Woodchucks?

[bigbore442001]

The post on marmot hunting has me wondering if anyone who lives east of that big river in the middle of the country hunts woodchucks? As a teenager I shot a lot of them but it seems they disappeared in my neck of the woods, or lack of them.

 

[Coot]

Around here (central & SW Virginia) we call them Groundhogs & as a group, they are alive & well. (Except those who put a hole in one of my pastures). Often see them eating along the edge of rural roads.

PS - The hunting bag for one of my rifles is made of Groundhog pelt (fur left on) The tail is a 'handle' for lifting the flap.

 

[rabjr]

I think it's been all of ten years since the last one I've seen and shot here. Used to look forward to every spring and use the centerfire .22 rifles but the days of having places to hunt woodchucks here are pretty much gone for the most part.

 

[Vaino]

Had quite a few woodchucks in the "backyard" but when their numbers exceeded 10, I "trimmed the herd". When 8-15 years old I lived in the wilds of northern Minnesota and hunted them on the Mesabi railroad cuts and one thing always bothered me....what to do w/ them? One early evening I brought back to the farm 3 woodchucks and laid them in the yard and whistled for the cats to come like they did at milking time....all 10 came came over , looked and sniffed at the carcasses but were perplexed and didn't know where to start.Took a knife and zipped, started a partial skinning on all 3 carcasses and lo and behold, all 10 started chewing. This made me feel a lot better because my "sport" was now put to good use and my future woodchuck hunts could be pursued w/o a tinge of guilt. Never thought of eating them, even to this day, although they're vegetarians and despite the "look" of the dark, fatty meat, should be alright if properly prepared.....Fred

 

[Dave K]

Yes, I hunt them and really enjoy it. I will start hunting them about the first of May or a little later.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

they're all over the place down here, I had to shoot the big male of a pair that was threatening my garden - hated to do it. I've read recipe for them from a wild game cookbook some fella in Michigan printed. never ate 'em myself.

 

[Little Wattsy]

We have variations here out west but the hippies qet pretty sensitive if you kill one...."digger squirles" are people too you know. :wink:

 

[Mad Professor]

Main reason is loss of farmland, but I think coyotes are fond of them too.

I still have "garden problems" every couple of years so I knock the population back to the 20 acres farthest from garden.

 

[Maynerd62411]

My Mom's apartment building is along side a railroad. She has a couple nosing around in the yard all the time. Last year, she called into a local radio program saying she had a groundhog to give away, she got 3 calls and a guy ended up coming by and live trapping the huge male and one young one. He said it was the biggest one he'd seen in many years.
It was scaring her cat.

 

[Rocky Johnson]

We have lots of woodchucks here in SW Michigan,I just shoot the one's that a problem in the garden and the like to dig around and under the bildings.
We do eat them if you like rabbit you will like woodchuck,they seem to be better eating in the fall? :wink: Rocky

 

[bigbore442001]

I drove across SW Michigan once to Ludington to catch the SS Badger. I was somewhat impressed by the amount of farmland. I always wondered how the hunter access was.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Gosh yes. My first m/l hunting was pastering woodchucks with a .36 T/C Seneca. The fellow I hunted with used a .45 T/C Hawken. Loads of fun. At the time we were using Maxi-Balls, knowing no better ;-), and we would try for 60 to 100 yard shots.

Occasionally I still spot the odd chuck in the garden. For some reason they seem to have a tough time getting a foothold on this beachhead and there are few hereabouts. Might be that all but one of my neighbors have either a .22WRM or a .223 Rem of one kind or another.

I just don't spend mornings wandering far and wide to find them as I used to.

 

[Rocky Johnson]

BigBore Hunter access can be hard to come by on privet land becouse we have 700,000 hunters,but we also have a great lot of pubic land that is open to hunting. :wink: Rocky