Groundhog eating varmint!

[22turborimfire]

Some fun hog guns

 

[MrMajestic]

Don't know if it has Mange or not but she(SC PA native) didn't have much hair and some ugly scars/sores on her! Buzzards didn't seem to mind, had her gone in a couple of days! Nothing left but a spine and oddly enough, feces! I guess the Buzzards weren't that hungry! :

 

[SnakeEye]

O yes...you got good taste in weapons too!

You may want to check my site if havn't already:
www.varmintsforfun.com

Another pistol:
http://www.accurateshooter.com/guns-of-week/gunweek049/

 

[Bangs OH]

Rabbit Fever (tularemia). Never heard of it taking out large populations of groundhogs, but how would anyone know, as a mortally-wounded 'hog will find a way to his hole to die. I average 75-100 a year; last year I barely cracked 30. I identify a "live" hole by the presence of little flying gnat-sized bugs around the entrance; last year I noticed a lot of what looked like deer flies - one of several vectors of RF - hovering around many holes. Didn't see any blowflies, which would indicate death, so maybe the occupants just slept off their illness a few extra months, hence the scrawny coats. In fact, twice last year I may have picked up what appeared to be rabbit fever myself: a red sore that took 2 weeks to heal (where the biter actually pierced the skin it just kind of putrified), fatigue, muscle aches and no appetite. Not a good idea to handle any dead varmint with bare hands, btw.
I have hunted farms in the past where many I've shot had large paws/small bodies and mangy-looking fur from possible inbreeding, malnutriton or disease. Also, fwiw there is such a thing as a groundhog tick that is/was specific to northern and western PA, so any tick-borne disease could spread like wildfire among them in that area.
One bright spot: this evening, on a small farm I thought I'd shot out, I ran across 6 young ones (living on their own and thriving) and a 3/4-size one. Let 'em all live to breed as I knew the owner (me) wouldn't care. Am also seeing a slight uptick in numbers this year on other places I hunt. Not sure I totally buy into coyote predation eliminating groundhogs in some areas. However nomad 47 on here posted pics of a coyote confiscating his g-hog kill a while back.

 

[rickiesrevenge]

Right now I'm shooting the 33 gr. Vmax, have no idea what the velocity is as it shot good enough when working up a load I didn't chrono it!

That's a sweet looking pistol. I've looked at your sight before and read about your 20ppc. I'd love to know what that vartarg chrono's at to compare to my 20TAC and the 20 javelina improved I'm building.

Aaron

 

[onelastshot]

There is sure something going on. Chucks have become an endangered species here in Connecticut.

We've got 300+ acres here in Connecticut and access to several other farms. I'm just glad I don't make a living shooting ghogs. Eighty year old virgins are easier to find. My next purchase will be night vision for my 6mmAI. Coyotes acclimate very quickly and have no problem scouting out near barns and other structures. Farm equipment doesn't bother them at all.

Time to position the tractor between the barn and closest field, get inside and wait. The 6mmAI seems to enjoy dogs as much as ghogs.

 

[lpreddick]

coyotes, yes. they will work in pairs. the first spots the ghog and walks toward it. the ghog's attention is fixed on this one while the second sneaks up from behind and CHOMMPPP! another trick is for a lone coyote to do the same until the pig goes in. the yote will walk past the hole a few feet and lie down and wait. for some reason a ghog that reappears will look in the direction of the last seen danger. my farmers tell me this ,one telling me this is how he hunted ghogs with a .22 cal pistol. but i did see this later behavior first hand. high grass and i could not see the hole, so i hammered a stick into the ground just beyond the hole and went up the hill. later the ghog emerged and stared at the stick...bad choice. another observation...after the coyotes clean out a field, they move on to other food sources. after a year or so we note the return of rabbits THEN ghogs. appears the coyotes eat the easiest game first.

 

[jhord]

I'm in N. Central Ohio, same thing. 'Hogs are fairly scarce and the people I trust to know say the coyotes are the reason. I used to shoot 20-25 g-hogs a year when I was a kid but now I usually only have to take care of 1-2 a year. They just aren't around. But also, there are a lot fewer fencerows now with all the bigger farm equipment in this area. That's interesting about the sirens and coyotes because I have heard the same thing at night. A siren gets the 'yotes all fired up, then the dogs in the area join in... what a racket.

Same problem in Ohio. The coyotes must be killing them. There's coyotes all over even in the cities with wooded areas. The cops tell me they see them all the time when they patrol at night and I live a a suburb of Cleveland. They don't have to kill the adults, they just have to get the pups every year to get the survival rate way down. I have had people tell me that if an ambulance or police car goes by with the siren on at night the coyotes will start howling. I'm getting tired of driving and burning gas without even seeing a GH or dens in the fields. One farmer in Harrison County told me that coyotes gather on a hill across from his house, they make so much noise he can hardly sleep.

 

[langenc]

I bet the problem is those 'round up ready' beans.

 

[lpreddick]

mange? i shot on that was about bald! when he stuck his head out of his hole i could not be sure what he was. one last sat had missing fur neck and back...mange? a few years ago shot on that had an open sore with yucky pus oozing out...yaaahhhh. i think i did him a favor.

 

[SteveNC]

Got this reply from Virginia DGIF when asking about Groundhog numbers seeming to be in decline.



DGIF surveys hunters and makes estimates of harvests of most species, including groundhogs. The figures presented below support your observations.



Year


Estimated Harvest


Estimated Daily Harvest

1993


539,000


0.89

2006


376,000


0.80

2008


227,000


0.74

2011


157,000


0.64



This change in harvest statistics could be due to several factors, including habitat loss and predation. I have heard some hunters and biologists speculate that coyotes have caused a decline in the groundhog population. Others speculate that the loss of farmland habitats due to development, farming practices, and reforestation have influenced populations. There are other potential factors as well.



I don’t think that we can say with certainty without doing some research on groundhog populations, which is an expensive endeavor.



I hope that this helps to answer your questions.



Allen Boynton | Terrestrial Wildlife Biologist Manager | VA Department of Game and Inland Fisheries | (276) 783-4860

 

[Webster]

Nice info. on the reduction of GH killed by hunting. The problem is real. Anyone getting more than 5 GH a year is very lucky.

Most of my hunting is in Holmes Co. Ohio, the heart of Amish Ohio. The Eastern half of the county is mostly Amish and the Western half mostly none Amish. I hunt the Western half but explore the Amish areas also. This is a very rural area half way between Cleveland and Columbus. Never hunted South of Columbus which is probably even more rural. It looks more like Appalachia in many places. I see a lot of changes in Holmes county around the main town (Millersburg) but to me 90% of the farmland is unchanged. I don't see how the change around the small towns could affect the GH population. In the early 70s and 80s there were only a few stores in Millersburg. Now there are Wendys, Burger King, MD, East of Chicago Pizza, Pizza Hut, Walmart Nursing Homes and more. I could never understand how people in these rural areas that are not farming could afford some of the expensive homes I see. There is no big industry in the area. Two of my favorite farms to hunt now have a very expensive house on top of the hill in what was a 100 acre hay field. What I am trying to say is once you get away from the few towns everything looks the same to me. In the next few years we will probably get better info. Some College professor probably needs a few hundred thousand $ Grant from the Government to start a study.

In the last few weeks I have made improvements to my shooting skills and I am getting smaller groups, but no GH to shoot at.

 

[Nomad47]

Webster, the Millersburg, Berlin, Sugar Creek areas LOOK like there should be LOTS of groundhogs.
How do you hunt them? I pick spots where I can view lots of acres and I sit. Sometimes 4 hours produces one hog, sometimes 10 hogs.