Anyone?

[BT]

I know that everyone is pretty busy at this time of year

Still and all....I haven't seen (save one) post towards rodent removal this summer

Whats up guys?...is it a lack of time , property , both?.

Maybe groundhogs and such just don't hold the thrill in our older ages which it did in our youth

[lockmaster]

You know you're a redneck when you think "God created groundhogs for target practice".

I don't pursue all the things in hunting as much or as aggressively as I did in my younger days. The mere physical ability has diminished for some unknown reason.

I have hunted groundhogs, muskrats, foxes and other rodents and varmints just about all my life and it has always filled in the "gap" nicely between regular huntings seasons. Ground hog meat was a big thing for table fare in my younger days (actually very good) and there was a time even when farmers offered $0.25 per head on ground hogs not just because of crop damage but because of their livestock being injured by the holes of ground hog dens all over the property.

Things of that nature that I participated in over the years have dwindled a lot because of the loss of farm land to development and my age to a certain extent. I do however still love to pursue ground hogs. I used to be able to spot them at long distances and take them out with a rifle rested on a fence post at up to 300 yards away. (when the bounty was offered and to keep my skill honed)

In the last 15 years or so, my ground hog hunting has been almost exclusively with the bow. It's a lot of fun and very challenging because like any game with a bow, you have to be able to get a lot closer to them to be successful....and ground hogs are just as plentiful now as they were 40-50 years ago but not nearly as accessible due to "private property signs" everywhere. Most of my ground hog hunting is contained to my back yard now, (about 2 acres) they are somewhat plentiful and they know me about as well as I know them......and it really is a challenge to outsmart them!

In my younger days I had litterly thousands of acres to hunt on and could do it at will almost anywhere without permission. Oh how things have changed! There were contests between friends in those day with the highest number of kills on groundhogs for the summer winning.....not winning anything except "bragging rights" and being "champion" for that year. The highest kill I ever had for one summer was 83 groundhogs!! These days, 83 would be a good number in a decade!!

This is still a great sport and if you are not participating in this type of "summer activity" you are missing out on a lot of fun so get into it while you can and enjoy it. Land is dwindling fast and farm land is giving way to high rises and parking lots, housing development and factories.

I have a friend close to my age who lives in the city in a row house with a 1/2 acre back yard surrounded by a chain link fence and bordering a small undeveloped field. He sits on his garage roof and watches for ground hogs that dig dens near the fence and has put corn out along the fence and taken several deer right there in the midst of all the houses, kids in the yard and a busy highway just in front of his house.

It just seems that lots of hunters now days just don't actively pursue the joys of "year round" hunting any more......and it's truly a shame to miss out on it!

[mahly]

Honestly, I don't even know what varmints are available to hunt here. Other than Yotes (which are kinda hard to find...but getting easier) there isn't much that I know of to hunt. Sure there are skunks (not sure I want to deal with THAT) and porcupine (fun to clean? LOL) but other that that, I'm not sure there is much in my area.
Come fall...squirrel and fox become fair game...but that doesn't help in the summer. And for ME....bowfishing isn't quite the same....but it's fun to.

[BT]

You really nailed it Lockmaster

Sounds as if your pineing for the old days
Me too !

[~Messiah~]

i am still getting used the this forums format, lol. I find im getting lost everynow and then, once i get myHoyt bow, ill be posting more, plus pics and videos, as i got a new digital camcorder


Bigbore

[royden]

It's too early in the season (even this crazy year) but gopher season is not too far around the corner. Elk4me can tell you how much fun it is putting a stalk on a gopher (ground squirrell's actually but what ever) good practice for chasing bigger critters that don't pay nearly as good attention as a gopher and are not nearly so quick to jump the string. Elk even got one or two last year.

[BT]

That's when you have to use the range finder and put a 200 yard pin on the sight

[elk4me]

royden said:

It's too early in the season (even this crazy year) but gopher season is not too far around the corner. Elk4me can tell you how much fun it is putting a stalk on a gopher (ground squirrell's actually but what ever) good practice for chasing bigger critters that don't pay nearly as good attention as a gopher and are not nearly so quick to jump the string. Elk even got one or two last year.

Yes I can attest to the fun of it and it makes you a better shot gopher hunting. I just have to fig out a way to find my arrows Royden before the horses do ;D ;D ;D
I cant waite till the spring buddy!