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2013 Groundhogs
- Thread starter rgecko23
- Start date
dante322
*Supporting Member*
talked to the guy cutting the hay field we hunt around last year. He would prefer we didnt shoot the coyotes.
Huckleberry Finn
Senior Member
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Going to count today as my first official woodchuck of the season. I think I might have got the one in the giant wood/burn pile. It ran into the pile after I shot and I looked for blood but didn't find any. But that was a couple weeks ago and I haven't seen the groundhog either. I'm not going to count that one though because I don't know for sure.
What I do know is that I was out for the last morning of turkey season today. Turkey sightings are way way down on my farm this year. Even in other spots on the neighbor's farm I was having trouble finding a turkey. Shot and missed a nice gobbler last Monday. Today I hunted my home farm and didn't have much hope of getting a turkey, but it was a nice morning to be out anyway. Just before 10am I look over to a big mound of dirt that is in the woods about 60 yards away and there is a groundhog going in and out of its den. Gave me something to watch. This is one area that I did not get a groundhog last year and it is right against our crop field so I decided that if opportunity knocked, I would shoot. I wasn't paying attention for a few minutes and when I looked back over my shoulder the groundhog was coming my way angling toward the field I was sitting near. The groundhog ran right up my homemade blind and sat on the edge about 8 feet away from me. On that edge of the blind is a tree and when the groundhog saw me it ran up the tree. Still only eight feet away, but in the tree, I shot it. A load of hevishot at that distance makes a big hole. Even so the groundhog made it about 15-20 yards away before dying. I actually didn't see it leave because when it fell it was outside my blind where I couldn't see it. I had to follow the blood trail to find it (it was a very prominent blood trail). I couldn't believe it went anywhere with the hole it had in it. Tough little buggers. So my 1st official whistle pig of 2013.
And a picture of the tree complete with groundhog parts embedded in the hole.
What I do know is that I was out for the last morning of turkey season today. Turkey sightings are way way down on my farm this year. Even in other spots on the neighbor's farm I was having trouble finding a turkey. Shot and missed a nice gobbler last Monday. Today I hunted my home farm and didn't have much hope of getting a turkey, but it was a nice morning to be out anyway. Just before 10am I look over to a big mound of dirt that is in the woods about 60 yards away and there is a groundhog going in and out of its den. Gave me something to watch. This is one area that I did not get a groundhog last year and it is right against our crop field so I decided that if opportunity knocked, I would shoot. I wasn't paying attention for a few minutes and when I looked back over my shoulder the groundhog was coming my way angling toward the field I was sitting near. The groundhog ran right up my homemade blind and sat on the edge about 8 feet away from me. On that edge of the blind is a tree and when the groundhog saw me it ran up the tree. Still only eight feet away, but in the tree, I shot it. A load of hevishot at that distance makes a big hole. Even so the groundhog made it about 15-20 yards away before dying. I actually didn't see it leave because when it fell it was outside my blind where I couldn't see it. I had to follow the blood trail to find it (it was a very prominent blood trail). I couldn't believe it went anywhere with the hole it had in it. Tough little buggers. So my 1st official whistle pig of 2013.
And a picture of the tree complete with groundhog parts embedded in the hole.
Well at least you accomplished an "official" kill to get you rolling for the season. Sorry to hear about the missed gobbler. You aren't alone.
Fullbore
Senior Member
Got two last night near some soybeans. Also saw three turkeys and a deer. 150-225 yard for the shots.
This was a big one, I wear size 12-13
This was a big one, I wear size 12-13
Congrats on a fine shot! I spent some time today watching bowhunting groundhog videos on YouTube. Pretty cool stuff.
Huckleberry Finn
Senior Member
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The treadmills at the gym face the lil parking lot and small road, and then there is an empty commercial/industrial lot...there are is 1 groundhog that would go Pope & Young and the other is probably a Boone & Crockett...
The dangerous thing is that some of the trainers take kids over there to run and some future DI athlete is going to put his ankle into a hole and destroy it...unless some good citizen slips his bow over there on a quiet Friday night...
The dangerous thing is that some of the trainers take kids over there to run and some future DI athlete is going to put his ankle into a hole and destroy it...unless some good citizen slips his bow over there on a quiet Friday night...
rooster85
Junior Member
I have actually been seeing groundhogs this summer, but all of them are very small. Seems they may be on the rebound around here. I haven't seen a single hog that was much more than 12-15" and a few pounds however...