Author Topic: garden pests (Read 1513 times)

gould · « **on:** June 09, 2009, 11:06:50 PM »

Here is a couple that ate my peas they were tried and found guilty

LaOtto222 · « **Reply #1 on:** June 10, 2009, 12:08:33 AM »

I have found a few of those guilty myself. Nice shooting. What cartridge did the judge use to carry out the sentence?

bigvarmnt · « **Reply #2 on:** June 10, 2009, 07:37:49 AM »

Good Shootin! That is why I put Two gardens in this year. Different ranges and different angles

Guess you can eat the stuff too.

snakeman · « **Reply #3 on:** June 10, 2009, 07:57:46 AM »

Good shooting. I usually just find rabbits and raccoons. Some one already asked but what the heck. What range and cal?

snakeman

gould · « **Reply #4 on:** June 10, 2009, 08:44:39 AM »

It's a 223. The first one didn't get to close she was still in the field about a 130 yards. The male was about 30 yards on top of a pile of brush. There is still 3 that I know of maybe more. They are fun to shoot but I don't like them in the garden.

bigvarmnt · « **Reply #5 on:** June 10, 2009, 09:16:48 AM »

Back in the 70's my buddys parents had a garden and the woodchucks were always coming there for a snack. We kept shooting them and more would come. They will destroy a garden real quick. Gave us kids something to do though.

Rustyinfla · « **Reply #6 on:** June 10, 2009, 09:44:22 AM »

MY wife had a history teacher that would sometimes go on a tangent about just how great groundhog shoelaces were. She said if things got boring in class someone would ask about those shoe laces and he was good for at least 20 minutes. Knowing that I've always thought a groundhog hide shooting bag would be nice.

I hear they can be made into a good stew too.

myarmor · « **Reply #7 on:** June 10, 2009, 04:01:31 PM »

I have shot a ton of these little critters, and have skinned them out for some friends, but I have yet to eat one. I suppose it's nothing more than an overgrown rabbit.... ok next one I ax I will give it a go. The grill can do wonders.... $:-\$

True enough about the garden..they will be hell if not controlled.

-Aaron

Bayou Stalker · « **Reply #8 on:** June 10, 2009, 04:02:57 PM »

'ems some big squirrels you got there...

Default · « **Reply #9 on:** June 10, 2009, 11:10:24 PM »

Good shooting Gould ,

Garden ? sounds like a fun Arkansas experiment

Quote from: Bayou Stalker on June 10, 2009, 04:02:57 PM

'ems some big squirrels you got there...

Bayou

Laughing my @ss off....

Default

the lone gunman · « **Reply #10 on:** June 10, 2009, 11:44:12 PM »

Hate to say but the main reason I had a garden and mutiple bird feeders was so I could shoot critters out my back window. Now I live in an apt and there is a big field behind me but, one house in my shooting lane. Drives me crazy when I see a groundhog up there. By the way, Nice hogs and nice handi. I have one in 223 also and love it. Keep the pics coming.

walnutred · « **Reply #11 on:** June 11, 2009, 01:45:50 AM »

Quote from: Default on June 10, 2009, 11:10:24 PM

Good shooting Gould ,

Garden ? sounds like a fun Arkansas experiment

Quote from: Bayou Stalker on June 10, 2009, 04:02:57 PM
'ems some big squirrels you got there...

Bayou

Laughing my @ss off....

As I recall my zoology ground hogs are the largest member of the squirrel family? Once I actually shot a ground hog out of a tree.

Default

zoner · « **Reply #12 on:** June 11, 2009, 01:48:30 AM »

when i was a kid Gramps put me in charge of keeping them critters out of his garden....my tool was a single shot 22lr....you gotta hit em in a darn good spot with a 22lr to keep em from getting down a hole....oh,yeah..in northern pennsylvania them things are called woodchucks

paul63 · « **Reply #13 on:** June 11, 2009, 02:22:23 AM »

I wished we something like woodchucks to shoot out of a garden here in Louisiana. All we get in our garden is rabbits & deer. Sometimes an armadillo will make it's way in there and they are the most fun to shoot. My wife & I sit on the porch at night with a 410 & a spotlight (also beer) & take turns shooting armadilloes. I like the way they jump in the air when you hit 'em. I put up a fence to keep out rabbits, but I planted a 1/2 acre of peas just for the deer & it keeps them out of the garden. I wouldn't mind shooting a deer or 2, but for some reason the game wardens don't have a good sense of humor about that.

petemi · « **Reply #14 on:** June 11, 2009, 02:24:18 AM »

Nice shooting. We call them woodchucks too. Believe it or not, I've only seen one so far this season, and that was while I was traveling without a rifle. Most years I see the first one in March. They'll come up through 2 or 3 feet of snow, sit on a fence post and look around for a few minutes. That tends to be a real fatal habit. Now the hay and alfalfa on my place is too high to see them unless they climb a post or tree. I have shot them out of the lower branches of apple trees.

Pete

ncsurveyor · « **Reply #15 on:** June 11, 2009, 02:28:53 AM »

called them woodchucks, rockchucks, groundhogs, gophers, and whistle pigs.

Depending on present company.

nice shooting.

Bayou Stalker · « **Reply #16 on:** June 11, 2009, 02:42:13 AM »

Quote from: ncsurveyor on June 11, 2009, 02:28:53 AM

called them woodchucks, rockchucks, groundhogs, gophers, and whistle pigs.

Depending on present company.

nice shooting.

I've never seen any of them by any name, or prairie dogs either. I would like to try and make a prairie dog hunt if it is held again next year.

Bayou Stalker · « **Reply #17 on:** June 11, 2009, 02:43:35 AM »

Quote from: paul63 on June 11, 2009, 02:22:23 AM

Sometimes an armadillo will make it's way in there and they are the most fun to shoot.

Yummy, opossum on the half-shell.

PHATINJUN · « **Reply #18 on:** June 11, 2009, 02:58:59 AM »

I used to have a homesteader book that was published in the early 1900's and although the author ate most everything... what I found funny was that several times he says groundhogs ain't no good for nuthin but bootlaces and just based on that I have never tried one. Though muskrat beaver and coons have been made to table . Kurt

jim36 · « **Reply #19 on:** June 11, 2009, 03:30:05 AM »

Many names given to the critters listed. I just call them "TARGETS"

snakeman · « **Reply #20 on:** June 11, 2009, 04:48:31 AM »

I would love to shoot a woodchuck. I have never seen one. Fortunately for me I have a prairie dog town about two hours from the house.

snakeman

bigvarmnt · « **Reply #21 on:** June 11, 2009, 05:29:43 AM »

Just loading up some new 30 gr Varmint Grenades in Hornet cases while reading this again. That buddy and I used to float the river and when we found holes in the banks we would tie up and wet a line. The banks would get 30+ feet high and steep in some places. Sometimes the groundhogs would sit just inside there holes. If you looked real hard you could see them looking at you.

We only had 22 l.r.s back then and I swear I would hit some in the head and they would run to their holes. One day we figured we would both aim at their head and count three. We saw one working the bank and 1,2,3, BANG both shots hit, he rolled down the bank into the river squeeling, another ran to the edge and stood up to see what was going on 1,2,3, BANG dropped where he stood. Across the river and up that bank was a far shot for a 22. You had to be a little fast cause usually they didn't give you much time.

Great Fun

LaOtto222 · « **Reply #22 on:** June 11, 2009, 05:42:47 AM »

Woodchucks used to be plentiful around here (NE Indiana). I could go out for a day and shoot half a dozen. There are plenty of other folks that have discovered the fun + we now have coyotes that were not here before winters of '77 & '78. Between all the shooters and coyotes the population is down + they have changed their habits. Instead of burrowing in the open, they now stick to over grown fence rows, wood lot edges and building foundations. As soon as they see a person they run for their hole and do not come back up. In the old days they would stand up to get a better look at you. If you startled one up close, they would go down the hole and come back up in 15 - 20 minutes to look around. I would just walk around to another angle and when they came back up, they would look where you were at, not where you are now, giving you a nice clean shot. Used to be if they crossed any open ground or field, they would take a leisurely walk and stop to munch on the greenery once in a while. Now they dash across any open area as fast as they can go weather they see a predator or not. Now I have to stalk along field edges and hope I see them before they see me - other wise they are gone. Still fun to shoot, but less of them and much closer ranges.

hunter13 · « **Reply #23 on:** June 11, 2009, 05:52:03 AM »

remind me not to go in front of that judge

nice job there now all you got to do is keep the weeds out of your garden

bigvarmnt · « **Reply #24 on:** June 11, 2009, 05:57:03 AM »

I wondered if the coyotes were having an effect on them. You are right it has changed. A few years ago I hardly seen any?? Thought they were being poisoned or something.

Been seeing more lately. :)The little Hornet puts a hurt on them at the proper ranges. Some of the best summer shootin fun. Wish we had prairie dogs around here.
Where you at Gould?
Ohio seems to have plenty of them chubby little rascals. I'd like to go there for a weekend.

Wyo. Coyote Hunter · « **Reply #25 on:** June 11, 2009, 10:44:03 AM »

It seems like all over the country 'chucks are declining. I have a pal in Mo. that lays the blame to coyotes. In Penna. I used to shoot lots of them when I was young and again during the 90's. They were plentiful and everyone wanted them shot. Farmers still like to have them done away with, but the last times I hunted them, shots were fewer, holes were fewer, and the number of cultivated fields were fewer. I think the farming pratices have changed enough to make a shift the the chuck population. As for p. dogs. Their numbers are down also. We now have folks tying up ranches and offer guided hunts for dogs, those used to be open to anyone with the good sense to ask. Now the best places are reserved for the corporate shoots for folks from Browning, Win. etc. They pay big for the privilage of shooting varmits that the ranchers used to beg us to come shoot. One offered to buy me cases of .22 shells to shoot on his place.

Now his step son has taken over an the price is $200/day

The hunting that is left is not really worth a trip to do. Plus we have jokers come in early and shoot dogs before they have their pups. That certainly is not helping any. The local gunsmith figures the cheap .223 ammo of the last 20 years also helped the demise of the prairie dog population in the west. Mostly the guys fooled with the common .22 before which wasn't very effective. Same sad tale that happened to the buffalo years ago.

$:-\$

PHATINJUN · « **Reply #26 on:** June 11, 2009, 11:24:07 AM »

I know exactlly what you are say LaOtto222 when I first started shooting Groundhogs it was with a longbow and they were quite curious of you back then when the saw you they would stand on thier hind legs to get a better look and give you a wide open chest shot not anymore though they see you first they are gone you might just as well move on . kurt

mechanic · « **Reply #27 on:** June 11, 2009, 11:38:02 AM »

I was just waiting for someone to identify these critters. We don't have any in my part of Ga. We have plenty of armored 'possums though. They not only eat the roots off everything, they leave huge tunnels all over. Friend of mine complained he couldn't kill them very well with a 22, so I took him a 20ga. with slugs. He says that does the trick. Leaves tail and ears.

zoner · « **Reply #28 on:** June 11, 2009, 11:46:31 AM »

when i was a kid in Penna we would drive the back roads till we saw one,if he went down his hole we would sight in on the last place we saw em and my buddy would give a shrill whistle. About half the time they would stand up to see what was up,sometimes popping up right in the crosshairs,kapow...that was really fun.If you shoot chucks all summer with your deer rifle,come deer season them farmfed whitetails were in big trouble

Sourdough · « **Reply #29 on:** June 11, 2009, 11:52:30 AM »

When I was a kid my Grandfather Hunter would kill groundhogs and bring them home. My Grandmother would cook them for dinner. She had several differant ways to prepare them.

My Grandfather Williams would shoot them from the porch with a Stevens single shot .22 LR. It was 100 yards to the edge of the garden 40 yd to the far edge. The old man knew exactly where to aim anywhere in the garden to make a killing shot. He used the iron sites that came on the rifle, never used a scope. My mother could make the same shots, using the same gun.