Ground Hogs

slick39

slick39

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My dad and I want to get into ground hog hunting, we have a .22 savage and a .223 tikka for the job but before i just go out, asking for permission to hunt on the land, i was wondering if you have any suggestions for type of land they would most likely be on and any general hunting tips for killing these guys? any suggestions/comments would be appreciated, thanks in advance:)

josh
 
You'll just have to spend alot of time driving country roads with your binoculars, you get very good at spotting them after awhile. Once you get away from the city and the yuppies, most farmers won't mind letting you hunt on their land. The way you present yourselves will be the determining factor, if you look like a city slicker or Rambo you can probably forget it. Farmers are concerned about their crop and cattle are their crop. Some areas we hunted 40 years ago have zero groundhogs due to Coyotes, we hunted for years on the same farms and there was always lots of 'em. A few years of coyotes and you couldn't find any. This was N.E. of T.O.( I refuse to use the word Toro%to), I'm not sure about London though.
 
my family went to the beach today at the Pinery and as we drove through the country I was watchin farmers fields to see if i could see anything, i didnt see any ground hogs, i did see one vulture...lol is there a specific type of crop or field that they are most often seen in? i know when i worked at a camp last summer we saw a bunch in the fields all the time, i think it was a hay field or whatever but yea I didnt have any luck spotting any today...any more suggestions and thanks ben for your info i appreciate it:)
 
Hay fields and bean fields are there favorite and hilly fields usually have more appeal to the little buggers. From London I would try west because its to sandy east of you, you won't be able to see many right now because the hay is to tall in most places and since it's raining every day the farmers are not cutting it. Don't forget to take a rimfire rifle with you for the fields close to houses or livestock it sometimes helps to get you permission because its quiet. Good Luck.
 
Hay fields are the best! Look for an area that has moderately sandy soil (not too much or it caves in) to clay...avoid rock for obvious reasons. Never seen too many in bean fields, if you do don't go trampin through them or it'll probably be the last time you are invited. You've made a good choice for rifles, many farmers really don't like strangers around with really big rifles.
 
X 2 on the hay fields, and X 2 again on the hills.
When the fields are mature, it takes a lot of glassing to find the mounds, and even then the little brown buggers can disapear into the grass in a second. The best time to shoot them is just after the hay is cut. Depending on the amount of rain in a summer, you can get 3 cuts, but you're guaranteed 2. First cut should be coming off soon, if it hasn't already. I don't know, I'm not in North America right now. First hay is off by July, second by august, and third around the end of august.
After the fields have been cut, it's a wide open space of 6" high stubble, and you can see every mound clear as day, and watch the little dirt squirrels running around. That's the perfect time to go in & grease them.
There are several things to be aware of when shooting ground hogs. ALWAYS, be aware of your back-drop. This will be the farmers biggest concern, especially if you're using anything more powerfull than a rimfire.
Another thing to look out for is rules & regulations on calibres that you can legally hunt small game/varmints with. A lot of the more densly populated regions of Southern Ontario have regulations on legal calibres.
Happy hunting!
Tim
 
thank you guys very much for your comments, it has helped a lot, i think what im going to do is find a good map and see where the hay farms are just for fun, while my dad is at work and then as soon as the fields are cut, i will head out in search of the buggers and then when I find a good location i will ask the farmer but try and not seem like too much of a city slicker and be very polite. After hopefully getting permission, i will enjoy a day of slaying ground hogs, then i will post pics up here for you boys to enjoy! Thanks!:D
 
If you do end up getting permission from some farmers around London and you need some help taking the little buggers out, drop me a PM and i'd be glad to give you a hand. :)
 
X2 on the mounds of dirt/taller grass


Farmers will be cutting hay very soon if not already(they are here). They will be easy to see. It might take some scouting though, usually when you find one property, should be more on the adjacent properties.
 
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