Spring Groundhogs

[Mortblanc]

Over here we have a varmit type critter called a ground hog, sometime also called a woodchuck and by some a whistle pig.

The run from 2kilo up to about 4 kilo and stand between a foot and 1 1/2 tall.

They eat greens, espically the young plants in a garden. They can also clean out several rows of maise in a night.

They live in dense brush and fence rows, digging dens underground and causing cattle to be injured when they trip into the large holes these critters dig.

I have had a few living in the brushy patch behind my place and have needed to clear them out before spring planting starts.

I got one of the little buggers this afternoon. I caught him snoozing in the green patch in the back field, about 100 yards back. He never knew what hit him. I popped him with the dedicated back yard varmit gun in .22lr. It is quiet enough that the neighbors do not blink over it, not in my rural area anyway.

Spring has sprung! The critters are out and about. I will be working over the racoon population next. I killed about 25-30 of them last spring when they were trying to kill my hens.

[Highlander]

I remember when I was about 10 yrs old, I used to do a few jobs on the farm that my dad used to work on,... one of those jobs was to go out and shoot the dogs dinner.

I was always told to get two rabbits, one for each dog, I would be given two bullets, and a .22 cal rifle,... this was well before the days of Health and Safety reared its ugly head,... this was how I learnt to shoot

You are lucky that you have the opportunity to hunt the way you do, not many of us over here do [ legally that is ],... spring has also sprung here to thought you wouldn't believe it

[Tarrel]

(28 March 2013, 22:38)Mortblanc Wrote: Over here we have a varmit type critter called a ground hog, sometime also called a woodchuck and by some a whistle pig.

The run from 2kilo up to about 4 kilo and stand between a foot and 1 1/2 tall.

They eat greens, espically the young plants in a garden. They can also clean out several rows of maise in a night.

They live in dense brush and fence rows, digging dens underground and causing cattle to be injured when they trip into the large holes these critters dig.

I have had a few living in the brushy patch behind my place and have needed to clear them out before spring planting starts.

I got one of the little buggers this afternoon. I caught him snoozing in the green patch in the back field, about 100 yards back. He never knew what hit him. I popped him with the dedicated back yard varmit gun in .22lr. It is quiet enough that the neighbors do not blink over it, not in my rural area anyway.

Spring has sprung! The critters are out and about. I will be working over the racoon population next. I killed about 25-30 of them last spring when they were trying to kill my hens.

Do they taste good?

[Mortblanc]

I do not know how they taste, I have never eaten one.

They are usually considered nusciense animals and I not normally eaten.

[Metroyeti]

Do you do anything with the racoon fur?

[Barneyboy]

HATS

[Metroyeti]

Bb I have always wanted a davey crockett hat

[bigpaul]

(29 March 2013, 17:58)Metroyeti Wrote: Bb I have always wanted a davey crockett hat

yeah me too!!

[Hex]

Is the tail long enough for a little scarf?

[Mortblanc]

Racoons are not the cuddly little comic creatures of movie and cartoon fame. They are flea, tick and worm infested and one of our area's primary rabies carriers.

I shot one last summer and it had maggots on it when I got to the fresh kill.

They kill small livestock, small game and distroy game bird nests.

And Daniel Boone never wore a coonskin hat, he dispised the creatures.

Davy Crocket only wore one as a political gemic. Crocket was a professional politician, being a state and federal congressman and the mayor of his home city for 15 years. He was also a merchant and business man. He was caught up in the Texas Revolution trying to make a political move and become the founder of a new nation, going for the title of first president of Texas.

That is not exactly history as Walt Disney presented it now is it?