Woodchuck....

[longislandhunter]

I will definitely be whipping up a batch soon    , sounds delicious.  Thanks again  

Jeff

[only1harry]

Paul,

I 'll have to ask you for a favor again  Please trap a couple of G-hogs, preferrably female, and send them my way.  thanks you!    

I spent most of last summer watching one young G-hog across the street because I have shot about 70 of them in my backyard over the years and now they are a rare commodity just like the squirrels     I have rid the neighborhood of most vermin and now I have nothing to shoot except an occasional Starling.  I need to find a farm full of G-hogs too.  Easier said than done though.. but dang it, I 'll go out there and solicit every farm within 10mi. of my house this summer.  Didn't have much luck last year but didn't try hard enough.  

What are some things you guys do to make sure it is safe to hunt on a farm, ie: the owners or residents are not dangerous, like in some of those horror movies, where people end up locked up in one of their barns chained up, or in a meat grinder, or dinner on their table!         A lot of these farmers look very weird to me.  I just don't trust them.  I asked one farmer last summer about hunting on his property.  He looked just like an ax murderer.  He only opened the door about 6" and was talking to me mostly from behind the door like he was hiding something.  He then asked me for money $ in return for 1 day/wk of hunting only..!!  Scary people out there.  The 2nd farm I visited was not much different.  The guy asked me if I knew I was tresspassing when I said hello to him, so I just left because I didn't want to deal with him even if he gave me permission.  He was just plainly an a*hole.  There has to be a decent farmer out there.  Hopefully I 'll have better luck this year.

[Mebits]

Harry, find a way to get an introduction. They don't know you from Adam and you're telling them you want to kill stuff on their property.

You gotta get their guard down. Make friends, then ask if they need some help with pest control.

Also, it never hurts to be seen picking up trash, if there's a problem with that on the property or by the road. I don't have any farm I hunt on, but when asking permission to fish, I make it a point to bring a little something nice. My dad used to bring bourbon, but I fear that can go over wrong. I will bring a bottle of wine when I know it's cool. We started with some home made basil vinegar that my wife makes and then work from there. Now the guy looks forward to our visits. Has met my father and wife. I spend hours talking with him instead of fishing, but that's the way it goes. It's fun. Anyway, you get the point. Network and try to find ways to make it worth their while.

Maybe you have a feed store you can hang out at and ask questions? Hang out at a diner that is frequented by farmers. Maybe schmooze the waitress for a while to get the poop on folks.

Good luck!

M

[airiscool]

Harry,

Like I said..you are a victum of your own success !!!!:D    

First, I have to see if I can get a farm to hunt on.

The farm I hunted for years I was introduced to by a hunting buddy. When he passed away I was already established with the farm owner.

The farmer was crippled up from a life time of carrying milk pails and couldn't get around well on foot. He was glad to have someone walking the 300 acres which was half hay fields, half woods and ALL HILLY, putting up and maintaining the posted signs and keeping the woodchucks from trashing his hay fields.

I also watched for signs of others trespassing, or dumping,  and would report it to the farmer who liked riding out in his truck and taking pot-shots over the heads of trespassers with 20 ga slugs. Even shot one guys truck radiator when he found the guy parked, hidding in the back of an upper field on his property.  Another time he jammed a stick in the horn to kill the battery of an unknown  car he found parked behind a hedge row in one of his fields .....turned out to be a car my hunting buddy forgot to tell him he'd just bought the night before.  

And like Mark said, I'd pick up any windblown papers, trash, hay bale twine, or plastic, etc and pack it out.  And I'd always offer him a share of any venison, which he'd always smile and politely decline.

Farms are alot of work. Ya gotta think about what the farmer needs before he'll even consider what you want.

Paul.

[longislandhunter]

Harry, another thing you can do is have a chat with the local DEC Officer.  He/She usually have accurate info regarding farmers in their zone who are having pest problems and who may be receptive to you helping to rid their farms of the pests causing the problem.  The DEC Officer may even offer to introduce you to the farmer, or at the very least when you approach the farmer you can name the DEC Officer and let the farmer know that the DEC Officer suggested you contact the farmer.  I recently had such a discussion with my friend who is a DEC Officer and he told me of a couple of farmers in my area who have been having such problems, one with deer and the other with woodchucks.  My friend told me he would help me get permission to hunt on the farms if I wanted.   Give it a try.... the local DEC Officer is the most useful hunting/fishing resource out there and it's also the most under utilized resource as well.  Most hunters are leery about seeking out these officers, I'm not sure why, but  they are.  When I was still on the force I had a very close working relationship with the DEC Officers in my zone and   I know from personal experience that these officers actually  enjoy meeting and talking with sportsman and they are almost always very eager to supply information that is of great value when it comes to finding new hunting land..... As you know most of these officers are dyed in the wool hunters and fisherman themselves and there's nothing they like better than talking hunting or fishing.  

Having been a law enforcement officer yourself you have an edge in that you won't have any reservations about approaching and speaking to  the DEC officer and also when you let the  officer know  that you used to be on the job they in turn will feel more comfortable with you.....

Jeff

[Mryan21]

So i guess the new disco will work then. I never realized so many of you guys hunted woodchucks with your airguns. Luckily, I have a few great woodchuck hunting spots. Now i can't wait till spring. I can't wait to hit the button on the disco tommorow morning when the tax refund arrives. Real nice shooting on the woodchucks guys. Now that i will have a new gun for woodchucks, i may have a couple of more spots to hunt. The disco will be more landowner friendly.

[airiscool]

Jeff,
Great idea about contacting the Game Warden. We have a DEC  office here on the edge of town. I'm gonna make a point of stopping in.

One of the reasons I wanted a powerful but quiet air gun is to hunt woodchucks near cows and horses. I see many farms  with alot of borrow mounds in fields the live stock pasture in because the owners don't want to spook the cows/horses with rifle shots. Having those borrows around they still risk an animal with a broken leg.  However a quiet, accurate airgun can get in close enough to rid those pastures without spooking the live stock.

Just don't lean on that  straight wire of the fence !!!:D  


One other thing I let the farmers know about. I carry a Mil surplus entrenching tool and after dropping the dead chuck down it's borrow, I back fill the hole and do my best to re-level the mound. The farmers realy appreciate having someone undo the woodchuck's damage -  instead of as some guys  do to show off their kills, they'd hang all the dead chucks on the barbed wire fences to rot. A fast way to *_*_*_*_*_* off alot of farmers is for them to see dead animals hanging on their fences !!!!!!    

Paul.

[atchman2]

I've learned so much about Groundhogs from this forum!  I didn't know they were "true" hibernating animals.  I wondered where they all went all of the sudden!  


It really bothers me when I see then as roadkill.  I just think "what a waste"; I could have got to hunt it!    


My pastor says his dad has a Groundhog problem  I'm going to be the solution!!!!

[airiscool]

Randy,

"............It really bothers me when I see then as roadkill. I just think "what a waste"; I could have got to hunt it! ........"

Same here.

I once mentioned that to the Girl Friend as we drove by a dead Chuck laying in the road. Next time we saw one she just looked over at me with her Im-busting-your-chops smile and asked, "Want me to stand that one back up for you ?"    

She understands though, because she  likes venison and feels the same way when we see dead Deer on the road... what a waste !!!!!

Paul.

[Meann-Machine]

Mryan,

 Check this out:

http://www.velocitypress.com/BeemanKodiak.shtml

Right after I read this article I ran out and bought my Kodiak. (And a few others) But I'm still l still looking for awoodchuck.We did have one in our yard for a while but he disappeared before he and I got properly introduced. (Even so I was kind of hoping he might find his way into the neighbors garden. She's the type who reminds you of the Wizard of Oz every time you come in contact with her. I'm told she's married but she and her husband live in separate houses. Even he can't stand to be around her all the time.) But I digress .It's a good article, I hope all who take the time to look enjoy it.

[only1harry]

Craig,
I thought this article was pretty good when I first read it and for the most part it's ok.  I was kind of new with adult airguns then too..  This article has been around for about 4yrs.
 
However the author does not have a clue how to quickly kill a Groundhog.  Body shots don't work on a G-hog, just like they rarely work on a possum, raccoon, ie: medium-sized game.  Most of us that often read the airgun/hunting forums know this.  I have shot G-hogs with .22 rimfire in the chest and they ran only to die later in the burrow (and have my yard smell for a month in 90deg. weather in August).  If you do some research on Youtube, you will find videos of G-hogs shot with 30-30 and 30-06 and were never recovered!  The one I saw shot with a 30-06 on Youtube looked like it got cut in half.  The cameraman left the camera on its bipod/tripod and walked over with the shooter to recover the G-hog.  The camera is still rolling and a few secs later you see the G-hog become concious and crawling away!  The shooter and the cameraman never recovered the G-hog.  They are the toughest small game animal I have shot with any gun.  A head shot is MUST with a Groundhog especially when their burrow is never far away.  That is why you must do your best to kill it instantly or make a fatal shot that will not enable the Groundhog to even crawl a few feet because once they go down the burrow, it is very hard to recover them.  The only way to do that is with a good head shot.

In the end the author of this article lost the Groundhog after he made a non-head, non-leathal shot to the body from very far away.  Not a great ending to his story and not so smart of him to take that shot.  The damage he describes from a .177, 22. and .25cal projectile is probably pretty accurate and his body shot on the Groundhog probably killed the animal, but not right away or within a desired couple of seconds.  It probably died minutes or hours later or even days from infection.  All said & done, not so great article.  It was more of an advertising tool to sell more Beeman Kodiak .25cal rifles.  Afterall he says Dr. Beeman is a good friend of his...

[Mryan21]

Meann-Machine - 1/31/2010  12:47 AM



Mryan,

   Check this out:

http://www.velocitypress.com/BeemanKodiak.shtml

Right after I read this article I ran out and bought my Kodiak. (And a few others) But I'm still l still looking for a woodchuck.  We did have one in our yard for a while but he disappeared before he and I got properly introduced.  (Even so I was kind of hoping he might find his way into the neighbors garden.  She's the type who reminds you of the Wizard of Oz every time you come in contact with her. I'm told she's married but she and her husband live in separate houses.  Even he can't stand to be around her all the time.) But I digress .It's a good article, I hope all who take the time to look enjoy it. 

Very interesting article. Wish i could afford one of tose puppies.