Well fellows, you are talking about my favorite spring and summertime pursuit. Chasing Ground Grizzlies with my Longbow and recurves. I have seen a couple already this year, but have not had a chance to really get out after them. But with the warmer weather and the growing foliage, things should kick into high gear soon. Believe me, I have taken my share of these animals, and love to hunt and eat them. This pic is the last one I took with my bow back in July 2015. He was a young and tender one that came running toward me with the sun behind my back and in his face, and I took him through the head, head on with a SNUFFER. Good luck to all you guys that will go after them. I have taken the majority of them by spot and stalk.

Tony


 

Bet he didn't go very far with that shot, did he Tony.  

Great Looking Chuck Tony, I was hoping you would show up!

I was about to say that Tony Sanders should be on here as he is a woodchuck huntin fool...   low and behold he beats me to it.     Also think that is first picture or time even in person I have not seen you with a Montana Falcon in your hands...  

way to go tony  

Charged by a grizzly and a well placed head shot!

Good shot Tony!

Have feasted on many a whistle pig.

Excellent!!!

As a kid I caught some alive.  One I climbed a tree after one my little mongrel "Jody" had treed (they climb well). When I got just under him I thought "now what"?  I took off my belt and put it over his head, under forelegs and tightened.  

You have to carry them away from your legs like a snapping turtle..for the same reason.  I carried on for well more than 1.5 mile walk home once to show it too Dad.  Dad wasn't impressed because he wondered what I would do with it. (I turned it loose on the edge of our subdivision.)

We had ZERO deer in the Richmond, IN area where I grew up in the 1960's. Groundhogs were the biggest challenge around and GREAT teachers about how to scout, learn an animals vulnerabilities, stalk, and of course shoot.  

I harassed these beasts almost daily one summer. They seemed to get used to how close they could allow me to approach without diving for holes.  Then a neighbor boy got hold of a .243.  He worked "my" bow-conditioned hog population over pretty hard. That was my last serious year hunting them.

You can tell I'm very fond of these animals. They dig burrows that many other animals also use as escape cover. Some of us have tried to dig them up ... I never got it done.

Hunting sod poodles is my passion. I'd rather chase them than anything else!

Unfortunately, coyotes and foxes moved in a few years ago and all but wiped them out. I hunted hard to finally kill one last summer, it was my 250'th with a stick bow. I only shot one more throughout the rest of the summer.

I hate to think it's over. Hunting hogs in the evenings or weekends  is what I do.

Well it's been a few weeks since the last post. Has anyone seen any woodchuck action? Possum for one was hoping to see more pictures.

I know around here in the NE woodchucks have made a comeback of sorts. Used to be they were all along the highways and then it seems when the coyotes moved in woodchuck sitings went down. Maybe they have learned to adapt to the predation after several generations.

But all the woodchuck haunts I frequented are now houses or office parks so the opportunities to hunt them aren't what it used to be. One encounter I remember in detail gave me an incredibly close shot. I had set up against a mature double oak inside the treeline waiting for a known chuck to appear from his hole along the edge of the grassy clearing when I saw movement almost at my feet. Out from behind the oak poked the head of my intended target. Since I was above him he didn't see me and I was able to lean back, draw my Black Bear recurve, shift forward and release in one motion. All I heard was a sharp crack like a .22 going off and then silence. Around the other side of the oak was his hidden second den with the back half of my Microflite, its end splintered and covered with blood and hair, lying across it. Tough critters that they are neither my Razorhead nor the fiberglass arrow could stop it.

Earlier posts included some gastronomic discussion so I thought I'd share an old recipe I've held onto for years. Never tried it but believe it came from an outdoor magazine many moons ago.

Woodchuck Cacciatore
1-2 small woodchucks cut up (or squirrels/rabbits)
1 medium onion sliced
1 16oz can tomatoes
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp celery seed
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup dry red wine
Cook 8-10 hrs in crockpot until tender

For the successful and the adventurous let's us know how it turned out.

I have seen a few while driving but have not been in able to get out lately.

They aren't very common in my area of the country, seems like they used to be...I think this can be attributed to larger numbers of avian predators and ground predators ie coyotes/bobcats.
I'll see one once in a blue moon.

Like Bisch said hogs are prolific down here and although I have had to make myself at times, I've learned to enjoy hunting them.

Tony, that is super!  I chase ground squirrels here in Montana, but they are a tad smaller.  Must be a shorter growing season here in the Mountains!

Friend, you eat those things?!  I guess I could if I was hungry enough.  How do they taste?  And don't say "like chicken"!      

Tom

Sure do miss stepping out the back door to go chase Whistle pigs.  Now it is a couple hour drive to get to the four mile hike in to hunt pigs.

As far as table fare, Chucks taste a bit like beef to me.

Seems like all the ground hogs around my way are on the side of the roads on the base I work on.  They dont have a care in the world since no one hunts them, so theyre able to get real fat.

Saw a mangy fox stop traffic on base this afternoon, after which he proceeded down the side, so I assume he is hoping to find one.

Theyre a blast with my .17 HMR back home, so I bet theyre more so with a bow.