Groundhog

[inyati13]

Groundhog, woodchuck, whistlepig, landbeaver, marmot. I have seen more this spring than I have for several years. Here in Ky they were thick when I was on the homeplace in the 50s and 60s. Then in the 80s, their numbers nose dived. No one has really given a good explaination for their decrease but about that time coyotes were becoming numerous in the eastern US. Dad was Catholic, so mom respected that and we had fishsticks on Fridays but in the spring and early summer, dad was happy to see me bring in young groundhogs. I trapped them with steel leghold traps and I shot them with my Remington Single Shot .22 with a peep sight. I was dead eye dick. Always made a head shot except when I was pretending they were cape buffalo and shot them behind the shoulder. I fried them myself most of the time. Mom was raised in the city and didn't really want to handle them. I rolled them in corn meal or flour and fried them in bacon grease. It saved killing a chicken and Dad appreciated that. If I wanted to really be dramatic I would say we ate possum and coon a couple times a week, but no one would believe that. Seems you folks don't trust my story telling anymore. ;-)

 

[backhoeboogie]

I am seeing lots of road runners.

Quail were thinned out but I am hearing a lot of bob white calls now.

Still have not seen a horned toad in years.

 

[inyati13]

I am seeing lots of road runners.

Quail were thinned out but I am hearing a lot of bob white calls now.

Still have not seen a horned toad in years.

That is something I would like to mention. Bobwhite quail were almost extinct here. I hear some calling on my farm now. There are not many sounds more warming than that of the bobwhite. :nod:

 

[cow pollinater]

There are not many sounds more warming than that of the bobwhite. :nod:

They aren't native here but my granddad raised them. That call brings back a lot of really good memories but the one that makes me feel like the world could end and I'd be okay as long as I get to stay where I'm at is the California quail call. They are crawling all over my mountain stuff and I've tried to get them established here in the valley around the farm but the predation down here is to steady and the cover is to scarce.

 

[slick4591]

Used to flush lots of Bob White quail down in the bottoms, but with everyone using that land for pasture the quail population went away. I hear that a few are back courtesy of TX wildlife, but now the Corps of Engineers won't allow guns down there. I started raising my own quail a couple months back.

 

[Deepsouth]

Our deer herd is way down but Turkey's are doing well. I don't why one diminishes and the other does good. It used to be a very rare thing to see fox squirrels here and now they are everywhere. I don't know why but I enjoy seeing them.

What's up with the horned toads?

 

[HOSS]

I haven't seen a groundhog around here in years. When I was a kid we used to shoot them with bows and arrows along an old railroad track bed. Coyotes are everywhere here too. I imagine a groundhog makes a good meal for ol' wiley.

 

[greybeard]

What's up with the horned toads?

Now banned Pesticide use in the 60s started it from what I hear. DDT particularly. Then urban spread, the pet trade, and an influx of predators--seems everything in the world eats them--hawks, dogs, coyotes, feral hogs, road runners all eat horned toads and another main cause of their decrreae is fire ants. Fire ants don't eat them of course, but horned toads main diet is those big red ants--the ones with the wide but flat mound with no grass around it for a couple of feet any direction. I think they are called harvester ants. Fire ants move in, eat all the natural forage and starve out the harvester ants and the horned toads starve as a result. I haven't seen a horned toad in a dozen years. Saw a couple of road runners here in 2011, a rarity here in E Texas.

 

[skyhightree1]

we have plenty of ground hogs here and man are they tasty I try to kill a few a year for dinner... :hide:

 

[3waycross]

We used to have a lot of Marmots but the snow snakes have been pretty bad the last few years and they have really raised he[[ with the marmots!

 

[Bigfoot]

My dad always told me that the quail were a lot bigger when he was kid. According to him the department of fish and wildlife here started turning out what he called "Mexican" quail. He thinks they interbred, and in his words,"The Mexican quail are homozygous not hardy". I don't know if any of that is true. I do know it is rare to see a quail here, and when I was kid there were several coveys on the place I live now.
My brother was the sportsman in the family. He used to trap ground hogs. My grandfather would BBQ them like a pork shoulder. Pretty sickening to me to see them in the pit.
I remember when fox squirrels were so rare, people would get them mounted when they killed one. Now they are the predominat squirrel. It's odd how things change. We have weeds we used to not have as well, and I see an armadillo on the road dead occasionally.

 

[mwj]

The one I miss is the whippoorwill's!! I read in an outdoor paper that Virginia and some other states are in a severe decline also.

 

[inyati13]

We used to have a lot of Marmots but the snow snakes have been pretty bad the last few years and they have really raised he[[ with the marmots!

:lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:
I am gald at least one of my good friends still has a sense of humor. ;-)

BTW, mwj, I wish there were more whippoorwills too. That is such a cool sound on a warm summer night.

 

[slick4591]

Saw a couple of road runners here in 2011, a rarity here in E Texas.

I've got the road runners up here, GB. They're are pretty thick around here.

 

[melking]

Groundhog, woodchuck, whistlepig, landbeaver, marmot. I have seen more this spring than I have for several years. Here in Ky they were thick when I was on the homeplace in the 50s and 60s. Then in the 80s, their numbers nose dived. No one has really given a good explaination for their decrease but about that time coyotes were becoming numerous in the eastern US. Dad was Catholic, so mom respected that and we had fishsticks on Fridays but in the spring and early summer, dad was happy to see me bring in young groundhogs. I trapped them with steel leghold traps and I shot them with my Remington Single Shot .22 with a peep sight. I was dead eye dick. Always made a head shot except when I was pretending they were cape buffalo and shot them behind the shoulder. I fried them myself most of the time. Mom was raised in the city and didn't really want to handle them. I rolled them in corn meal or flour and fried them in bacon grease. It saved killing a chicken and Dad appreciated that. If I wanted to really be dramatic I would say we ate possum and coon a couple times a week, but no one would believe that. Seems you folks don't trust my story telling anymore. ;-)

Come listen to my story bout a man named Jed...

 

[Chris H]

Our Dobermans got rid of the groundhogs about 15 years ago. We have so many quail that ODNR traps them and releases them in other areas of Ohio. We also have lots of whipperwills.

 

[IABeef]

Groundhogs, nothing! We had a wild hog rooting in the ditch along the driveway one morning a couple months back. Could hardly believe it- haven't seen 'em in Iowa for years. Looked and tasted like a domestic one, but was hunted down (with tremendous prey stalking skill) in the wild. Haven't seen any since though and the freezers gettin' low...