Ground Hogs............ GONE!!!!!!

5

5.56YoteKiller

New member
Even though I hunt on prime GH areas, there's not a ground hog to be found. I deducted coyotes have killed all them off. I did contribute to this by killing ONE myself. Since then, NADA. The 2 yotes in my avatar were killed on this property, adding to my suspicions.

Here's the property I hunt on. A huge alfalfa field, many drainage ditches, and even a CSX railroad track adjoining the property. RR tracks are famous around here for giving GH's plenty of areas to den.

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This pic is of a buddy of mine (dead center in pic) retrieving the last known GH on the property. Shot at 150 Yds. with my Bushy 16" HB.

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The last live one I've seen is this one in my yard last year.

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I guess the solution is to kill more yotes.
 
Good looking areas to hunt. If a groundhog was around, surely you would find them in those places.

It's getting like that around here too. We still have some groundhogs, but the population has definitely taken a nose dive from many years ago. I used to would see lots of them in just one evening. Now I'll be lucky to get on two or three.
 
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I think you might be right about the coyotes killing the ground hogs. It seems like when I shoot ground hogs one day and go back the next day the ground hogs are already gone from the field. So something must be dragging them off. I have also shot a few coyotes off of ground hog carcasses the following morning if I get there early enough. Tom.
 
Originally Posted By: 6mm06Good looking areas to hunt. If a groundhow was around, surely you would find them in those places.

It's getting like that around here too. We still have some groundhogs, but the population has definitely taken a nose dive from many years ago. I used to would see lots of them in just one evening. Now I'll be lucky to get on two or three.

I was/am an avid hog hunter until the lack of them slowed me way down.
Like you said, there used to be plenty to shoot any given afternoon.

Now I've resorted to hunting coyotes to maybe give the hogs a fighting chance to make a comeback.
 
we never see ground hogs in fields here anymore havent in years most have moved indoors unders housed and under concrete slabs. and of course under pole barns right under foundation poles we actuall set up in barns and shot ground hogs with shot gun
 
I do a lot of what I call "barn yard hunting". I am putting together a rifle right now for that specific purpose. It will be a bolt action 223 with a 16" barrel and a suppressor.

There are a bunch of ground hogs around houses, barns, and livestock in my area. And it is actually a lot of fun to hunt them. Actually it can be fun precision shooting.

The noise is the major problem. When the rifle cracks next to the farmers window he gets upset. And so does the livestock. So I think this suppressor will be a lot of fun.

I have a good sub-sonic gallery load for my 45-70. Now I need to work up a good sub-sonic for my new 223. Tom.
 
Yeppers the coyotes mighty march into the south has been the factor in GH numbers being 1/4 of what they used to be. I used to hunt GH in East TN thru NC and WV as a boy. I still have alot of my friends back in East TN that give me the reports, and one is a Wildlife Biologist and he said the coyotes have killed off alot of the GH because the GH never had to contend with such a fierce predator like a coyote before. The GH main predator was the Red Fox which did not catch many of the GH, and now the red fox has been killed off by coyote...and the coyote is hammering the GH population. This is why I do alot of predator control work on ranches here in Texas...I work along with the biologist. So, please go out and hunt them coyotes.
 
I try to get out every chance I get to hunt yotes.

I really miss taking 4 or 5 pigs a day. Coyotes don't offer that much shooting. I KNOW it's a bad thing to wish for, but I wish we had prairie dogs to hunt. It would add more shooting and more shooting fun.

If you didn't notice by the prairie dog comment, I love to shoot.
 
I noticed the same thing here yrs ago, I would dump a hog and toss him back in his hole, come back through the next day and he was gone without a trace, I also never see them in fields anymore, they set up house inside tree lines and come out when necessary.Originally Posted By: HOGGHEADI think you might be right about the coyotes killing the ground hogs. It seems like when I shoot ground hogs one day and go back the next day the ground hogs are already gone from the field. So something must be dragging them off. I have also shot a few coyotes off of ground hog carcasses the following morning if I get there early enough. Tom.
 
we have alot of ground hogs here but yes they all have moved close to the farm but the bodys are gone the next day after shooting 26 hogs last year we still have them running all over. i hope they dont dissapear here too
 
When I was a kid you saw them around here everywhere, now I might see 5-10 a year. I live in the country, work in the country, and farm too. I can pretty safely say that on the 200 acres we run cattle on, there's not one.
 
Let's see when I was young in my area we lots of grouse.
We had lots of Ground Hogs. We could not go in the woods without seeing squirrels. Rabbits were nearly pests.

Now once we got wild turkeys we have no more grouse. Hawks were put on the endangered species list and within a few years we had no more large populations of rabbits and squirrels. As the coyote population increased there were fewer and fewer ground hog, still get a few each year but it is only one now and then. I do think there are correlations. I think the most devastating one was the protection of birds of prey which were once considered vermin. Things change.
 
Originally Posted By: HOGGHEAD Now I need to work up a good sub-sonic for my new 223. Tom.

Blue Dot is your friend Tom. Google Seafire Blue Dot Loads.
 
We have tons of groundhogs up here. No matter how much you hunt them, they just keep coming back. I am going to put a few posters up at the local grocery stores this year advertising for farmers to give me a call to come shoot the chucks in their fields. I figure by the time fall rolls around, Ill have plenty of trigger time with my new 223.
 
Originally Posted By: 204DudeOriginally Posted By: HOGGHEAD Now I need to work up a good sub-sonic for my new 223. Tom.

Blue Dot is your friend Tom. Google Seafire Blue Dot Loads.

Not to high jack this tread but,

Predator Xtreme magazine has a 2 part story about developing a sub-sonic .223 round. The writer has tried many in part 1 in the February issue, so far with no success. He say's he'll keep trying and finish his findings with part 2 in the next issue.
 
I actualy saw 3 this morning on my commute to work and I thought it odd because it was only 27 degress outside and we still have a ton of snow on the ground. They must be getting hungry or horny or maybe a little of both.

By the looks of your pics that would normaly be prime groundhog territory! You may be right about the Yote's eating them.

I can't wait for the groundhog shooting to begin this year. I just got a 22-250 barrel for my Encore with a new 4x12 Redfield ready to rock and roll them back into their holes!
 
I just found this pic I took after shooting the "last" pigs on the property.
I now realize killing 3 with one shot was a bad thing, but I didn't know at the time there were a mom with 2 youngins standing behind her at their hole. If I had known, I certainly would have passed on the shot.

You guys with an over abundance of whistle pigs could ship them down here to repopulate the species. We need some badly, cause I miss shooting them in the late afternoons.
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