Groundhogs in the south?

[troupe]

Eastern NC is not groundhog country. I grew up in WVa and miss the groundhog hunting as much as trout fishing. I have seen a few groundhogs her, but very, very few. When we travel west, you will see a few more. When I do see one, it is exciting. Very few skunks also. I had seen my first skunk about 2 years ago while on patrol. Sounds crazy to some, but when I see wildlife like that, it is a very warming feeling. Things you miss as a country boy from the hills, my wife will never understand. I look forward to the days when I will be able to sit in a field and hunt groundhogs again. Hopefully someday soon.

 

[rebel]

Ain't no sand in Western NC. Rock and red clay.

 

[Justin L.]

In SW PA- my ground hog hunting has gone way down hill in the last 10ish years. Before then, I could kill 100/summer pretty easily, but the last few years I haven’t even been able to make it to double digits. My ground hog hunting buddy passed away last summer, not sure how much hunting I’ll do this summer.

 

[slobhunter2]

I was in Harlan Kentucky over the weekend, seen more ground hogs in one spot, in town, than I've seen in 2 years around home in middle tn.

 

[Gary in MD]

We hunt them hard here in the south. They know they are safe along the roads though. Heaviest concentration of them I ever saw was a 300 acre farm in Boonsboro MD back in the early 80's.

Boonsboro in the 80’d you say? If you were there in the 80’s then you surely heard my 22-250! There was a ground hog on every rock outcropping and there were rocks everywhere.lol
My dad started hunting ground hogs there in the late 60’s and I was tagging along in the early 70’s. Back then we could just go from farm to farm….. now there are more houses (sadly) than ground hogs. I still have one farm I can hunt there but would have to look hard all day to get a couple shots as opposed to killing 20 a day back then.
Gary

 

[SeabeeKen]

I may have heard it. I was shooting a 243. I found a farm so infested I didnt think Id ever get it cleaned out. Took 2 years of every weekend during the summer months. It was far enough from the road that nobody had hunted it, 300 acres. Ill never find another place like that. I just moved to NC and grounghogs are few here. Everyone hunts them. Good luck hunting them. My dad has a 22-250 but seldom uses it, he is 90

 

[hpshooter]

In the 70's to early 80's my wife and I and a friend hunted them 3 evenings a week during the summer in Floyd County VA. Best year harvest was 150. A large number of the farms we hunted are now housing developments or posted by new land owners moving in from northern states.

 

[SeabeeKen]

I took 200 each year I hunted this place. Each week, there would be more in the same holes, usually 2. Id come with 20 rounds on Sat and Sun each week. I couldnt figure out where they kept coming from until I walked into a patch of woods and found more holes than I could count and another farm behind this farm that wasnt visible from the road. They were getting much fewer by the end of the 2nd summer. Then a few guys came in and offered him a ton of money to hunt it and I left. Shot em off tree branches, fence rails too.

 

[Gary in MD]

We had similar shooting on the farms we hunted in Boonsboro. We were very surprised when they all but disappeared. It seemed that there was always enough “seed” left behind on neighboring areas and in the woods. We even practiced our own “management” by not shooting until the young were weened and also didn’t shoot at anything under 100 yards. I even thought that the farmer may have started poisoning when they disappeared but he said no such thing.
Gary

 

[akajiggs]

very very few in eastern Arkansas

i might see one every other year.

Ray,a couple showed up at my buddy's farm at Caddo Valley near Arkadelphia. Needless to say, they didn't make the return flight back across the river.

 

[rayporter]

around here if they dont have access to scuba gear the rice fields will flood them out.

plus the soil just is not conducive to digging tunnels.

 

[6MMsteve]

the coyotes and heavy row crop farming has killed them in Ky, but there is some but people with farms are diff these days about hunting, use to drive around sandbags on the hood, stop n pop but only over 300 yds, no short shots it just wasn't fun

 

[ssv1761982]

 

[ssv1761982]

Here’s the last one I have seen in eastern TN.

 

[Lone Hunter]

Here’s the last one I have seen in eastern TN.

Saw one today. Same place as before. Big hog. That one is taking a dirt nap..

 

[Gary in MD]

Well… like I said, We just don’t have the numbers to get good shooting anymore. But one brave sole showed up today coming from the farm across the street to my field and made the mistake of crossing the yard.
I heard the dogs carrying on around the side of the house and figured I had to break up a little brother/sister quarrel. Nope, they had spotted that whistle pig and it was on!!
It was a little loud for a few minutes but when it was over the real problem became getting it away from them before they made a mess. LOL

 

[Lone Hunter]

Saw this one again today. He or she is very spooky.

 

[Gary in MD]

Here’s one I caught traveling along the wood line on the edge of our field about 130 yards from the window of the pole barn an hour ago. Big sow. The first kill with my new Tikka 8 twist.
Gary

 

[Kylongrifle32]

the coyotes and heavy row crop farming has killed them in Ky, but there is some but people with farms are diff these days about hunting, use to drive around sandbags on the hood, stop n pop but only over 300 yds, no short shots it just wasn't fun

Steve
I spent many a day driving back roads of northern ky with a couple off sand bags sitting on the roof and hood of a 71 two door Impala. But I carried three rifles. 22 Hornet Handi for 100 to 160 yards. 222 Rem 40 XB for 200 and beyond. 243 Rem 700 Varminter for 250 and beyond in the wind. Lots of hogs in the 80's.

 

[6MMsteve]

Steve
I spent many a day driving back roads of northern ky with a couple off sand bags sitting on the roof and hood of a 71 two door Impala. But I carried three rifles. 22 Hornet Handi for 100 to 160 yards. 222 Rem 40 XB for 200 and beyond. 243 Rem 700 Varminter for 250 and beyond in the wind. Lots of hogs in the 80's.

yes there was, lots of alfalfa fields. where I live in a block of the county there was 81 dairies now there is none, and all farms had clover & alfie, now it's all grain farmed even land that wasn't very good is now farmed. instead of small farms it's all just corn fields