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Thread: Saw a Woodchuck today

  1. #21
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Finster101 - not that I heard, but I just know he was giggling in his den.

  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by nagantguy View Post
    I'm not a fan of them and shoot them on sight, they leave holes big enough to break an axel
    You said unless you have one of those things, they are shoot on sight pests...had me confused.

    You must have meant if you have those things...

    Unless you have tractors,barns, livestock,outbuildings or rock/block walls, or hen they are a shoot on sight pest

  3. #23
    Boolit Master


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    When I was in the service, i had broke my left ankle and was casted up and on crutches. A couple of nights after getting casted up and feeling alittle better I went out. As habit, I crossed an unlit field and ended up putting my good foot in a ground hog hole and the momentum carried me foward hyperextending my right knee. Yes, I just ador those little creatures.

  4. #24
    Boolit Master smkummer's Avatar
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    Common here outside of Louisville, KY. I watched a couple of these for awhile until I seen the holes under my shed in my rural subdivision. So it was time to go. I was worried 22 LR would make him waddle under my shed, die and stink. So the medicine was 22 magnum HP. Just right as 2 of them dropped on the spot. Click image for larger version. 

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  5. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by CastingFool View Post
    they are cagy little critters. They will climb trees, too. We have a couple of mulberry trees out back, and when the berries are ripe, quite often they climb up to get their pick.
    They are everywhere here in TN, I never knew this critter could get up a tree, until one day I was in my hunting stand and caught site of a fat one coming out of a tree about 75 yards from me. It took me a minute to realize what I was seeing, and it wasn't until it got down that I finally busted out laughing when I figured out it was a ground hog.

    I may have to drop one for the fur if it's as tough as you guys make it out to be, I think I can use some tough hide. I will have to try cooking one as well, many around here grew up eating them by the sounds of it, but as many as there are I guess that tradition is fading out.
    "Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it."
    ~Pericles~

  6. #26
    Boolit Master RU shooter's Avatar
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    I had the same reaction first time I saw one go up a tree ! I was standing there for about 20 seconds straight sayin to myself "groundhogs can't climb trees!" It was comical watching him get back down . My Pap always called them garden grizzlies
    If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck!

  7. #27
    Boolit Grand Master

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    They seem to love the mulberries when in season as I have seen them in the mulberry trees when the berries are ripe on the farm. If you want one for the pot get a young one barbeque it on a rotessierrie low and slow with a good barbeque sauce. Another trick is rinse before skinning good as they are borrowers and the fur has a lot of sand / dirt in it to dull your knife.

  8. #28
    Boolit Grand Master Bazoo's Avatar
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    I shot one once with a 22 lr... dropped him dead. I shot one once with a 9mm FMJ, I saw fur fly, then he smiled, and went back down the hole. I shot another with a 270 weatherby magnum. Lets just say.... 270 WM will destroy a lot of the meat.

  9. #29
    Boolit Master
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    When the white men came to America the groundhog lived in the forests. They moved into the cleared fields as forests were removed for crops.

  10. #30
    Boolit Buddy finstr's Avatar
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    I've killed an awful pile of ground hogs in my day. Could never bring myself to eat one. They are a rodent and just can't stomach the thought.
    I'm the gun totin, meat eatin', BIBLE readin', redneck conservative your mother always warned you about.

    " Holes kill stuff. "

  11. #31
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    The one I shot was with a .22LR Federal Auto Match. Right under the ear. DRT.
    You can miss fast & you can miss a lot, but only hits count.

  12. #32
    Boolit Bub
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    As to the question of do they whistle at you, only Dixie. Seriously though, the will let out a shrill and warbled whistle as an alarm if they see something suspicious when peeking from this hole. I have nearly jumped out of my boots walking a field's edge to set up on holes out in the middle and been whistled at from 5' inside the windbreak. If you don't know the hole is there, it can startle you. I ended up moving further away and popping that one's melon when the others didn't show.

    One farm I hunted heavily had a caved in tunnel network a VW bug could nearly fit in. I shoot them whenever I get the chance.

  13. #33
    Boolit Master trapper9260's Avatar
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    They do a job on a apple farm .They under mind the trees. When I had work on one years ago I had trap them out for them.I got 43 of them and very easy to trap. Use a body grip trap and put it in front of the hole. If you chase them in the hole. Set the trap and come back n about a hour you will have them most of the time.I had seen one time that I set after i chase it in the hole and then was walk away and seen another hole and was setting that one and hear the trap i just set go off and had that one .
    Life Member of NRA,NTA,DAV ,ITA. Also member of FTA,CBA

  14. #34
    Boolit Master Pine Baron's Avatar
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    My buddy and I, used to get five bucks a piece, taking care of business with .22LR, around the farms in our area. They are destructive. Great way to spend a sunny weekend. The good ole days.
    Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

  15. #35
    Boolit Master
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    I keep a 92 in .25-20 by the kitchen door . I have shot quite a few in the yard. not only the holes they will chew up everything wires on cars. we rewired a friends corvette 3 times. I have lost 2 gas jugs to them.

  16. #36
    Boolit Buddy
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    I had a half black and tan half blue tick coon hound, named Sam, when I lived in WV. He would "tree" the ground hogs on the fences that separated the corn fields and would bark his fool head off until I came around to shoot the thing. I used to have a Ruger Single Six .22 and would often walk around the farm to see if I could find a ground hog or two. Sam would go with me. One day, after seeing nothing, Sam disappeared into the brush, rustled around a bit and came back with a huge ground hog in his jaws. He shook it until its neck snapped and dropped it at my feet and then trotted off as if to say that I was worthless when it came to real hunting.

    A lot of folks in WV swore that ground hog was good eatin' especially if you could get a youngster. I never tried it myself, so I can't say from experience.

  17. #37
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    They are Shoot on Sight critters around here.
    My grandfather had a dog chase one down a hole and the groundhog almost killed the dog. The dog required a trip to the vet and after that he killed every groundhog he saw.
    They are destructive creatures, particularly around buildings. People with horses HATE groundhogs and will gladly let you hunt them.


    You can kill them with a 22lr if the ranges aren't too extreme but a lot of people have center fire rifles set up just for killing groundhogs.

  18. #38
    Boolit Buddy
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    .50 cal Pennsylvania style flintlocks are good medicine for them as well.

  19. #39
    Boolit Buddy
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    not to mention they will do a number on your garden if they find it, my dad would get so mad because they would bust his melon open and eat them.

  20. #40
    Boolit Master
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    saw 4 killed on the road today and many in the fields.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
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LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check