Badger Hunting

Montana Badger

New member
I'm new to varmint hunting. Have only hunted gophers (Richardson ground squirrels). I would like to get into hunting badgers. I know some guys have been successful in calling them out during day light hours, but I don't know what equipement is needed & how to go about calling them out. Has anyone out there hunted badgers? What caliber rifle would you use? Any special techniques?
 
I shot a badger in the forehead with a .223 at 200 yards just last week. Landowner asked me to. It was a nursing mother. Didn't make me feel real good but the landowner was happy. Badgers are hard to find. Mainly because of the amount of territory we have here in Montana. Seems like anywhere there's lots of gophers you could set up and see what happens. Coyotes, foxes, and badger might all show up.

Mike
 
I located an area where there are a lot of gophers & badgers. Many of the ranchers in the area invite you onto their property to shoot gophers. They would also like to have the badgers shot. So locating them is not a problem, getting them out of the hole to shoot them is.
 
Just out of curiosity, due to the fact that the badger preys upon the ground squirrels, why would farmers want to get rid of badgers? Is it because of their burrowing?
 
Badgers make much larger holes which are more damaging to equipment & livestock, especially when the fields are infested with badgers. I'm talking a lot of big holes with mounds of dirt a foot or more high around at the entrance of the hole.

One rancher named a new road he just put in "Badger Road" because he had a badger drill a hole right in the middle of it shortly after it was done.
 
If you know where the badgers are, then the rest is easy. Set up about 100 yards from the holes. Put a rest on your pickup hood. Get a game call. Jackrabbit works good. Started calling. When the badger sticks his head up put the crosshairs between his eyes and fire. Badgers have and incredibly thick skull. I hit that last one in forehead. It entered between the eyes, followed the skull under the skin over the top and out the back of the head. This was with a .223 with a 50 gr. Nosler. It killed her okay, probably cracked the skull, but if I had used a .22 I think it would have just given her a headache.

You could probably get away with a $10 mouth call. All you need to do is get them to stick their head out.

Mike
 
Montana Badger, I've taken some badgers in my day, but most were taken at night when they seem to be more active. Badgers seem to like ground they can dig in easy and can they ever dig. Find ground squirrels and your probably in badger country. Interesting note. I've killed badgers with 22-250s, 220 swifts, 243s, 25-06s and even a 270 once and never did the bullet exit, they are as tuff as they come. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif Oh, I almost forgot. After you kill your first badger, have someone else case for ya. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Thats rite Danny,
They stink something awfull,When i was trapping
i used to give all my gadger catches to this guy o knew and he would case them out, Don't know how he did it, Yuk...........Joe.....................
 
Any of the high power varmint calibers will work for you 223 or 243 probably the best.
From my own personal experience don't try to put the sneek on one and pop him with a .17 HMR at 50 yards, it's just enough to make him pizzed!
They naturally are killers,they will charge you like a bull don't let them lil' short legs fool you they are fast! Better hope somethings there to get up on... if they do!not sure I would want one on my leg :eek: /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
joetuc, yes they stink alright, but I was talking about pulling fur. A badger is so tuff you have to cut every sq. inch of hide off of em. Your over there in Eastern NM, that's cool. In two weeks I'll be in Carrizozo, maybe for the rest of my life lol, good hunting.
 
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