Disappearing dirt pigs

glang1

glang1

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I have noticed a marked decline in the groundhog numbers in the area of Eastern Ontario that I have hunted in for years. Has anyone else noticed a decline in groundhog numbers? All of the hayfields used to have several groundhogs, now they are all empty. I know for a fact that overhunting is NOT an issue in my area. Could it be a predator issue?

George
 
Yup the yotes are a lot higher in numbers than ever before and eating them up around here like crazy! I'd have to travel quite a ways to spank any when before they were a nusence around these parts. I Havn't actually shot any (i would if they were here) But i've noticed thier steady decline for 10 plus years. I've seen more coyotes in the past few years than ever before though. They're killing the deer where i live in the city too!
 
I always see yotes out in fields where there are tons of groundhogs. I know they get a lot where i live. Yes I have seen a bit of decline in the past few years, still lots around. My kill count is 103 and i`ve only been out 2 times for about 4 hours each.
 
The groundhogs we used to hunt NE of Uxbridge up towards Lindsay are all gone, Coyotes got 'em, hopefully it is cyclic and the Yotes will die from Mange or some such and the chucks will make a comeback.
 
There is a huge decline up home as well! weather it be from hunting or the exessive amount of chemicals spread over the fields, I do not know! your guess is as good as mine
 
sorry, me and Chilly will stay out of your fields...

But you said it was ok :)



ben hunchak said:
The groundhogs we used to hunt NE of Uxbridge up towards Lindsay are all gone, Coyotes got 'em, hopefully it is cyclic and the Yotes will die from Mange or some such and the chucks will make a comeback.
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I know of a bunch of fields up around sunderland, and east (directly, but Im not giving away exactly ;))
that have had a resurgaence in the last few years... Even up around fenelon falls, I've been seeing them off the 121.
 
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shoot the yotes to.

around my area, yotes are pretty damn nervy. the trapper in my area was out checking his traps along a railway track and he saw a yote stalking a 6 year old girl waiting for the bus in the morning. he got out his gun and shot the wolr 50 feet from the child. the mother freaked out at the trapper for shooting the gun around her child. he pointed at the yote and said "mam if i hadent shot that coyote would have killed your child".

i shoot them any chance i get as they hunt my horses on my property.

seen a few ground hogs this year, shot one.
 
ben hunchak said:
The groundhogs we used to hunt NE of Uxbridge up towards Lindsay are all gone, Coyotes got 'em, hopefully it is cyclic and the Yotes will die from Mange or some such and the chucks will make a comeback.
Click to expand...
whynot let them die from a well placed round of your choice instead
 
Aries- said:
shoot the yotes to.

around my area, yotes are pretty damn nervy. the trapper in my area was out checking his traps along a railway track and he saw a yote stalking a 6 year old girl waiting for the bus in the morning. he got out his gun and shot the wolr 50 feet from the child. the mother freaked out at the trapper for shooting the gun around her child. he pointed at the yote and said "mam if i hadent shot that coyote would have killed your child".
.
Click to expand...
Wow that's pretty scary! Where do you live?


Maybe we could rally and have coyotes banned from eating 6 year old girls, or better yet make a multi billion dollar regestry of all coyotes so we can controll them. Yup That should do it. Should we ban bus stops too? hmmmmm.

On a more serious note i have seen the yotes here in the scarborough ravines get braver every year too. They are killing way more deer than previous years. How many of these little beasts does it usually take to bring down a deer anyway?

I usually go for a daily hike after work to unwind near the toronto zoo. It is heavily wooded. (by city standards) Twice this season i've come across a fresh kill with nothing left but 4 legs bones and a head overnight. They were eaten within 23hr as i travel the same path every day.(i called the park authority for both of them.. They just cut the head off and left the rest.??) I've seen a few more this year too but it's not clear how they died.
I'm beginning to get a little worried about hiking there. Can't bring any heat as it's in the city and there are other hikers too.
Do pointy sticks kill coyotes?

Mike
 
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There are still plenty of dirt pigs in Ottawa, Connaught and Andrew Hayden park are lousy with them. Unfortunately once you leave the city there are none. I agree that the yotes and fishers are getting them. I had to drive to Collingwood with Tony and Pete to go hogging.

Brian
 
im between barrie and toronto (near cookstown).

not quite so bad now. but still pretty annoying.

saw a coyote a couple weekends ago walking along the far side of a sod field across from my house. couldent have shot if on my best day. (id say it was close to 600m away)
 
used to hunt ground grizz all over the ottawa valley,killed thousands every summer. ran a g.s. and put adds in papers to kill hogs for free. divided my empty .223 cases at end of seasons by 4 to get a estimate of body count (usually approx 6 to 8000 empties,used a AR-15)
moved about 15 years ago and all my contacts say that yotes,wild dogs,ect are main reason for massive decline combined with non-discharge by-laws,oh for the good old days.
very few pasture poodles here when i moved,but now we are seeing more every year,some even live on our clubs shooting range. We keep them alive so as to expand the local population for future hunting.
sgt rock
 
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