I'm not much of a collector.
I do have a drawer where I toss my pins when I return from a trad rendezvous. And I have around 10 groundhog teeth I found over the years. Other than that I really don't care much for saving things.
One thing I do save are arrows that were from a special hunt or event. I hang them on my bow rack. I have a couple I made for my cousin before he passed away. One from my Texas javalina kill. And one that I used to kill my 100th groundhog. It's a chundoo with a big wide Magnus head.
I shot my 200th dirtpig last summer but the beast took the arrow down the hole. I really wanted it but I wasn't going to rent a backhoe to dig it up. Oh well. So much for my collection.
I was hunting today and had just shot number 210. I actually grabbed the fletch end and yanked the hog back out of the hole. You can't let a good 1916 and a Muzzy go down a hole! I cleaned up the arrow and stepped back on the path and noticed one of my old broken cedars with a MA-3 still attached. Cool! A hog must have been cleaning house and pushed it out of its' den. There are lots of groundhog bones laying about my stomping grounds too. :) I broke off the head and stuck it in my pouch.
I eventually hunted near the hole where I killed #200 and I thought of the cedar I had found earlier. I stepped up to the hole to look around and right there on top of the freshly excavated earth was my arrow! Way cool! It was an aluminum shaft with a Bodkin 3 blade, the feathers were rotted off but the rest of the arrow looked good. I did a smell check and stuck it in my back quiver. I got my arrow back for my collection!
Pretty neat.
David, that is sweet!
Should have called, I would have brought the Shovel! :thumbsu
200, I'm still looking for #1.
Awesome story!! Don't you just love it when you get gifts?
Thanks for sharing!
God bless,Mudd
Very cool!
Nice story and nice shooting. That's alot less holes for livestock to break their legs in.
Way cool. I've had my eye on some groundhawgs around here but they live in a big pile of concrete. :eek: Would be a costly miss.
Great story! Thanks for teaching me something about groundhog behavior. Never really thought about burrow upkeep, beyond simple digging.
Killdeer
Nice :archer:
Very cool stuff.
Neat story
we should pronounce you groundhog king!!! We aint got that many around here. About 50 as season is doin pretty good!
Hardly the king. I believe that honor should go to my buddies Hawkeye in PA and his dad Harry. They each routinely shoot over 2 dozen per year. I'm usually good for around 10 or so.