Ground Hog Bait
- Thread starter KMart
- Start date
Being limited to rimfires doesn't help. I've heard they like broccoli. 
KMart
Gold $$ Contributor
I do not know the first thing about ground hogs. I think I saw one sunning on a rock beside the interstate north of Louisville, Ky years ago. The only thing we have in SE Texas close to one is a nutria rat and they live in swamps and marshes.
From reading the forum, it looks like great fun to hunt the hogs. Almost wish we had them around here.
From reading the forum, it looks like great fun to hunt the hogs. Almost wish we had them around here.
KMart -
Howdy, again !
"Soyubeanus Digestus " are incredibly robust, burrowing marmots.
In NE Indiana, they run about 8lb for the first year, then... it's "party time" !
If memory serves, they are one of the very few mammals that truely "hybernate". Even NASA has showed interest.
For the cash grain farmer, groundhogs can be/ are a real menace. The old rule of thumb was that a mature groundhog ( if left to its own devices ) would lop-ff the top of one acre worth of soybeans... given the chance. An over-statement, perhpas, but.... nobody really wanted to wait around & find out ! Bein' a farm boy myself, groundhogs were literally eating the shoes off your feet; when..... discretionary income comes from the harvested crops.
For clean kills, groundhogs require KE all out of porportion to their size. I once did math which showed that scaling groundhog-level killing power up to human size; would have required the use of 37mm aircraft canon fire !
Groundhogs are very courteous animals, and always make it a point to provide their own grave !
That I know of, Indian has no groundhog "season", no license requirement, no limit on kills; no calibre restrictions. Other states' controls vary. For Indiana, the above set of guidelines make groundhogs the defacto " large game " animals for the state. You can make a poorly -place shot; and shoot a groundhog clean in-half.... only to have the "smart half " make it back to the hole ! There's a reason why shooters only count those animals that can be proven dead visually, as "confirmed kills".
Groundhogs ARE the hot lunch program for coyotes, and their propensity to fall asleep while sunning themselves ain't helping the
'sitiation any ! The active time of year for Indiana groundhogs is during " no shoot " time for coyotes. When Indiana coyotes can be engaged, the groundhogs are alreadypretty much dormant. The larger threat to "soybeanus digestus " well- being, may very well prove to be the wide-spread use of "burn-down" chemicals; that are often a part of " no-till " farming. If nothing else, they're gonna mutate !
RX -
Use enough gun/cartridge !!
With regards,
357Mag
Howdy, again !
"Soyubeanus Digestus " are incredibly robust, burrowing marmots.
In NE Indiana, they run about 8lb for the first year, then... it's "party time" !
If memory serves, they are one of the very few mammals that truely "hybernate". Even NASA has showed interest.
For the cash grain farmer, groundhogs can be/ are a real menace. The old rule of thumb was that a mature groundhog ( if left to its own devices ) would lop-ff the top of one acre worth of soybeans... given the chance. An over-statement, perhpas, but.... nobody really wanted to wait around & find out ! Bein' a farm boy myself, groundhogs were literally eating the shoes off your feet; when..... discretionary income comes from the harvested crops.
For clean kills, groundhogs require KE all out of porportion to their size. I once did math which showed that scaling groundhog-level killing power up to human size; would have required the use of 37mm aircraft canon fire !
Groundhogs are very courteous animals, and always make it a point to provide their own grave !
That I know of, Indian has no groundhog "season", no license requirement, no limit on kills; no calibre restrictions. Other states' controls vary. For Indiana, the above set of guidelines make groundhogs the defacto " large game " animals for the state. You can make a poorly -place shot; and shoot a groundhog clean in-half.... only to have the "smart half " make it back to the hole ! There's a reason why shooters only count those animals that can be proven dead visually, as "confirmed kills".
Groundhogs ARE the hot lunch program for coyotes, and their propensity to fall asleep while sunning themselves ain't helping the
'sitiation any ! The active time of year for Indiana groundhogs is during " no shoot " time for coyotes. When Indiana coyotes can be engaged, the groundhogs are alreadypretty much dormant. The larger threat to "soybeanus digestus " well- being, may very well prove to be the wide-spread use of "burn-down" chemicals; that are often a part of " no-till " farming. If nothing else, they're gonna mutate !
RX -
Use enough gun/cartridge !!
With regards,
357Mag
357 Mag, your post is a good one! Here in NW pa. we call them woodchucks and 10 years ago and more the soybean fields here locally would have a half moon of plants eaten extending out maybe 50-75 feet giving a clue to the whereabouts of their holes. Now in my cousins field they rent out the GMO soybeans are untouched so even the woodchuck knows a bad meal when they see it. The deer leave the GMO soybeans alone too. Most guys I know use minimum 22-250 for chucks as they have to be anchored well or they crawl off. I have been using a Swift for a long time and they are DRT most of the time. One tough critter.
Frank
Frank
Fank & 40X -
I used my wildcat .35 Rem necked-down to .224" cal on "soybeanus digestus", for many years.
55SX at near 3,700fps.
Loaned my buddy a Savage M-77 24" .250-3000 for use on groundhogs.
Shooting 75HP Sierras, it was canned death.
Let's hope the groundhogs don't end up as "GMOs", nez pah ?
Regards,
357Mag
I used my wildcat .35 Rem necked-down to .224" cal on "soybeanus digestus", for many years.
55SX at near 3,700fps.
Loaned my buddy a Savage M-77 24" .250-3000 for use on groundhogs.
Shooting 75HP Sierras, it was canned death.
Let's hope the groundhogs don't end up as "GMOs", nez pah ?
Regards,
357Mag
A similar thing happened in the town I live in several years ago.
Late one night apparent vandals climbed the fence into the garden section of the local Walmart and cut down a couple dozen potted fruit tree saplings. The next morning upon the discovery of the malicious act the police were called to investigate but there were few clues to go on so there didn't seem to be much the police could do. Curiously the vandals not only cut down the saplings, but also carried them away, leaving behind only the pots with a 3" stump sticking up in each.
The next night the vandals returned and cut down more saplings and some shrubs and other garden plants. Again the police were called but there was little they could do other than make another report.
The third night the vandals returned to continue their crime spree, with the same results. Well, after the vandals struck three nights in a row the police decided they would have two officers stake-out the Walmart, hiding out in a small patch of woods nearby, waiting for the perp's to return.
And about 2:00 in the morning they did. The officers watched as two young beavers scampered up from a nearby creek. They wiggled their way under the fence and quickly gnawed off a fruit tree then pulled it under the fence and headed back to the creek with it. In a few moments they returned for another sapling.
I do recall that Wildlife officers were called and took the two juvenile delinquents into custody, but I never learned of their fate after that.
Late one night apparent vandals climbed the fence into the garden section of the local Walmart and cut down a couple dozen potted fruit tree saplings. The next morning upon the discovery of the malicious act the police were called to investigate but there were few clues to go on so there didn't seem to be much the police could do. Curiously the vandals not only cut down the saplings, but also carried them away, leaving behind only the pots with a 3" stump sticking up in each.
The next night the vandals returned and cut down more saplings and some shrubs and other garden plants. Again the police were called but there was little they could do other than make another report.
The third night the vandals returned to continue their crime spree, with the same results. Well, after the vandals struck three nights in a row the police decided they would have two officers stake-out the Walmart, hiding out in a small patch of woods nearby, waiting for the perp's to return.
And about 2:00 in the morning they did. The officers watched as two young beavers scampered up from a nearby creek. They wiggled their way under the fence and quickly gnawed off a fruit tree then pulled it under the fence and headed back to the creek with it. In a few moments they returned for another sapling.
I do recall that Wildlife officers were called and took the two juvenile delinquents into custody, but I never learned of their fate after that.
a deep south pea called "purple hull pea" is related to "field peas" blackeyed pea, and crowder pea. the ne tenn ghogs will not eat the purple hull pea plant. i was amazed! they seem to eat anything green, even okra leaves...yuk. i once sprinkled pepper flakes on some snow pea plants and they were gone overnight. i personally prefer to feed them the thing that notice from california that i saw warned me about..."california has determined that this product contains an agent that is harmful and might interfere with fetal development". i assumed they were referring to LEAD! i dispense a lot of the stuff and the bozos in calif are right...it definitely interferes with fetal and already born ghog development!
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