Screamin' Groundhog

[Hickory]

I shot a groundhog last night just before dusk, he had been making his living off my garden.
At the shot, the old sow started screaming and sounded like the dying screeks of a little old woman that lasted all of 30 seconds or more, a most unnerving sound. I almost felt sorry for the ol' gal until I remember that she cleaned out my sweet potato vines.
I only mention this because I never heard a ground hog make a sound when shot.
Anyone ever heard of such a thing?

[Finster101]

I have always heard them called "whistle pigs" and I have seen then stand on their hind legs and whistle. I can't say that I have ever heard one scream.

[Hickory]

110298

Just went out to dispose of it and took a picture of it.
Appears to have been struck in the head & neck area.
I have heard them whistle also, but never the mournful wailing I heard last evening.

[country gent]

I have heard woodchucks and rabbits both scream, Rabbits only do it the one time. Woodchucks will whistle. If they are down feeding and you give out a similar whistle they will pop up and look around. WHat did you shoot her with? Some of Northwest Ohios woodchucks get big and are dang persistent. I have fought them borrowing under the back deck for several years Last years total was 13 from the kitchen window. Year before was 11 so far this year I havent seen one yet. I dispatch them with a 22 hornet and the seldom move or make any sounds.

[Pb2au]

I have had a couple give off a keening sound for a few seconds after the shot, but never that long. Perhaps the thing contorted when you popped it and the lungs when getting slowly squeezed in the spasm.

[prsman23]

110298

Just went out to dispose of it and took a picture of it.
Appears to have been struck in the head & neck area.
I have heard them whistle also, but never the mournful wailing I heard last evening.

I hear they are delicious. Instead of disposing I'd try cooking one up!

[DeanWinchester]

When I was about 9 years old I shot a rabbit with a 20g but made a poor shot and got its back end. It cried and sounded like a little baby wailing. Tore me up pretty good. (I was little pansy [smilie=l: )

About two years ago a vehicle two car lengths ahead of me hit a deer and SOB kept going (douchebag!!!) I stopped and the doe was thrashing about and was making a very unnerving cry. I put her down right here in town, not 100 yards from city hall. It was the closest I ever came to having a run in with the law. They didn't show up at the scene, I showed up at the police station. I had blood on my shirt and hands from dragging her off the side of the road and of course, I was legally carrying. I knocked on the police station door and commenced to raining down a storm of swear words about the piece of garbage that hit and run. I told the cop I shot her and he just said, well, let's hope we don't have to do that again and lets keep that to ourselves yeah? He came by the shop a few days later to get a tire fixed and we laughed. He said he had several different thoughts as I walked up with gun on my hip and blood on my person. LOL!!

[bob208]

they are taking over around here so I nail them with what ever is handy. I shot one with a shot gun and it screamed till I hit it again. the last three I got with a 92 Winchester carbine in .25-20.

[W.R.Buchanan]

They are also known as "Whistling Marmots."

Do your best to shoot them in the head as they will crawl back into their holes unless you hit the off button the first time.

I learned this shooting ground squirrels when I was 8. My uncle was adamant about this as we were shooting them at the dump on the oil lease and if they didn't drop where they were shot the coyotes couldn't get at them at night and they would stink up the place during the heat of the day, which the bosses didn't like.

Randy

[shawnba67]

I hear they are delicious. Instead of disposing I'd try cooking one up!
Flat the best tasting critter youve never eaten. They are superb table fare, as usual younger is better.

[CastingFool]

I hear they are delicious. Instead of disposing I'd try cooking one up!

I wouldn't say delicious, but they are good. Have eaten them a couple of times. It's recommended you parboil them first. We didn't do that, just quartered them and into a slow cooker, with the regular spices.

[country gent]

I clean them and soak in light salt water over night. Then marinate for few hours in brown sugar and barbegue sauce mix. On the rottisierrie and in the smoker low and slow with hickory chips. Younger are better. A big old one gets pretty strong and gamey. A young one head shot is good table fare though

[00buck]

I use a .204 Ruger on groundhogs.. they just blow up most times. Nothing left for the pot.

.22's just pokes holes in them and they get back to their holes.. unless you make head shots.

[Finster101]

I will have to take everyone's word that they are tasty because I have no intention of ever trying one.

[Geraldo]

I never heard a groundhog make noise when I shot them, but I did have a raccoon I shot one night with .17HMR make all kinds of noises. If you check out predator calls they're all basically wounded/screaming small game animals.

[bobthenailer]

I have never eaten a ground hog , there was a fellow who i used to work on his car at the shop who would take all i could supply , with a preference for younger & head shot , I just gave him a call and he was at my house to pick them up sporting a big smile.
I dont think ive killed a ground hog in 20+ years , i used to go all the time but when i got into shooting matches 2 to 3 day a week I did not have time anymore.

[jeepyj]

Interestingly we were trapping them in one of the properties. I picked up the live trap and one started to make a barking sound and jumped the heck out of me. A little later on I was talking to one of the pest management guys and he said that they actually make seven different distinct sounds.
Jeepyj

[quack1]

I just shot one a couple of weeks ago that squealed like a pig for a few seconds before it died. The bullet (Lyman 257420 in a 25-06) grazed its chest and went through a front leg , close to the body. Took it a few seconds to bleed out. I hunt them in soybean fields on a buddy's farm and usually shoot 30-40 before the beans get too tall to see them. Been doing this for over 25 years and don't seem to be making any headway in reducing the overall population on his farm from year to year. Hear them whistle pretty often, usually when they dive for their hole when they see me before I see them. They are tough animals for their size, with cast bullets, (even hollow pointed) need to hit them in solidly in the head or chest to kill them on the spot.
They are good to eat when they are young, remind me of beef. They do have a smell to them when you par boil and my wife hated it, they were the only animal she wouldn't cook. I feed them to the laborador, rather than just shoot them and let them lay for the turkey vultures or coyotes. I gut them, cut them in half and only bring home the hind quarter, skin it and freeze them until I have a bunch, then boil them, outside, until I can pick out the bones out. The lab would probably happily eat them raw, skin and bones and all, but I worry about the idiot perforating his esophagus or stomach with a jagged piece of bone.

[nagantguy]

They are my gardens arch nemisis and ive heard them scream and cry upon being shot. Ive gotten quit a few out of fruit trees! Yep they will climb. A tip from yearr of experience of hunting them if they go in the hole before you shoot get a little closer and take a knee or lay down in a few mins they will pop up go see if your gone, got lots of em that way especially the young. And tbey are good eating just like a suckling pig!!!!!!,! Grate grandpa had a horse ranch/ cattle and he used to pay us grandkids to shoot groundhogs, a whole dollar fer a big sow with teets.

[sandman228]

Ive shot a few with 22lr 1 of them I ended up hitting in the back leg, I was afraid to take a headshot cause if I missed I would have shot out the tire on my boat trailer .I shot another 1in the back of the head from a 2nd floor window, dropped him where he was standing . i came down his back legs were still kicking but never made a sound

[bob208]

I opened the hood on an old truck. one was setting in the battery box he snapped his teeth at me made a clicking sound. that hood went down real quick. they like to chew the wiring on cars. I helped rewire a friends corvette 3 times.

[FLHTC]

I shot a groundhog last night just before dusk, he had been making his living off my garden.
At the shot, the old sow started screaming and sounded like the dying screeks of a little old woman that lasted all of 30 seconds or more, a most unnerving sound. I almost felt sorry for the ol' gal until I remember that she cleaned out my sweet potato vines.
I only mention this because I never heard a ground hog make a sound when shot.
Anyone ever heard of such a thing?

Might have a little to do with pain

[oldred]

Groundhog is good when cooked properly, nothing at all wrong with eating them and when I as a kid we hunted them for food. My grandmother knew how to make them very tasty by roasting them with veggies and the proper spices, as far as wild small game food groundhog ranks right up there with the best of them.



BTW, a few years back here on the farm my son shot one with a 22 and it crawled back into it's hole under our barn and died. A couple of days later my daughter came running into the house crying and holding four starving baby groundhogs, just try telling your 8 year old daughter that those things need to be put down! I lost the argument real quick and my wife took off to Wallyworld to get some cans of orphan kitten milk and a bunch of other things to care for these critters, it became a real learning experience for us and I'm really happy now that it happened. My daughter took those things and cared for them until they were grown at which point I finally had to take them far out into the woods in what is part of a national park where they likely never came into contact with people again, probably a good thing since they were tame to the point of being pesky! When I released them near a creek three of them seemed thrilled to be in such an area but one would have no part of it and kept following me back to the truck and trying to get in, my wife couldn't stand it at that point and so I let him back in and we brought him back home. That darn thing lived for years in our barn and every Summer the kids would call for him to feed him cookies and other goodies until he finally failed to show. It was quite a learning experience for the girl and I have to admit there were times I actually enjoyed have that darn thing being around since he was quite playful and some of his antics were very amusing! The one thing I learned that surprised me the most was just how intelligent these creatures are! The kids taught them all kinds of tricks and they quickly learned things like how to open containers where the pet food was stored, all in all they are a LOT smarter than most people might think!

[Forrest r]

Groundhogs are down right tasty, eaten 100's of them over the years. Used to boil the bigger ones with salt/pepper/onion for a couple hours then let them sit till they cooled to the touch. Them I'd get out the old hand crank grinder & turn them into burger. They're so lean that we'd have to add fat to them to get them to stick together to make burgers, meatloaf or meatballs out of.

I like to alter the 22's I use on them or other vermin, gives the lowly 22lr it a little more smack.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t242/forrestr-photo/scorpion22lr_zps628e847b.jpg (http://s162.photobucket.com/user/forrestr-photo/media/scorpion22lr_zps628e847b.jpg.html)

[Djs3909]

Forrest r.... What did you do and how'd you do it? Looks cool

[Forrest r]

Those were done with a paco kelly tool, they're the scorpion nosed hp's & have excellent results with head shots.

[DougGuy]

They will bite the living daylights out of a dog too! Don't for a minute think they won't sink them teeth into your arm like a Singer sewing machine if you happen to grab one up trying to get it out of a trap!

I shot a young one here but didn't eat it, after all I have heard, if I get another one I might try it.

[brassrat]

One was poking around at the range today. I am shooting a, real accurate, Mini-14 /w red-dot, and the rounds are coming close depending on his spot, at the moment. Shooting him is verboten and everyone is amused at him and his non-fear. I am then handed a broom to move him. I didn't get too close before he waddled/ ran off. Good laugh, all around. A women left, later, and complemented me on his treatment.

[MBTcustom]

You know, I've never seen one of these creatures. Maybe we don't have them here. Seems to me that any hole I dig fills up with water pretty quick except for 3 months out of the year, in which case, you would be better off taking a shovel to a concrete slab. Maybe that's why no groundhogs.
Our main pests are coons possums and armadillos.

[salvadore]

The ShoBans I use to work with claimed a lot of folks on the Res dine on Rock Chucks. Never heard any prep instructions.

[Charlie U.]

Yeah, I have heard some weird noises from woodchucks as they expire. Moans, snarls, and squeals that make you cringe.

They are tough critters and can take a hit. In my experience the 22lr is rather minimal for taking down big tough woodchucks. It takes perfect shot placement to drop 'em cleanly.

I have been waging a bit of a Jihad on them here at my house because they keep trying to take up residence under my shed and burrow its foundations.

Eating woodchuck?.....no thanks. They are such filthy animals.

[Vinne]

Maybe that's why no groundhogs.
Our main pests are coons possums and armadillos.

Same here but after Katrina the rats took over. You hear of people saying "rats as big as cats" well I seen them and bigger!!
Nothing less than an '06 to take them down.