Ground Hog Experts Chime In

[areaone]

Well I am here in Cenral Ill and there are very few groundhogs except in the populated areas. Well i have one in my backyard, I live rural in a subdivision in the county, yes we can shoot....Anyway he or she is munching on white clover in the back yard.. Huge and is marked lke a siverback gorilla, white on the back and around the face. Is this just an old hog, I shot one a year ago that was brown and of normal size. this hog is smart. I run down to the basement for my 221, run out thru the garage, hidden by a bush and take aim at 30 yds, SCOPE is fogged from the air conditioning and while I am trying to wipe it off, useless attempt, it runs off. I feel like I back in the 50's sneeking up on a sparrow with a BB gun and then forgetting to cock the damn thing. What a humbling but a humorous experience. Kind of a SNL skit.
the Hog won, I lost. BUT the Fat Lady has not sang yet. MY Question, Is this silver or white on the hog due to age or what??????

 

[357Mag]

AREA1 -

Howdy !

To my understanding of it, yes This is like a silver-back gorilla analogy.
You can often see this silvering/greying appear on the underside of an older soybeanus digestus' jowls and lower jaw; too.

They can't run quite as fast as they used to....and, seem to know it.
As a result... these are many times, very wary & grizzled old veterans of the varmint world.
They need to be !


With regards,
357Mag

 

[snert]

Little guys are typically brown and or black. Middle age are more brown ish, especially around the belly fur.. Oldsters are silver. Real old and "antigue' are grey and white, balding and gnarly. i shoot about 100 a year. A grizzled one is a trophy....old, and prime, healthy and not senile...as proven by the fact it made it this far and outsmarted the hunter....

I like shooting the fat grizzlies.

 

[areaone]

The one I am referring to is very aware of his surroundings, I can watch him thru the kitchen window and think about getting my rifle and he becomes instantly alert, Must be ESP. I will get him this season and post a photo, patience is the answer, he only comes out at Dusk, never see him in the mornings, What time do they normally move in the AM?

 

[articmp]

They move early on the hottest days, I have popped a few while the scope was still pretty dark. The ones I used to hunt would come out at daybreak till about 8, then again between 10 and noon or noon and 2 depending on the temp and cloud cover. They kinda just trickled out after 3 or 4. Those rules are out the window during mating season and fall feedbag stage.

 

[areaone]

Well the Siverback hog is down . See my post On the Silverback