounhog
I was just wondering, sense a thread was started about groundhog as a food source.
Does any one have pics or interesting stories of the summers ground hog harvest? Be it big or small, young or old, table worthy or "well I think it was a groundhog :huh:, but that seems to be an awfull lot of blood. :shrug:"
This can be interesting, funny, thought provoking :confused: or just about any kinf of anicdotes. they just got to be about our fuzzy little friend that never did nothing to no one. But I'll be danged if they dont tast great with a side of mashed taters and gravy
Me!? nothin! I never went out for hogs this summer. Everything around me was to tall for that real quick.
But I think I may just have a couple people to ask that may open up some pasture land. Maybe...
Just found out I have one living under a frineds shed. In town. I have a 22cal pellet rifle I want to try out this spring .
found a quote in the encyclopedia, I wanted to share:
Groundhogs raised in captivity can be socialized relatively easily; however, their aggressive nature can pose problems. Doug Schwartz, a zookeeper and groundhog trainer at the Staten Island Zoo, has been quoted as saying "They’re known for their aggression, so you’re starting from a hard place. [Their] natural impulse is to kill ’em all and let God sort ’em out. You have to work to produce the sweet and cuddly"
I knew there was a reason I liked the groundhog!! :biggrin: :yoyo: :biggrin: :yoyo: :eyebrow:
Just look for Dave's HH1 & HH2 threads in here. You'll see how it's done PA style!! :yoyo:
A quiet way to dispose of an in town Whistle pig is to.......Take a #3 coil spring trap.....bury most of the trap and bed it well near the entrance of its den, leaving the pad exposed completely......put peanut butter on the pad.....and a slice of apple if ya have it.......you will catch him by the head and the deed is done..... :eyebrow:
We dont have a lot of them now as the coyotes have almost removed them.......I can show ya one hole where the coyotes dug out a family of pigs and turned the hole into a yearly den to raise pups....but I gotta be careful of showing these things or someone will find it and kill all the pups in the spring then they will no longer use it....
Most folks around here hate coyotes this much.....
I am waiting for the right time to hopefully get a new game camera and ........ :eyebrow:
I do not go near it during denning season..... but if they ever become a problem....... I know where to go now.
Some folks around here have figured out an Illegal way to dispose of coyotes in the spring.....and it also kills groundhogs.....coons....and other wildlife.....I will not post what they are doing but I will turn in someone for doing such things as it is doing our wildlife as a whole NO GOOD at all...
In fact the coyotes seem to be coming back from it in healthier #'s The groundhogs seem to be disappearing off the face of the earth.... :argh: It is to the point where I will not shoot a rabbit or grouse any more....because seeing one is rare....
I have not even shown my own friends where this is.........I would not want someone to let it slip.
I aint so much protecting the coyotes as I am the other wildlife that would perish due to these poachers. :rolleye:
Is this what you're looking for slag?? :biggrin:
(http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee217/BrightwoodTurnings/hunting%20photos/th_hogs6-10007.jpg) (http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee217/BrightwoodTurnings/hunting%20photos/?action=view¤t=hogs6-10007.flv)
Now where HaMer lives......There are a bunch of them pigs!!! :yoyo: :yoyo: :yoyo: It used to be the same here.....
I never get tired of watching those vids Glen! :yoyo: :yoyo: :yoyo: :yoyo:
I ended up with 15 total off my property this year before the snowfall drove them underground and the Honey Holes closed up for the season. The odd one will make it's first appearance the end of January... Then they'll start showing up in February.. I'll be looking for fresh diggings. The true "Harbinger of Spring"!
I might see if HaMer and Diane want to put together a book with me? "Back Pasture Tales"...We'll put together a ProStaff and such...Maybe include a few recipes for Jim? LOL!
Dave
I love watching Diane and your videos Glen! The Ol' hog in a tree shot.. is a classic!
:readthis: "Back Pasture Tales".
:eyebrownod: :eyebrownod:
Glad you fellas enjoy the videos. We might of shot 20 this year. They were out there but we weren't. Next summer I hope to be working good enough to hit them hard again. :yoyo: I really wanted pics of that tree hog but it got lodged somewhere in the trunk. The hole was actually right @ 6 feet off the ground. I could just see in it but couldn't look down in more than a foot. And I wasn't sticking my hands in that tree!! :nono: :nono:
:confused: I aint too sure about being a "Back Pasture" Pro Staffer tho Dave!! :nono: :roflmao: :roflmao:
I'm gonna have to video the hunts & send them to you so you can narrate them for me. :laf: :laf:
Yeah!! thats what we need a Groundhog pro staff.
If ya have recepies let us have 'em
Why yes that video is right along the lines I am looking for.
When I was a kid we used to drive around and look for them. Usually in the spring right after some thunder storms move through and the sun comes back out was always our best times. I thnk the best day we had was 6. In fact one of these trips was when I saw my very first XP100 in 221 fireball. A friend of my uncle Marshalls had it. He was a killing mahcine with it as I remmeber. Developed a likeing for that firearm right quick. Well all we were using was 22's so the little centerfire was stealling the show.
There is a rail road track that runs in front of my old home stead. The tracks were both cut into a hill and elevated for a long ways. Miles apon miles of prime groundhog habitat. The hogs liked burrowing into the side of the hills and where it was raised they liked to dig under the rail bed. The RR workes loved the fact we were hunting the hogs off the tracks due to the damage they can do to the rail bed.
I have to agree with the not hunting them just for target practice. There just dosnt seem to be as many any more. Unless you go to Greenwood IN then they are lousy along the rail road tracks right there through town.
Al I know where your comming from. It is never a good thing to show even the clossest friend where your honey holes are. Even a best friend will go hunting there without ya or take one of his other firends to the spots ya showed him.
http://forum.finsandfur.net/index.php?topic=8464.0
I think Dave needs to compile all of his Honey Hole stories on here into a Short Story Novel. :yoyo:
Just a quick snippet of Sir Dave's Honey Hole Adventures. :yoyo: :yoyo:
http://forum.finsandfur.net/index.php?topic=10192.0
I can't tell stories like Dave or take videos like HaMeR, but I do pot a few myself. Here are some pix ...
Here is my furthest shot to date. 423yds w/ my 22-250 Savage. Had to shoot from one farm to another to get the distance. :doh2:
(http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd48/vvarmitr/423ydsws.jpg)
I like to use whatever I got ...
in this case a Competitor Pistol in 6mmBR
(http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd48/vvarmitr/FallFling2.jpg)
Another pistol, a High Standard Victor
(http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd48/vvarmitr/FirstghogfortheHighStandard-1.jpg)
Here's a trio taken w/ a 220Swift Ruger #1 & a 222Rem in an old model 722 Reminton
(http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd48/vvarmitr/28470055.jpg)
Here's the first for my Savage 17HMR That there is a hog!
(http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd48/vvarmitr/WS17HMRMaidenVoyage.jpg)
Here is the largest I've ever shot, 15.5#. Got'em w/ the afore mentioned 222
(http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd48/vvarmitr/BiggestGhog9-9-04155_001.jpg)
I got more if ya want 'em? :shrug:
Word, word, word and word. You got the idea. great pics and thanks. :bowingsmilie:
Now that is what I am talking about!! :yoyo: excellent pics and such a variety of firearms used in the harvesting of the little balls of attitude. :biggrin: I can tell that Savage 17HMR is being broken in. The tag is still on it from the factory. :readthis:
15.5 huh the biggest I have seen personaly with my own eyes was just over 20 pounds. :innocentwhistle: Biggest I have shot :wo: maybe 10 pounds. :doh2: I got to try to do better :eyebrow:
Those are some real porkers James!! Dontcha just love that "THUMP"!!! :biggrin:
Well, I do have more. :innocentwhistle:
Here are a few...
The first & only one so far for a 17AIHornet on a Ruger 22Hornet action.
In fact that g'hog was shot w/ a fire forming load. I gotta a bit of work to do w/ it yet. ;yes;
(http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd48/vvarmitr/2006_0609gradaimee0005.jpg)
Here is the first for CDM - a BROWNING A-bolt in 25WSSM
(http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd48/vvarmitr/WsCDMs1stBloodghog.jpg)
Here is what CDM looks like now ...
(http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd48/vvarmitr/28460021.jpg)
MORE HERO SHOTS!! thats what we need!!
thats some pretty good shooting ya got going on there. Ya aint got but one fryer in the whole bunch though.
That 17AIHornet on a Ruger 22Hornet action looks like an awfull big hand full. Hope it dont kick tooooo hard. LOL It looks like it might be the perfect close to civizilation rifle. What kind of bark does it have?
That last pic looks like the perfect habitat them.
The 17AIH has IMO just a bit more umph than the 17HMR.
Bark? I'd have to say it growls real menacing . :laf:
Ya might ask,
then again you might not, what's the sense in having one when ya got a 17HMR. :shrug:
For one I like reloading, two it is soooo much cheaper to reload it than buying HMR ammo. In fact you can reload the 17Rem. cheaper than buying the HMR stuff. ;yes; Three is I choose the bullets I want. :wink: Four, I get to load it hotter or even less than the 17HMR.
Quote from: slagmaker on December 14, 2009, 10:28:43 AM
That last pic looks like the perfect habitat them.
Yeap! Creek banks, wood lines, fence rows, & knolls. At least thats where I find 'em.
I have to agree with the reloading Vs new 17HMR stuff. Lots cheeper. I like my 22 Magnum but food for it can get expensive. IF I want to shoot as accurate as my Marlin 22Mag will shoot then I have to feed it what it likes and it likes the higher dollar stuff.
I have on my wish list a 17rem but I am not sure I will ever get one of those. Might have to get me one of those K Hornets. Almost bought me a Hornet once but my Uncle told me ya never know of your gona get a good shooter or not. If ya get one that dont shoot worth a darn then thats what ya got and theres nothing ya can do about it.
BUT you have peaked my intrest with this 17AIHornet. Gona have to do some reading and see what its all about.
I remember when vvarmitr first got that rifle he was hunting everything with it. Even done some advertising for Ruger. :laf:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/Plumbrich/17AI.jpg)
OK! I guess it would be possible. Shot placement is the key ya know.
Nice bit of photoshop there.....
@ CCP!!
Way to go James!! Why didn't you tell us you were Ruger ProStaff!! :yoyo: :yoyo:
slag-- Don't worry about a bad shooting Hornet if you reload. They can be made to shoot with todays components.
James,
That's some good shooting!!
Jim
Quote from: HaMeR on December 21, 2009, 08:00:50 AM
Way to go James!! Why didn't you tell us you were Ruger ProStaff!! :yoyo: :yoyo:
Ah, you know me HaMeR, I ain't one to brag ..... much! :innocentwhistle:
Ruger ProStaff That's funny! :roflmao:
Quote from: HaMeR on December 21, 2009, 08:00:50 AM
slag-- Don't worry about a bad shooting Hornet if you reload. They can be made to shoot with todays components.
I'll Amen that! ;yes;
Only thing to watch out for is the old Hornets had a .223 rather than a standard .224 barrel. Bullets are there for 'em, but they aren't the quality of the .224 bullets.
BTW SLAG???? You started this thread, don't you have any pix or stories? :wo:
Rich! :rolleye: I wonder what it'll be like here when you retire & have to much time on your hands. :wo:
ME??? UHH no. I dont have any pictures.
I do have some stories from when I was a kid shooting ground hogs with friends and family down on the farm that my grandparents had. All that happened sooooo long ago that my memory is kind of fuzzy about all the happenings. I do remember going out with my uncle in his old Blazer and looking for ground hogs at one of the pastures. That was when a friend of my uncles brought out his XP100 and I got to find out what center fire varmiting was all about. It wasnt long after that when my family moved and I didnt get a chance to go hunting anymore. Moved from the country to a city and no one I met had any place to hunt or even cared to go hunting. I finally met someone to go hunitng with and when we got there all he wanted to do was shoot at anything that moved. I tried to teach hunting ethics but he lost intrest real quick when he found out that anythign living wasnt a target. So it wasnt till after high school when I got out on my own that i got back into hunting.
I am actively looking for place to hunt such things. it seems like everyitme I find a place to hunt I loose it for one reason or another. last place I lost cause they built a factory there. Place before that someone shot one of the owners cattle with an arrow so he locked the gates to everyone. lost another when the owner died and his kids said no hunting for anyone.
Give me time and I will get pics and stories. My youngest daughter likes going out with me and we are even going crow calling tomorrow if the weather holds and I can find her something to wear that isnt some neon collor.
Lawdy Slag, you about had me in tears there. :sad3: That is one sad story. :sad:
If I were you I'd go back to those other farms & ask again about hunting. Especially the one w/ the skewered cow. Tell 'em all you want to do is hunt g'hogs & sell the fact that an extra pair of eyes on the place wouldn't hurt either. Show concern about their property & it's a good chance you'll be back on there. :wink:
That extra set of eyes is how I got a couple places I have now but I seen not hide nor hair of a whistlepig at any of the places I have to hunt. Seen everything else but ground hog. One of them has a long hill side that would be the perfect habitat for them but they just arnt there. I do get my whistlepig fix by sitting in the weeds down by my camp site and trying to snipe chipmunks. Them things are fast so ya got to be quick. A 22short and some patience and its almost as fun. If ya hit one your good to go but if ya miss your done for the day. I have actually entertaind the thought of getting one of them there Gamo air rifles so its a little quieter so maybe I can get more than a couple shots in a day at the mini-bears. Ya got to bait them onto a rock pile with chocolate or mollasses so they will hold still long enought to get the shot.
Growing up we Lived along a rail road that was chock full of them fuzz balls. I have shot several with my old 410 just out walking along those tracks. But it just aint the same as taking a nice long shot across a field and hearing that satisfing thump when ya connect. I had a track maintenance worker stop me one time and tell me I wasnt supposed to be there and was givng me the 3rd degree when he stopped talking and was looking off behind me. He spotted one comming out form under a tie pile. I turned to see at what he was looking at and he asked can ya hit him form here?. YEP! rolled him real good. Made a friend that day. He would stop by my house every now and then and let me know of the spots where they were damaging the track bed. Put a lot of miles on some shoe leather walking those tracks.
Ya know as a side note, If'n ya saw a 13 year old kid walking by himself with a shotgun today someone would call the law and there parents would be put in jail and the kid be put in a foster home.
Before I was allowed to carry the shot gun out by myself I had a good wrist rocket. Store bought not home made. Used money form picking up cans to get it. I use to be able to kill a rabbit from better than 25 yards just as clean as anything ya could ask for using a glass marble. Been many a rabbit taken along that old Conrail line with nothing more than a sling shot. I tried but I was never albe to put down a ground hog with it. AND I TRIED HARD!! Groundhogs head is just way to hard for a marble to bust.
I may just have to get out one of my slingshots and see if'n I can still hit anything. :wo: