I'm going to try my hand at some ground hogs this spring with my .36. Can anyone tell me what affect a .36 ball has on a hog in the chest cavity with 40gr of 3f behind it? Will these critters run? Or, am I best limiting myself to head shots?
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Ground Hog Shooting
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paulvallandigham
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Try to use the head shot, to stop him where you shoot him. Ground hogs rarely move far from their den openings, and then only to find a mate, and sometimes to eat something specially sweet, like clover buds, so when hit, if they are still alive, they will try to get down into their hole, where it will be real work for you to dig them out.
Ground hog makes great sausage meat. Very pale, and pink, and sweet, like Pork. Its why its called a ground HOG, or Wood CHUCK in various parts of the country.
I have been able to sneak to within 15 feet of a ground hog for what would have been an easy shot with a .22 revolver, if I had one that day. They are cautious, and will go to ground if they sense any danger at all. So, they will be a nice challenge for you to hunt.
That load should be perfect, even for the largest GH. They rarely go more than 20 lbs. Aim for the junction of the head/neck, and shoulders. If you hit low, you have a heart/lung shot, and if you center it, you take out his spine. If you hit a little high, you have a head shot. If you hit POA, you have a fatal neck shot. Anyone who can shoot squirrels through the head regularly, can shoot head shots on Ground Hogs.
Ground hog makes great sausage meat. Very pale, and pink, and sweet, like Pork. Its why its called a ground HOG, or Wood CHUCK in various parts of the country.
I have been able to sneak to within 15 feet of a ground hog for what would have been an easy shot with a .22 revolver, if I had one that day. They are cautious, and will go to ground if they sense any danger at all. So, they will be a nice challenge for you to hunt.
That load should be perfect, even for the largest GH. They rarely go more than 20 lbs. Aim for the junction of the head/neck, and shoulders. If you hit low, you have a heart/lung shot, and if you center it, you take out his spine. If you hit a little high, you have a head shot. If you hit POA, you have a fatal neck shot. Anyone who can shoot squirrels through the head regularly, can shoot head shots on Ground Hogs.
Thanks for the input, Paul. I'll put it to good use. Runner, I know what you're saying about flooded river bottoms. I live about 2 miles from one and I usually see 3 or 4 hogs sitting in the corn stubble as I drive home from work. Too bad the land is in city limits!!
I used my .45 last year, and conected up to 75-80 yds, as that was what I felt comfortable with.Didn't recover any RB as they cleared tru.
The first one I though I missed, as it did not move at all.Entered just bellow the mouth and out abobe the tail.
Now I know better so next time I'll half my loads from 60 to 30 grains.
Marinated in the fridge overnite, they turned up prety good on the BBQ :grin:
The first one I though I missed, as it did not move at all.Entered just bellow the mouth and out abobe the tail.
Now I know better so next time I'll half my loads from 60 to 30 grains.
Marinated in the fridge overnite, they turned up prety good on the BBQ :grin:
Aim for the junction of the head/neck, and shoulders. If you hit low, you have a heart/lung shot, and if you center it, you take out his spine. If you hit a little high, you have a head shot. If you hit POA, you have a fatal neck shot. Anyone who can shoot squirrels through the head regularly, can shoot head shots on Ground Hogs.
About an inch under his chin is good advice.
For head shots with a.36 I would only take them from the side.
From the front the kill zone(brain)is very small as is the .36 ball.
About an inch under his chin is good advice.
For head shots with a.36 I would only take them from the side.
From the front the kill zone(brain)is very small as is the .36 ball.
Greenmtnboy
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Trench said:
I marmot(western woodchuck) hunt every fall for food and oil I use a 36cal blueridge with a Greenmtnbarrel I shoot 50 grns of ffg goex with a 350 ball. I go for head shots only, if I hit low I will lose meat as for a critter running off it's never happened.
bigbore442001
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Runner:
Thanks for that advice. It seems that in southern New England woodchucks are a rare animal. The farms are going under the blade of the dozer every day where I hunted them in my youth. I will have to do some scouting around above some flooded river bottoms.
Maybe I will run into a few.
Thanks for that advice. It seems that in southern New England woodchucks are a rare animal. The farms are going under the blade of the dozer every day where I hunted them in my youth. I will have to do some scouting around above some flooded river bottoms.
Maybe I will run into a few.
paulvallandigham
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Out here, the only place we usually find them are along the Railroad right-of-ways.
Here, it is soybean fields, followed by hay fields. Look for a semi circle of shortened beans and I will be sure to tell you to set up there. If a creek bank is near by, it is even better. One of my favorite pass times from May until July.
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I don't know where you got this information - maybe groundhogs where you live act that way but the ones we have in PA (yes, relatives of the one in Punxautauney (whatever) that sees/doesn't see its shadow) are not as you described. First - they are far rangeing and will spend a great deal of time away from their dens. Second- they usually mate in the winter and the process involves the male sneaking up on a hibernating female and "taking advantage of her". Third - they will and do climb trees and rocks - not often, but they do.Fourth - if you do not get the scent glands cut off the legs they will taste like road kill no matter what you do with them in the kitchen. Fifth - they will drink water, but mostly get all the moisture they need from the grass, clover or garden stuffs they eat. Sixth - they are incredably hard to skin and if you ask a taxidermist to mount one the cost will be an outrage. Last - a 20 pound ground hog is a monster. I have been hunting them for 40+ years and have never seen one over 14 pounds. Last and last - a ground hog is a tough guy and they take a lot of killng. With a flint lock or any front stuffer you have to shoot for a chest shot because if you try a head shot and wound the animal be ready for some loud pitiful screaming and protracted suffering while you reload. The groundhog does not deserve that kind of treatment.
paulvallandigham
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I saw a GH sitting up next to the shoulder of an interstate highway, which I thought was a misplaced log at a distance, and realized he was a GH only as I neared him. He was HUGE. They eat lots of grasses, corn, and soybean plants here, and I find their dens along the embankments, where the farmers DO NOT plow, occasionally along a highway, and some times in vacant lots very near Railroad tracks in the city or suburbs. Most go in the 10-15 lb. range, for sure. That is why the guy on the highway was so remarkable. He was definitely bigger than any other GH I have seen before. Without hunting pressure in this semi-urban environment, these GHs can occasionally escape other natural causes of death and live to get that big. I don't expect to see another GH that big in my life, or about as frequent a sighting as seeing a record white tail deer buck. They don't get very old being stupid. I did see 8 GHs in one small field next to the ICGRR tracks in N. Champaign, waiting one afternoon for the trains the clear the intersection. I knew they were in the North end of town, as I had seen a couple that had burrowed under a friend's garage about 3/4 mile further into Town, South of this sighting. And, I knew they were along the right-of-way North of town having come across their dens while hunting pheasants years back. I think the feeding habits are pretty much the same as you describe for the GHs in PA. Thanks for the comment. :thumbsup:
Several 20 pounders out at the lake farm that lived in and foraged around the barn. 200 yards was a field trip for them. Don't know about all their habits and such, but I know the ones here do not range very far from their dens at all, and 20pounds is not considered huge or anything. Now I cut grass and bailed hay while watching these animals for years. I think the farthest I ever saw one from the barn was about 250 yards eating white clover at the bottom of the hill behind the barn. The big ones look like flowing carpets moving thru the grass because they are just about as wide as they are long and they undulate as they move. You hit any center mass hit from his ears to his chest with a .350 ball stepping right on out there, and they don't even flop much. Now, getting one of the little buggers to let you get sights on him at good muzzleloader range is an entirely different subject! They let me drive the tractor right on by lots of times, but they would run from anyone they saw the rest of the time. For something so slow, they sure are fast!
Paul, there is an embankment along side old highway 21 near my house that is covered with some kind of vine. Every year the police get reports of bear sightings on that hillside. It is a big old GH that likes to sit on a stump that the vines hide and watch traffic as he munches. He looks like he is over three feet tall standing up there!
paulvallandigham
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I don't doubt it, nor do I doubt the complaints. In the same vein, most adult beavers are in the 25-30 lb. range. But a friend of mine trapped an old sow that ran 42 Lbs. and was long as an average adult man's torso! He skinned the hide out in the round, and stretched on willow branches in the round, and brought it, and five other smaller hides to a demonstration one Spring to show people in my club, and spectators, how hides were dried and prepared in the good old days. Most of the people there were shocked when he told him what that large animal hide was. The largest Beaver trapped in Illinois went something near 65 lbs, and was so long it took two men to hold it up to get an idea of its size. My friend told me that his sow was trapped in a creek, with a very steep embankment, and with all the water in the hide, it was everything he could do to drag and lift that carcass out of the water, and get it up that bank. My friend had been trapping since he was a kid, and he had never before seen a pelt as large as this sow's was. That is why he weighed the beaver before skinning it out.
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Paul - There are folks out there that do not understand just why farmers hate them critters so much. You and I know that besides digging dens under sheds - and then having the sheds collapse into the den, that the real danger hogs present is that tractors (with the farmer on them) have a tendency to flip over when a wheel crashes through the roof of a den. Or, perhaps break an axle. I have seen farmers in SE PA have a kid or two (and sometimes themselves while the wife reaps the field) walk along in front to spot the holes before they tires cave them in. Actually, I don't bother them in the woods - but in the fields -- BANG!
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I saw a beaver the other day in the little town I live in here in PA. Just about boggled my mind though as I had never seen one in this area before and it was an impressive beast. Big, shiny and just cool to see. It's great to see them coming back into the area, especially in the semi-rural areas.
