9mm Ammo for Groundhogs

[RobA]

Do you know where their entrances and exits are? Much easier to use a smoke bomb to kill them. Very efficient and very quiet.

 

[MH8675309]

A live trap will make them easier to hit with a 22 if you cant do it the regular way. Like my buddy George W. used to say "It aint rocket surgery"

 

[the old grind]

Rinse blood off cage traps right away after ballistic dispatch. Blood odor tends to deter many herbivores. I soak cages overnight in the pond and spray off with a hose before resetting. btw, I recommend Duke 'Heavy Duty', as Havahart and others' doors tend to fall onto butts and critters back out easily, esp raccoon.

Use this http://www.pcsoutdoors.com/images/products/detail/JK1112.2.gif
... not this http://www.pcsoutdoors.com/images/products/detail/JK1110.2.gif

I had wee possums cleaning out my bait from a 'coon set (cage) without tripping the pan. Partially blocked the opening with sticks and set a conibear up front. Got 'em all, one by one. Trapping gets 'funner' when you take up the challenge of the sly & sneaky.

btw, coyotes are circling our snares (tracks obvious) and a fox ate a rabbit from one, leaving only tracks & a gut pile. (tough year) Snares work for GHs in warm weather, but if using 'relaxing' locks most anything will tear up your set location by the time you run your line.

 

[Buggs67]

Side question: anybody eating what they kill/trap?

 

[the old grind]

Muskrat was served in some 'country-style' restaurants 'downriver' (Detroit's Southern suburbs) until some gov't agency declared the practice illegal 20 or so yrs ago due to' local sourcing' the & lack of FDA or USDA sanction. I might stew one with rabbit or squirrel in a pinch, but have yet to do so. A friend asked me for a young 'coon sometime :yuck: but don't usually see him the day we skin one out. Bet he wouldn't want to gut it himself & to us it's just 'yote bait or buzzard food. (love those birds ...)

I often wonder if a GH would taste much different than marsh hare (m'rat) if fed on something I planted for myself. Don't want to be the guy who tries it & not taking a dare without one in hand. :laughing:

In a SHTF situation Muffy would get a bye till the bird shot ran out. (squab, anyone? .. Dove!)
I'd like to be the OP's neighbor, for food or fur.

 

[dusty3030]

View attachment 408886

Side question: anybody eating what they kill/trap?

Well, we'd have to be talkin' about one charming mfn whistle pig. I mean, he'd have to be ten times more charming than that Arnold on Green Acres, you know what I'm saying?

 

[Buggs67]

If GH (AKA woodchuck) is a vegetarian why wouldn't he taste OK? I was trapping beavers with friends and when I asked why they didn't eat them, they shrugged. SO we tried it. Delicious and very lean. Nice in stew or braised.

 

[RSKY]

Ate groundhog one time in my teens. Not as slimey as possum. But once it cools off it gets VERY greasey. Never went back for seconds. Tasted kinda like a cross between coon and beaver.

RSKY

 

[dusty3030]

If GH (AKA woodchuck) is a vegetarian why wouldn't he taste OK? I was trapping beavers with friends and when I asked why they didn't eat them, they shrugged. SO we tried it. Delicious and very lean. Nice in stew or braised.

I was just kidding with the Pulp Fiction reference. I haven't tried one but it is supposed to be very similar to squirrel.

I think the reason they aren't table fare so much is that they are not outstanding and folks just ain't hungry. Racoons are epidemic in population almost everywhere - let something along the lines of the dust bowl or great depression come about and you wouldn't be able to find one. A young coon baked with sweet taters and onions is very tasty BTW. I am sure a ground hog would be fine eating cooked right.

 

[k0ua]

I have eaten the GH. They are not all that bad. I would certainly eat one if hungry. All they eat is veggies, and one that has been eating good in a farmers field eating clover or alfalfa or raiding the garden is not bad at all.