ghog season has begun!

[40X Guy]

lpreddick.. you are as bad as i am getting the bodies out of the holes! I actually dug one out of hole last year lol. Love the story and pics!

Frank

 

[MrMajestic]

Dad taught us to grab an old piece of barbed wire and insert it in a twisting motion. Got plenty out that way because he expected to have them for dinner! I have lost plenty of Pups and I can only imagine it's because there is not as much mass for good energy transfer. Great shooting by the way!

 

[lpreddick]

I tried the barbed wire thing several times to no avail. Once ran 8 ft of wire and did not touch bottom. An old timer told me if I use the barbed wire, "be sure you have a pistol". Wonder what he ment by that????

 

[potatoe]

Here's a few pics of a recent hunt. Pops and I had a great time, we only got two hogs but got four crows also. Pop's new 6 ackley barrel is doing great, shooting the 87 vmaxs very well. I had the .284 out again and I finally got into the 500yd club, but I can only think of one other time I got a 500+ yd shot so not bad. This little hog played with us a couple times, he would be out there eating for a minute or so and all the sudden take off. He tried the same thing on my shot (you'll hear me say something about it in the vid) he ran back to the edge but stood up for just a few seconds .. . his mistake I'll have another video up soon

505 yard hog





Crow double at 300 yds

 

[people]

I like that rifle. At least the handle is on the proper side.

 

[potatoe]

lol, thanks people!

 

[Savage99]

The Woodchucks are gone! Re: ghog season has begun!

Woodchuck hunting has been a favorite of mine. The woodchucks are gone now from New England and NY state near me.

The coyote has eliminated the woodchuck from the farms where the great hunting and shooting was.

I have chuck guns and even books on hunting chucks!

This is a field where there used to be chucks. Those are deer.

 

[Rjencks]

There's a 3-4 acre field right on the main drag in town that, at anytime, has 10-22 woodchucks in it. There a traffic light right in front of the field, which give me plenty of time to count the little devils. It drives me crazy to drive by there and see them sunning them selves.

 

[lpreddick]

The temp dropped into the low 80's, so I went to check some farms that might have been mowed...they were! First stop and a small one was playing hide and seek until he stopped to look at me. The 22BR with that laser 55 Berger gave him his last look. As I was leaving I glanced at a barn surrounded by weeds. Ghogs love barns and sure enough I could see a head and shoulder...90 yds off the hood and a 10# 12 oz went down peacefully. Temp good, so next field. Checked out a low area in this field that has 3-4 holes and there was one reluctant to come out. 200 yds but he saw me. I waited and he stood on the edge...drilled at neck base/ upper chest and a back flip. Waited, then drove to check this one out. Before I got there another one is sitting on another of the 4 holes and he too eats a 55 Berger! I am on a roll! Get to the kill zone and WTF!!! No ghog bodies! They are dead but where? First kill...no blood? I looked into the hole I thought he was near, but Nada. Frustrated, so l looked closely and YES...pulled some grass back and dead pig. He was looking out the "back door". Local term for the hole they often dig and there is no dirt around it and grass can cover it is it is not visible...I have stepped in many not seeing anything. Now to pig 2. Nada again, but blood splatter abounds. The hole goes down then angles sharply horizontally. Can't see a body and reluctant to stick my hand is until I jab a stick into something soft and immobile. Now the gloved hand, blindly until I grab a foot and extract a puney 7 # blown in half ghog. Having a great day now! One last stop to thank the land owner and as we were chatting, he points to one grazing 200 yds away. Can the 22BR/ 55 Berger do it again?? BANG/ SPLAT! DRTand the tail salute. Finished the day with another small one. 6 one shot kills and no misses...is this heaven or Kansas?

 

[Savage99]

Why are there no woodchucks in Western CT?

I am seeing no woodchucks in CT, VT or eastern NY! I blamed it on the coyotes which are somewhat new to the area.

I read a post here where there are many chucks in R.I. why?

 

[ARW]

Re: Why are there no woodchucks in Western CT?

I am seeing no woodchucks in CT, VT or eastern NY! I blamed it on the coyotes which are somewhat new to the area.

I read a post here where there are many chucks in R.I. why?

Were you seeing a lot there before?

There seems to be a good amount of groundhogs left here in S/E Pa.
But on a different note, the chipmunks are practically non existent here now. 10-20 years ago they were everywhere around here but now you don't see any. Don't know what could have happened to them.

Alan

 

[waterfwlr]

Used to be a ton of them in my neck of the woods of the Catskills. Last 15 yrs or so, hardly any. I have a real hard time believing its the coyotes. Coyotes hunt primarily at night when the woodchucks are down. Most of the holes are in wide open large fields. If a coyotes where doing a lot of hunting for them during daylight, they would be seen in the middle of wide open fields during the day. Nobody I know from my area is/was seeing that.

 

[snert]

Used to be a ton of them in my neck of the woods of the Catskills. Last 15 yrs or so, hardly any. I have a real hard time believing its the coyotes. Coyotes hunt primarily at night when the woodchucks are down. Most of the holes are in wide open large fields. If a coyotes where doing a lot of hunting for them during daylight, they would be seen in the middle of wide open fields during the day. Nobody I know from my area is/was seeing that.

Agreed! i have only seen one coyote actively hunting chucks. i think it is farming practices. Not sure what they are doing differently, but there has been some drop-off. Around here we have pockets of populations. i think it is the soil. One farmer told me that of his two dairy farms 12 miles apart, one is overloaded (I shot over 600 off it in 17 years) and the other has none. One is loam, the other shale. Not sure if that is the reason, but when i checked out vast fields of alfalfa and hay at farm 2, i never saw a hole, let alone a chuck.

 

[Lenard]

Sounds like you guys are having too much fun shooting chucks. As per the subject of how much chucks eat, I had a discussion with a rancher in Central Oregon where we shoot chucks.

He was telling me that a study done by Oregon State University found that 8 rockchucks eat the same volume as a 1000 lb cow. We had a bumper crop of chucks in 2014.

My two shooting partners and I shot over 350 chucks in 4 outings A very mild winter allowed for a much larger than normal survival rate. Since we shot so many in '14, our take in '15, was 190 chucks. Sure as heck a lot of fun.

 

[lpreddick]

Mild weather yesterday, so I went. Saw something i'v never seen before...a very reddish brown and very grey ghog out grazing 10 feet apart! Two together are usu small siblings, but this was a salt and pepper pair. The dilema was which one to shoot first. Brownie obliged by moving into the clear while grey boy was behind a gate/ fence post. BANG/ SPLAT!!! DRT fer shure. Grey boy just stopped eating as if brownie had only farted! I could not see enough to shoot thru a gap in the fence and in a few he went inside the barn. 30 min later grey boy emerges and ignores the dead buddy but just would not get clear of the gate/ post. I just had to get the two, so I shot thru a small gap in the gate and hit him, but not good. Large dirt/ dust kicked up which meant my bullet passed thru him. He flipped and flopped and ran into the barn. Wait an hour and went to see if grey boy died en route his hole. I followed the blood trail to his hole that went straight down 2 feet, then angles off. No pig. Did not have my barbed wire to try and snag him...he was probably small anyway. A friend told me of a device for retrieving such crawl aways and I have one and will try it if this happens again. It's called " fish tape" and a large fish hook. The fish tape is a 1/4 in wide coiled metal tape used by electricians to pass wire thru conduit. connect the fish hook to the end. Run the tape down the hole, twist and pull and you might snag something. A ghog can be pulled out. If you snag a rock or root pull really hard and the hook will bend or come off...try again. I was advised to have a pistol or an armed assistant as live wounded ghogs will be REALLY pissed and will bite and claw the closest person, meaning the fool at the end of the fish tape. I'll report my experience if it occurs.

 

[snert]

Invited my 13 year old daughter to do a little shooting today. We went to a local farm where I had been seeing several chucks as I passed by on the local road. Farmer was happy to have us. It helps that my daughter smiles a lot!

We parked and walked the McFadden tripod and her 40XBR clone 222 about 30 feet into the field and set up. Within minutes #1 popped up at 252 yards. Dialed in elevation, put her on the gun and sat at the spotting scope. Called Slight wind correction and "pooof" DRT. Within minutes #2 stood up at 247 yards. Big hog. No wind, "poof" DRT. A little later I saw two standing together. Could not get a cooperation on a double attempt so i took the closer one, 204 yards. DRT. I picked these up and they were very large chucks. They did not look big in the scope, but wow they were old and BIG.

Went for ice cream and came back. #3 for my daughter was lounging at 115 yards. In one ear, out the other!

We drove to another field where we had the blessing to watch a full albino doe graze for 1/2 hour. A groundhog popped up at 120 and sweetie nailed that one. Then another at 307 yards...low hit but still a hit. She finished the night with 5 and me one. Lots of fun and so glad I built the clone 222. perfect for her.

Snert

 

[varmintshooter]

Well, we don't have a lot of coyote's here and the groundhog population is holding it's own but it is getting hard to find farms to shoot on. With that being said I am having my best year ever although I have put in more time than in the past. So far this year I have killed 324. Most of the farms that I shoot on are small and don't allow for really long shots, I have gone to small cal. like 17 hmr, 20 vt, and 221 fb. I am not up on soil types but have been surprised that some places that looked real good held no hogs. I do agree that farming practices such as lack of hedge rows etc. have contributed to a decline in numbers.

 

[Ohio Varmint Shooter]

Well, we don't have a lot of coyote's here and the groundhog population is holding it's own but it is getting hard to find farms to shoot on. With that being said I am having my best year ever although I have put in more time than in the past. So far this year I have killed 324. Most of the farms that I shoot on are small and don't allow for really long shots, I have gone to small cal. like 17 hmr, 20 vt, and 221 fb. I am not up on soil types but have been surprised that some places that looked real good held no hogs. I do agree that farming practices such as lack of hedge rows etc. have contributed to a decline in numbers.

324?? WOW!

Where (generally) are you located?

 

[varmintshooter]

I live near Ocean city Md. but I shoot in WVa, the western part of Md. and Pa.

 

[stosh]

Hey hog hunters,
Love the articles and pics, I loved to hunt hogs when I lived in Rochester, NY but moved to Missouri 15 years ago and the hog population had been wiped out by coyotes. I am starting to see a few now but still not worth effort to hunt yet. I sure do miss the big dairy farms and apple orchards in NY!

Stosh