What do you do with your varmints?

[Konocti's Wigwam]

I'm just curious as I see so many people shooting Rock Chucks, Prarie Dogs, Ground Hogs, even Coyotes...

What do you do with all of them? Do you throw them away?

I've long felt it was more ethical to shoot paper than varmints as I wouldn't eat the meat. I want something tangible if I am hunting, like a turkey, pig, deer, bear, elk, or even big horn sheep...all of those I would eat.

I see guys on here with piles of varmints, so what do you do with them?

Curious mostly. Aside from being able to hit a moving target, when they do move, I guess I don't get it. Most of them are not running when you shoot them, they seem to be a standing target. So, what's the point? Not trying to be rude, just curious.

If I could shoot on my property, which I can't, I'd love to shoot some rattle snakes...alas my property is in city limits.

 

[Mulligan]

To each their own.

Some folks like hiking, some like spot and stock, and many like calling.

None of this is similar in any way to banging steel or poking holes in paper.
CW

 

[Rick in Oregon]

I'm just curious as I see so many people shooting Rock Chucks, Prarie Dogs, Ground Hogs, even Coyotes...
What do you do with all of them? Do you throw them away?

I also eat what I shoot, with the exception of varmints. Why? Because they're varmints!

Ground squirrels are usually puree'd, and are left for the raptors as they're usually in chunks. At the request of the ranchers I shoot their rock chucks for, most times the chucks are left at the far corner of the property for the ravens, hawks, eagles and coyotes to feast on. Next day not a sign of a carcass. Raptors here are well fed.

But I'll let our informal club t-shirt do the talking for you......

 

[cwebster]

The worms gotta eat too....

 

[snert]

What do I do with them? Not being snarky, but I shoot them.

As far as what I do with the carcass? Raptor, coyote, worm food. Or if in NY, turkey buzzards.

For every groundhog I swat, the farmer harvests an acre (on average) of alfalfa for his cows.

Prairie dogs? Well, not sure on that one. But it sure seems like owls and birds come like a dinner bell was rung.

 

[ohlongarmisle]

I'm just curious as I see so many people shooting Rock Chucks, Prarie Dogs, Ground Hogs, even Coyotes...

What do you do with all of them? Do you throw them away?

I've long felt it was more ethical to shoot paper than varmints as I wouldn't eat the meat. I want something tangible if I am hunting, like a turkey, pig, deer, bear, elk, or even big horn sheep...all of those I would eat.

I see guys on here with piles of varmints, so what do you do with them?

Curious mostly. Aside from being able to hit a moving target, when they do move, I guess I don't get it. Most of them are not running when you shoot them, they seem to be a standing target. So, what's the point? Not trying to be rude, just curious.

If I could shoot on my property, which I can't, I'd love to shoot some rattle snakes...alas my property is in city limits.

Nothing goes to waste , this stack was gone in less than a week, mostly coyotes get them, but many raptors , buzzards make quick work of them especially now, red tails,eagles,opossums,foxes.

 

[Konocti's Wigwam]

To each their own.

Some folks like hiking, some like spot and stock, and many like calling.

None of this is similar in any way to banging steel or poking holes in paper.
CW

I absolutely realize that. My son offered to hunt with me to assist in packing out meat, he's not as much into the shooting aspect, but does want to learn how to butcher game. He also feels that everyone that eats meat should be able to go out and harvest game, otherwise we fall into the hypocrite area. That was my main reason to start hunting.

I do get feeding the worms, or in my case the coyotes. I have a yard I rent in Coyote Valley, just south of the bay area. When I catch rats, I just take them back and lay them on a log in the back of the yard and they're gone the next day, so the coyotes eat them up. They will often eat rabbits and leave the the ears, for some reason they don't like the ears. They never leave the feet, so no luck left in them...

I don't spend much time punching paper these days, I just really want to dial my loads in for hunting. But it is good to shoot a couple dozen reloads every month or two to keep the skills up for when you do want to be on target.

If you shoot varmints, I'm not dissing you, I was just curious what you do with the carcasses.

 

[snert]

Last year I got a nice photo of a bald eagle eating a groundhog I shot about half an hour earlier. Now I can't find the photo. My farmer always comments that he knows when I have been around because his fields are full of turkey buzzards.

i used to go look at them, dump them in a hole, but now I just let em lay. In a day or so there is nothing left.

 

[Konocti's Wigwam]

Last year I got a nice photo of a bald eagle eating a groundhog I shot about half an hour earlier. Now I can't find the photo. My farmer always comments that he knows when I have been around because his fields are full of turkey buzzards.

i used to go look at them, dump them in a hole, but now I just let em lay. In a day or so there is nothing left.

Good point, nothing wrong with letting nature take care of things. Eagles are bad @$$ birds, I will occasionally see them on property I own in NorCal. I see a lot of turkey vultures also, but the eagles have white feathers on their tails.

 

[Konocti's Wigwam]

Nothing goes to waste , this stack was gone in less than a week, mostly coyotes get them, but many raptors , buzzards make quick work of them especially now, red tails,eagles,opossums,foxes.

Funny enough I had an opossum around my house in San Jose for a couple weeks this year. The dogs in the area would be barking at it when it walked on the fences. One night he came to my office door and was looking in the french door window, scared the living p!$$ out of me...they are ugly mofos. I have tons of squirrels also, and used to feed them nuts, but my wife made me stop as she says they are just cute rats.

 

[6xcshooter]

BBQ.

 

[AWS]

Coyotes, skin them and use the pelts or sell them. I hear young woodchuck makes fair table fare. Raccoons, Muskrat and Beaver all go in the pot around here.

Beaver jerkey out on the trapline

Coyote decor in the living room

Prepping coyotes away from the fur shed.

A good day in coyote camp, should pay for the trip years past..

 

[Tommie]

Is this a legitimate question? Kinda has a troll smell.

 

[ARW]

The worms gotta eat too....

Same as buzzards!!!!..."Endeavor to persevere"

 

[jds holler]

It is my theory that The Lord put these pests and varmints on earth to provide us boys with the training to become proficient at hunting and killing at a young age. It is also my theory that us men never tire of the simple pleasures that excited us when we were boys.

These critters generally multiply and thrive in abundant or often excessive numbers, and generally need control whether it comes from shooting, poison, predators or whatever means. The death that we deal to them is no worse, and usually much better than the demise they will endure through mother nature.

I don't personally eat any of the varmints that are well known to carry disease, but I do cook up a pot of jack rabbits from time to time. Anything with a pelt, gets skinned and sold or kept as a nice fur.

The supposed ethics of "eat whatcha kill" does exist to the extent that we should never waste our resources or anything else that someone can make good use of. Just how far down the food chain you want to go, is kind of subjective I guess, and ends with not ever killing anything that you're not gonna eat.

I'd like to mention that those of us who grew up in a generation or demographic that included lots of varmint hunting, are usually the least likely folks to take our guns and commit mass murder. -- go figure. jd

 

[DogBuster]

P/dogs.........

What's left after a 20 cal 40 gr V Max hits 'em.......

These guys take care of it

 

[JSH]

Lol, folks and snakes, something you can kill with a stick. My dad hated any and all serpants, they were not dead until in pieces and put into the burning barrel. Didn’t phase him a bit to unload his old Ithaca SxS on a snake, if it was more than 16” long, it usually got a double dose.

 

[ISS]

I shot most of them with things like a 22-284; 80gr VLDs about 3700fps +/-. And a wildcat 257 Banshee, think 100gr VLD type bullet around the same MV. So, under 500yds I mostly caused traumatic disassembly. I am in SW Idaho, so there were always plenty of Hawks and Eagles, and Coyotes to handle disposable duties for me.
Another example, we used to have literally hundreds of Jack Rabbits around here. A buddy and I split a brick of high velocity HP 22 shells and went jacklighting one dark of the moon evening. We made about 90% kills before daylight. We went back that late afternoon, and could not find a single carcass.
I hear people back East eat them.

ISS

 

[Konocti's Wigwam]

Is this a legitimate question? Kinda has a troll smell.

Well you can think that if you like. You don't need to post though. Yes, it is a legitimate question. I wonder who's trolling who when I see piles of varmints. So far one or two people are eating them.

I notice you don't contribute to this site. Maybe you should consider it, or are you trolling us? Maybe you should consider upgrading if you value this site?

 

[K22]

These days, I toss them deep in the tree lines to keep the buzzards from messing up my hunt.

In my younger more bolder days when I fancied myself a mountain man, I would grill the hind legs and eat them. My annual ground hog roasts at the end of the season in western PA in the 80's was infamous. Wifey would visit her mother in Philadelphia in late September and I have the boys (hunting buddies) over for a hog leg feast and plenty of cold beer.

The event ended when my neighbor's wife told my wife that I tried to poison her husband, a non-hunter / non- gun guys who, curious about what was happening on my back porch, ventured over to our roast. We were quite into our "cup" when he arrived.

One of my ornery buddies offered him some "Pennsylvania Chicken" off the grill. The poor fellow ate a leg and commented on the unusual taste then asked what exactly this meat was. Again, my ornery buddy told him it was "groundhog." The poor fellow turned green and puked on my porch. He apparently thought it was a "roadkill". Being non hunter / tennis player and golfer, he had no conception that someone would hunt these critters and less conception that someone would eat them.

When wifey returned from Philly, his wife called mine and I got taken to the woodshed. When we moved east in 87, wifey laid down the law, "we are moving to civilization - no more hog roasts!"