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Disposing of dead chucks

Recently, I decided to slow cook a groundhog in BBQ sauce. It was actually very good, and my family all agreed. We had it pulled on sandwich buns. In the past I used to shoot a lot of groundhogs, but the family is growing so it doesn't happen much now. I would challenge you to try it, you won't regret it. The most important thing is to get the hog dressed out and cool as quickly as possible. I just hate to think how many pounds of meat I wasted all those years. Just something to think about trying. They do eat healthy after all...
 
Jonathan Zimmerman said:
Recently, I decided to slow cook a groundhog in BBQ sauce. It was actually very good, and my family all agreed. We had it pulled on sandwich buns. In the past I used to shoot a lot of groundhogs, but the family is growing so it doesn't happen much now. I would challenge you to try it, you won't regret it. The most important thing is to get the hog dressed out and cool as quickly as possible. I just hate to think how many pounds of meat I wasted all those years. Just something to think about trying. They do eat healthy after all...
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Yes, woodchuck is actually quite tasty. My dad would shoot the young ones in late April and May with his .222 Remington which are the ones to eat and make up a nice stew. Quartered and covered in flour and brown em in the frying pan and then shift over to the stew pot with plenty of garlic, carrots, spuds, onions, spices and that was some good eating. I have yet to try this recipe again here in the last 30 years but rest assured its in the back of my mind and as mentioned they eat nothing except grass and are pretty numerous here in my neck of the woods. :) Love the memories!
 
I had a nice surprise the other day. I have been throwing the carcasses in the pasture far away from any dwellings and the local Buzzards have them cleaned up the next day. So I arrive for another hunt and I jump a Bald Eagle feeding on one! I have seen him flying around previously but finding it feeding on one of my kills was exiting! It seems like I should get some kind of award or something! ;D I will tried to fatten it up with more! ;)
 
MrM, I had a juvenile (just starting to get the white head) feed on one of my kills earlier this summer. It landed on the carcass seconds after I shot it. I was busy replacing the spent round with a new round and checking my chrony when my shooting partner said a hawk just landed on my kill. We couldn't see it very well in the soybeans but when it tried to fly away with the kill it was obvious it was no hawk. Then we noticed white streaks on its head.
And one of my farmer friends said he saw an adult feeding on one of my kills the day after I shot the 'hog.
An adult flew across the road in front of me this morning when I was returning to a field where I had shot 6 Sunday evening. It could have been feeding on one of my kills but I can't say for sure.
And finally, a week ago Sunday, my wife's sister and husband were over for dinner at the 'wheel estate' and an adult flew past the MH, not more than 100 feet away. What an awesome sight.
yes, they are getting more plentiful and it sure is nice seeing them on occasion.
 
MrMajestic said:
I had a nice surprise the other day. I have been throwing the carcasses in the pasture far away from any dwellings and the local Buzzards have them cleaned up the next day. So I arrive for another hunt and I jump a Bald Eagle feeding on one! I have seen him flying around previously but finding it feeding on one of my kills was exiting! It seems like I should get some kind of award or something! ;D I will tried to fatten it up with more! ;)
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I have had the same here feeding on my kills. It's a beautiful sight to see those eagles. i had one the other day take flight with a previous days kill. That was an awesome pic that I will not soon forget!!
 
Well this has turned out to be a pretty entertaining and yet civil discussion (for the most part) with no wrong answers and a lot of opinions but the best answer must be to ask the land owner what his preference is. Give him some suggestions . Now that we have all the bases covered .
I have one experience just over Memorial Day , which starts my chuck hunting in the south west Ny. First cut about three days after bailing. My hunting bud tossed a dead chuck on a big rock pile knowing we were coming back the next day. Well next day the chuck was gone from the rock pile . We found a tail in the edge of the field , then 10 feet away we find the head/shoulder. No fur or lower meat except about 6 zig zag pattern of intestines, maybe 4 foot wide? Then we found a big scat pile looking like a cow pie with a three inch diameter turd to top it off. Yogi found an easy meal?
 
Night creatures need to eat a few years ago I was disposing some Ground Hog pups I set there and watched a Bald Eagle swoop down pick up the dead pups and fly to the nest . I assumed it was feeding it's young a easy meal .
 
Triple Deuce said:
I have always dumped a dead chuck down its hole. I figured it was the best way to get rid of the carcass. But now , after reading some of the replies from hunters more experienced than me, I'm questioning that method of disposal. Would that practice cause other chucks to not use the den and possibly dig another den ? That's not good for the farmer that I'm trying to help. I just didn't want to throw the carcass into the hedgerow and stink up the place, but if that keeps the burrows down, it would be a better option.
Maybe by tossing the dead chucks in the hedgerow would attract more coyotes and improve another hunting opportunity. The woman in the farm wouldn't mind if I just let t them lay because the other day an eagle was feeding on the chuck. I just can't bring myself to do that to all but I do leave a couple for her eagle.
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Years ago someone on this website said if you leave them in a hayfield some young girl might find one rolled up in the hay she is feeding her pony. Someone else on this website said that the coyotes will pull them out of the holes if they can grab them. I always left them where I shoot them but they were not harvesting hay.
 
Pick them up?! When I was younger, I went to pick them up, and pace off how far. Then came longer hits, and as time went by, well, I got older. Now with range finders and a good spotter I trust to be honest, I shoot em and let lay, write down a mark on a map if I am really smart...so at the end of the day I can know where they were and how many. Unless the alfalfa is soon to be cut, I wait for the flying clean-up crew to arrive. My farmers laugh and tell me they knew we had a good shoot when the see squadrons of turkey vultures all over the field. I seldom find much left except tails and spines even after a day or two. Night brings out all the dead eaters.
 
Triple Deuce said:
I have always dumped a dead chuck down its hole. I figured it was the best way to get rid of the carcass. But now , after reading some of the replies from hunters more experienced than me, I'm questioning that method of disposal. Would that practice cause other chucks to not use the den and possibly dig another den ? That's not good for the farmer that I'm trying to help. I just didn't want to throw the carcass into the hedgerow and stink up the place, but if that keeps the burrows down, it would be a better option.
Maybe by tossing the dead chucks in the hedgerow would attract more coyotes and improve another hunting opportunity. The woman in the farm wouldn't mind if I just let t them lay because the other day an eagle was feeding on the chuck. I just can't bring myself to do that to all but I do leave a couple for her eagle.
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I use lead free ammo so I can leave them out in the open for hawks and vultures to take apart. Recycling at its finest. At one point I had a vulture who would show up in the morning each day expecting its breakfast to be there.
 
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