2015 Groundhogs

End of June and no groundhog thread over here? Really guys you are disappointing me. LOL

Whatcha all been up too?

I haven't been able to get out as much as I would like to, but this is my season so far.

One........


Two........


Three.......


Four........


Five, Six, Seven.......

Huckleberry Finn said:

What are they laying on in that last picture? Nice shooting.

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They had built a den in an embankment created when a pond was built long ago and those are the concrete, pipe and rocks that are supporting the embankment where the overflow tile for the pond comes through. If that makes any sense.

There is no shortage of them around here. I see them all up and down the road when driving to work. 5 of these came from my neighbor's farm. I took a walk around there yesterday and spotted two more adults right near where I had shot one earlier in the month and a third adult on the opposite side of a cut hay field. I know where there are some more as well on my place and my neighbor's. A neighbor down the road wants me to come and shoot some down there. I just need time to do it. All the ones I have shot this year at my neighbor's were either digging under the foundations of farm buildings or digging holes in the cow pasture. The two on my place were in the crop fields (well technically one was in the yard but it was right across from where our peas are planted LOL).

Up to 10 for the season now. Went out tonight where my husband had seen one in the produce field. Sat out for 2 hours (and 2 hours a couple nights ago) and nothing. Did see some bucks and a couple turkeys. Took a walk around the perimeter of my one of my neighbor's fields right before dark and found another one but couldn't get a shot. Maybe I'll go back out tomorrow?? My neighbor just cut hay along the fenceline with our corn field. This fenceline has been traditionally a groundhog hot spot. I took a walk tonight and didn't see any but the hayfield was just cut a couple days ago. On the other side is the corn field that has been sprayed so not a lot of young broadleaf plants to be eaten. In one to two weeks, it should start getting good.

I have two other farms I have permission to hunt and have not been to either yet. Looks like it is time to start heading to those other farms until the haying progresses on my neighbor's.

And someone asked about the gun I am using. It is a Savage Model 93 .17hmr. Of my 10 ground hogs I have shot this year, one was around 45-50 yards. The rest have been much closer. In fact 6 of the 10 have been shot off hand at under 30 yards. 3 of those 6 at 5-10 yards. It's been kind of crazy close and fast action on a few hunts. Some fun stalking into range on a couple other hunts. I LOVE stalking.

hickslawns said:

You inspired me Blue dog. Had to give an estimate this morning. It was close to one of my groundhog hunting properties. Loaded the 17hmr and took 15min for myself. Here are the results. Big boy.

View attachment 33436

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Yeah!!!!!!!!!

I got numbers 11 and 12 last night out of a field where 6 of 12 have been shot. Then I was walking the dogs tonight and saw a HUGE groundhog in that same field right near where I shot one 10 days ago. When I was out last night, I also saw another one right across a large wide drainage in an adjacent hay field. I keep saying I'm going to try one of my other properties and I keep finding new targets right where I've been hunting. What a crazy groundhog season.

I generally hunt groundhogs through September with whatever available time permits. I'm pretty sure my best season prior to this year was 15 groundhogs. Well I got number 16 late last week. This week I went over to my neighbor's a couple nights ago. No gun, just a glass of wine to sit and enjoy the evening. Saw two groundhogs while I was over there. I also know where a third is living. I did some mowing on one side of the fence where that groundhog lives to try and limit its choices as to where it goes to eat and give me a better chance of setting up on the correct side of the fence. Woodchucks 2015 keeps rolling along.

I don't have all of them uploaded to my picasa album yet but here are a few more:

Number 8



Number 9 and number 10