GTA
General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Hunting Gate => : longislandhunter May 14, 2010, 12:20:08 PM
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About an hour ago I was leaving the house to go pick up some Chinese take out for dinner and as I headed for my truck I suddenly noticed 3 brown objects on my back yard grass. Two of them were large rabbits that I've been seeing every afternoon for the past few weeks but the third brown object was much larger and is definitely not welcome..... it was a very large, adult g-hog and I do mean large. We stared at each other for about a minute and then he ran straight towards one of my sheds, his large rolls of fat swinging back and forth as he ran, then he dove under my shed and disappeared. So,,,,,,,, starting tomorrow morning I'm on the hunt :) I gotta get rid of this invader before he gets to much digging done under my shed.
Sounds like the perfect job for the .22 Trail XL :)
Harry,,,, this ones gonna be for you :)
Jeff
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Good luck bro and I'm headed out myself to do some hunting. It's been raining and blowing around here off and on for over a week but we have several days and night's of nice weather and need to get out. Ed
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can we get a movie this time?
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Good hunting Jeff and Ed! Don't forget the pictures! ;-)
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Good luck Ed.... I'll be eagerly awaiting the pics :)
I haven't been hunting at all lately..... last week made a 5 day trip with the wife to Disney World in Orlando to visit my youngest daughter who works at EPCOT and ever since getting back home all my time has been consumed with getting my boat ready to be dropped into the water for the summer fishing season. Well, the Disney trip is behind me,,,, the boat is finally in the water and tied up securely at the marina ready to go fishing at a moments notice :) so I'm finally free to start shootin my BB guns agains :) This backyard g-hog is just what I need to get back into the swing of things......
Jeff
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Good luck on your hunts gentlemen. Can't wait for the pics.
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Alright Jeff! I can't wait to see the G-hog next to your Trial XL! And you got 2 rabbits too! There could be more. What more can you ask for? :)
My neighbor is sellng the house across the street and the tenant has moved out. He gave me permission yesterday to shoot any G-hogs on the property. He already had a couple come see the house last weekend and they noticed the huge pile of dirt next his front door and the big hole inside the foundation. He said his wife was freaking out when her husband figured out it was a G-hog burrow. The pile of dirt had many chunks of cement foundation in it and the hole is almost twice as big as it was last year. This critter chewed right through the cement! There are also has 2-3 G-hogs in the backyard which I have seen before. They live under his tool shed. I have also observed the G-hog that lives in the front by his door and it has grown a lot since last year.
This is going to be very challenging because I can't shoot from across the street and it's wide open with no trees or cover between my house and his. It's going to be tough. I know I can get the ones in the back because I can sneak up on them from around the corner. They stay directly in the back of the house and you can't see them unless you walk way out to the side of the house. I snuck up on them last year (a female with 2 young ones) as I stayed flush with the side of the house. I know I can do it again. I just have to be careful as Real Estate agents and people interested in the house are coming and going the last couple of days. The one in the front is going to be a huge challenge. Maybe I should just zero one of the Condors for 50yds and shoot from my window across the street and get it over with :) A lethal 50yd shot to the head is going to be challenging in itself.
I think I will wait another week or two to learn the habits of the "front G-hog" and get the times down when it comes out to feed.
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Glad you got some more g-hogs to hunt Harry :) I'll be looking forward to the stories and pics ...
I've been watching for my back yard g-hog all day but he hasn't showed his furry fact yet. I'm planning on setting up an ambush for him later this afternoon and wait for him to come out to feed. The last time I saw him it was around 7:30 pm so I'm hoping he'll keep the same schedule today. Time will tell. As for the rabbits.... they're safe from me. I won't bother them until rabbit season opens up again and in the meantime they can eat all the grass they want and just keep making more baby bunnies. I also have 4 new squirrels that moved into some squirrel nesting boxes I put up in the backyard and yesterday I saw 4 tiny squirrels come out of one of the nesting boxes and start exploring their "kingdom" :) After a few minutes the mother squirrel coaxed them back into the nest, but they were fun to watch.
JEff
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longislandhunter - 5/15/2010 2:50 PM
........ I also have 4 new squirrels that moved into some squirrel nesting boxes I put up in the backyard and yesterday I saw 4 tiny squirrels come out of one of the nesting boxes and start exploring their "kingdom" :) After a few minutes the mother squirrel coaxed them back into the nest, but they were fun to watch.
JEff
Jeff,
Great idea !!!! Where did you get the boxes, or at least the plans to build them ?
Might be a good way of keeping them from nesting where I DON"T want them to.
Paul
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Chunks of concret ? Hey Harry, the Chucks down your way learned how to work a jack hammer now ?
Man, that's some serious digging going on !!!!! Remember, aim just below the hard hat and in between the ear muffs !!!! :D
Paul.
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I hope you get him,with your new NPXL. :) :) with some good pix.
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Well, I made a mistake. I don't have 1 g-hog under my shed I have 2 g-hogs, one under each shed. I had a hankering for some smoked chicken today so early this afternoon I set up the smoker on my deck and proceeded to get to smoking a large yard bird. Around 4:30 I stepped out on the deck to add another chunk of hickory to the smoker and standing up on his hind legs looking at me was a new g-hog. It wasn't the huge one I saw the other day that disappeared under one of my sheds it was a younger one about 1/3 of the size of the big bugger. He stared at me for a few seconds and then made a bee line for my other shed which is right next to the shed that the big g-hog is living under. During the next hour I made 2 more trips out onto the deck to check on the smoker and both times I saw the youngster out feasting on my grass and both times he disappeared under "his" shed.
The yard bird finished smoking around 6:30 so after turning the smoker off and putting the yard bird away to "rest" I retrieved my .22 Disco, loaded her up with an FTS pellet and took a seat out on the deck waiting for "junior" to show himself again.
Well, I stayed out there until 8pm and never saw the little bugger. I'm going to get up real early tomorrow morning and hopefully catch at least one of the g-hogs out having their breakfast,,,, which hopefully will be there last meal :)
Paul........ regarding those squirrel nests......... I just made some real simple looking large bird house type houses and made the holes much bigger to accommodate the squirrels. Didn't take em long to find em and they moved right in :)
Jeff
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Cool! Thanks Jeff, gonna give that a try.
Good luck with the back yard Chuck hunt. That XL needs a Chuck to it's credit !!!! :D
Paul.
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The XL already has a g-hog under it's belt :)
I decided to use the .22 Disco on these g-hogs :)
Hope to be posting some pics tomorrow.....
Jeff
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Yesterday afternoon while I was working out on my deck repairing a large deck umbrella the smaller of the 2 g-hogs that are living under my sheds came out, looked around and slowly strolled across my back lawn and entered onto my neighbors property heading towards his shed. I know what that means..... my neighbor must have one living under his shed too and this little fellow was going "visiting". Of course as he walked across my lawn I'm standing there with a drill in my hand instead of a rifle so there was nothing I could do, but his open insult to me put me over the edge.
This morning, rage still fired, I got up real early while the neighborhood was still asleep and I peeked out into my backyard. Yup, there he is right in the middle of the yard having his breakfast. I loaded the .22 disco, slipped down into the basement, quietly opened the bilco doors and headed out into the backyard still dressed in my pajamas. I slowly made my way to the corner of the cedar deck and peered around the corner. the g-hog caught my movement and in a flash he made a run for the safety of the shed. He made it to the shed and dove underneath. All of a sudden I see a head poke out from underneath the shed and 2 brown eyes staring at me. That was all I needed. For a split second I thought to myself that I shouldn't take the shot because he's so close to his burrow but I really need to get this critter out from under my shed so I put the crosshairs on his noggin and fired. I heard the FTS hit with a loud "Whap" and the g-hogs head slumped to the ground. As I reloaded I kept looking up and his head was still laying on the ground motionless. With the Disco reloaded I quickly approached the shed but when I got there he was gone :( He must've summoned up his last ounce of strength and pulled himself to the burrow. I know the hit was fatal, it was a perfect shot and the fact that he just laid there for so many seconds confirmed my belief, but I always hate losing one down the hole. I was upset that I had lost my prize but I feel good that at least one of my shed dwelling g-hogs has been removed. Now I have to work on getting the larger one that lives under the other shed.
Sorry I can't post any pics of this hunt, I was looking forward to that. I could post a pic of my shed but somehow I don't think it would be the same :)
Anyway, 1 down and 1 to go.....
Jeff
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Good shooting Jeff. Nice, young one, too bad it did the self-burial.
longislandhunter - 5/15/2010 9:59 PM
The XL already has a g-hog under it's belt :)
I decided to use the .22 Disco on these g-hogs :)
Hope to be posting some pics tomorrow.....
Jeff
Dang! I must have missed seeing that hunt report .... or, brain-fade has set in again ... ???? :D
Paul.
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SUcks you didnt get your trophy, I alway look forward to peoples trophy pics and stories. Better luck with the big one.
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Sorry he got away Jeff! that happened to Harry too!
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Well, I still have to other g-hog to get. When I get a shot at him I'll make sure he's a decent distance from the hole.....
BTW..... I spoke to my next door neighbor a little while ago and he said he's got a couple of g-hogs under his 2 sheds as well, he's seen them a few times in the afternoons. He's got his Hammerli Titan .177 within reach inside the house and is just waiting to get a shot himself....
Jeff
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Great shooting Jeff and I'm sure you nailed him, fertilizer now.:) Ed
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Well, now what are ya gonna do about the smell in the shed? It may be a good idea to try and get em out. Have you ever thought of getting a dachound?(spelling)
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Wow, I hope it doesn't smell your yard up. Maybe you will get lucky and have another G-hog down there which will push the dead out onto the surface. I had that happen once. I was pleasantly surprised the next morning when I saw the one I had shot laying there dead a few inches from the burrow. I don't think I ever got to than the G-hog that pushed the dead out because I think i shot him a couple of days later :)
Hey it happens. You should have used the Condor :) just kidding! Good shooting nevertheless. Sometimes they get knocked out unconcious and then come to, and they 're gone. This is why I love G-hog hunting. It's very challenging.
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I haven't noticed any odor yet, but then again enough time hasn't passed yet. Late this afternoon I did notice a lot of flies buzzing around the base of the shed right near where he was when I shot him. The entrance to the burrow is pretty far under the shed so there's no way for me to have any access to it, so if there's an odor I'm just going to have to live with it until it subsides. I'm hoping the odor won't be to bad but I guess time will tell.
AS for using the Condor...... I really don't like to use the Condor in the yard, it's just to powerful. I may however break out the .22 Talon and use her for the remaining g-hog :)
JEff
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It sounds like you really didn't need more power and shot placement was good. It is hard to beat DRT. Coulda been that when the muscles relaxed he just slid under.
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KEEP US POSTED!!!!!! and you can never have "to much power" when dealing with "undersheddiggers".
Can't wait to go back south!!! less than one month i'l be back home!
454/Ed
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when you lose one down the hole, does another one grow there?
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I believe they do :) LOL
Jeff
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good luck jeff!