Does anyone still hunt woodchucks anymore?

[Doc]

Frankly all my old favorite pastures and hay-lots are being filled up with houses and such, or are growing over with brush so high and dense that if there are woodchucks there you could never see them. I have given up woodchuck hunting because the wide open spaces that used to be around locally are no longer good habitat for woodchucks. So how about the rest of you? Anybody still taking up the challenge of long-distance woodchuck hunting?

[Farflung]

Don't hunt them any more. Used to barbecue a couple every year. Tastes like cottontail rabbit.

[Farflung]

just put away my turkey gear, ordered a couple new diaphram calls, some other gear. Getting stands ready for deer season and a couple of food plots. Got one Ontario charter left, and a few trout streams to hit. Lots of Honey-do stuff.  More stuff to do than time, plus a couple of overdue forestry plans/contracts.

[JJBat150]

Took a few years off hunting them to let the population grow back.   Currently watching and stalking 5 active dens with a .17 HMR at 175-200 yards for long range practice. 

These 2 were from a den under a pole barn, so they got the .22 treatment.

[Doc]

On 6/18/2023 at 3:50 PM, blackbeltbill said:

Anyone here ever eat Woodchuck?  My Father back in the 1990s used to bring  Them to this older Guy who grew up eating Woodchuck.

I don't see any reason why they wouldn't be good eating. They eat the same things that rabbits eat. The only thing that might not be so good is all the fat that they have. I imagine they might be a bit greasy if that fat goes all through the meat. I do have one that was wandering around my yard that I may decide to take out.....and maybe even eat. He's getting dangerously close to the garden, but I think the electric fence may discourage him. I have one strand about 3" off the ground tat may zap him a bit.

[airedale]

On 6/18/2023 at 2:27 PM, Doc said:

I have given up woodchuck hunting because the wide open spaces that used to be around locally are no longer good habitat for woodchucks.

It is the same everywhere, of all the game I have hunted Woodchucks rank right at the top. Long range precision shooting and stalking with every kind of weapon from handguns to long range rifles and archery. If I had a good place to hunt them I would go in a heartbeat.

I have one living under a shed on my back lawn, he has made it three years now dodging my dogs and gets a free pass because they are so rare to see these days.

I have the consolation of hunting them in the good old days when there were thousands of them, the memories are still strong and that will have to do.

Al

[JJBat150]

Ruger Percision Rimfire in .17 HMR I got last year.   

 

Finally got to put some time in this AM.

This guy was 145 yards out.

 

[greg54]

16 minutes ago, JJBat150 said:

Ruger Percision Rimfire in .17 HMR I got last year.   

 

Finally got to put some time in this AM.

This guy was 145 yards out.

 

Nice setup

[New York Hillbilly]

1 hour ago, JJBat150 said:

Ruger Percision Rimfire in .17 HMR I got last year.   

 

Finally got to put some time in this AM.

This guy was 145 yards out.

 

Nice shooting!

[fasteddie]

I use to shoot woodchucks for farmers in Walworth . My best year was 112 of them . I switched from a 22 to a heavy barrel NEF 223 . 

[Nytracker]

I have a savage varmet 204 ruger. Shoots .30 at a hundred. Bought it to hunt chucks but I haven't found any on the places I can hunt. Coyotes and farming practices have thinned them out unless they all moved to the city.

[JJBat150]

Got this guy this afternoon -

Was walking a laneway and he stuck his head up 10 yards away under an apple tree. Walked past and set-up 50 yards away looking over a burrow hole that I've been watching.

10 minutes wait..

 

[Shoots100]

We cut and teddered several hay fields last weekend and usually would see a few chucks wandering about afterwards to pop, but not this time.

With all of the coyote eradication we do in the area, it was surprising that we didn't find a fresh chuck hole in a field.

 

SJC

 

Edited July 25, 2023 by Shoots100

[Gobbler Chaser]

I've gone old school and don't kill something unless I enjoy eating it or it creates some type of real nuisance now. And being that I don't have cattle in pastures no I don't shoot chucks.