Groundhogs

[frank bullitt]

Looking for a place to hunt them. This part of Indiana the coyotes have taken over.This is an animal I have wanted to hunt for a long time. Very rare in my parts. Where and how! Thanks Steve

[MikeW]

Good luck, I'm just visiting here but wanted to do the same. The locals tell me they are about gone these days due to the farmers cutting the hedge rows down to make more room for corn/soy bean.
I've seen one and it was at a county club.

Do you hunt the coyotes? They even have a season on those. You would think that a state that is trying re-establish Turkeys and Pheasants they would want to keep the yotes in check. I've never seen a season on coyotes before.
??

[bushytail]

PA has alot of them.Farmers usally give permission to hunt them on their fields.A lot of game lands have to.Coyotes are huntable all year.

[adeeden]

Steve, Mike,

       There getting patchy for sure around here. I shot 2 last summer near Cayuga. Let me ask around and see what I can come up with. I know a few spots but getting permission is getting tough!

Mike for the record IN and IL coyotes can be hunted year round with the land owners permission by the way.

[ishoot4thrills]

I used to hunt groundhogs with bows, rifles, and pistols. I enjoyed sneaking around old barns and outbuildings as a teen with my bow or pistol and catching them by surprise. They would stand up and just look at me, oftentimes staying put just long enough to get off a shot. Or, most of the time scurrying to their hole, which usually wasn't too far away. I always described them as looking like a "furry hunk of liver" because of the way they look when they're scurrying close to the ground as they try to make it back to their den. Never killed one with a bow, but bagged many a one with the pistol and rifle as a youngster.

[Roy Steele]

We also have plenty here in WV at least in my part.I love to stalk them an do it quite a bit.My best year I stalked and killed 17 I should say stalked 50 to kill 17.Other things use'lly get the shot.

[Shawn Leonard]

Used to have tons of them. Killed 35-40 a summer with the .17 Rem. I still kill a few with bow! shawn

[Ken Taylor]

You just made me realize that I don't see many of them anymore. It seems to me that there were a lot more of them when I was young.

I haven't killed one in ages and you also have me remembering how good they were to eat.

They were big game to me as a 13 year old with a fibre glass longbow.
Boy, going back in time I can feel the sun on my back and the sweat on my palms as I slowly try to get close enough for a shot. Praying for another undetected step nearer to that furry statue. Suddenly it comes alive and sends a short shrill whistle right through my (then) skinny chest.

[Wiley Coyote]

I use to hunt them a lot with bow and arrow but I got away from it and part of the reason is that coyotes and foxes have cleaned them out and there doesn't seem to be as many around here either.  :(

[dnovo]

Iused to hunt them a lot as a teenager with a bow. That was before there were enough deer around here to hunt. Great fun and sure taught me a lot about stalking. Won several awards by taking 12 or 15 a year back them with a bow.

[Cherokee Scout]

I grew up hunting them in Ohio. I suggest you try railroad tracks.

[Billy]

Okay, I give up, I can't even find the regs for groundhogs....

I see 'em along the tracks and around the city edges.

[b.glass]

The two I killed were in a brush pile at the back of our horse lot. We have a big ditch that runs through our property and I see lots of fresh holes in the spring. Stalked one last summer but no luck. They aren't easy! Watch the wind and movement like any other varmint.
Oh, and use a broadhead.

[Red Beastmaster]

Here in SW PA, a few buddies and I hunt groundhogs with a passion. We get started early Spring and don't let up until Fall deer season.

Of course, it would be cheating to use anything other than a recurve or longbow. I use any cheap broadhead I can find at a swap meet.

[b.glass]

Billy, I don't think there are any regs on groundhogs.

[Billy]

Didn't think there were. But, we do live in Indiana  :D

[MikeW]

Okay, I give up, I can't even find the regs for groundhogs....

Page 14
 http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/files/fw-hg_generalinfo.pdf

[Billy]

Wouldn't ya know it...
a Texican found it..        
Thanks, Mike.

[frank bullitt]

First, thank you to all! I also killed hogs as a kid on squirrel hunts with my rifle. This was in the '70s., but that was on a whim. I know habitat has changed, thanks to man. But what goes around, comes around! I've seen two in the past weeks, both at the edge of towns, next to their dens under barns. Usually,in this day and age, you see what few are out along the highways in the right-aways- No Hunting! I always loved the stories of guys in Bowhunter mags hunting them in Penn. and Maryland and other eastern states. Hoping to find someone who has a place to hunt these little "bears". Thanks, Steve

[frank bullitt]

First, thank you to all! I also killed hogs as a kid on squirrel hunts with my rifle. This was in the '70s., but that was on a whim. I know habitat has changed, thanks to man. But what goes around, comes around! I've seen two in the past weeks, both at the edge of towns, next to their dens under barns. Usually,in this day and age, you see what few are out along the highways in the right-aways- No Hunting! I always loved the stories of guys in Bowhunter mags hunting them in Penn. and Maryland and other eastern states. Hoping to find someone who has a place to hunt these little "bears". Thanks, Steve