atomicsauace
CGN Regular
- Location
- london ontario
Plenty in north London.Too bad they are in the city limits though.....
Ontario Groundhogs....
- Thread starter 1GLOCKAHOLIC
- Start date
I heard/ read somewhere in the last couple of years there was/is some virus/disease that killed them. It started south of HWY 7 and moved north. Farmers noticed the absence and contacted the MNR who investigated. They were worried their livestock may get affected. Supposedly the groundhogs would catch whatever the virus/disease during the year and be able to tolerate it. Once they went into hibernation their metabolism slowed down and whatever took over and killed them in the den during the winter. How true this is I can't verify. It may be all BS but I can see it. Someone else may need to speak up.
I have definitely notice the absence in the last 3 years around the Owen Sound area and south. I shot many in the late 70's and 80's. The wife's parents farm is now devoid of them. The wife's father used to shoot them from the back deck of the house. However once he got one of the barn cats in a friendly fire incident.
I have definitely notice the absence in the last 3 years around the Owen Sound area and south. I shot many in the late 70's and 80's. The wife's parents farm is now devoid of them. The wife's father used to shoot them from the back deck of the house. However once he got one of the barn cats in a friendly fire incident.
A few from this year. My buddy has been adding them to the video as I send him clips.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/djgxte2t42yy6sw/Dirt Pigs.mp4?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/djgxte2t42yy6sw/Dirt Pigs.mp4?dl=0
I've had farmers ask me to shoot any barn cat I see. I've yet to do that, but they don't seem to be quite as large a problem as they were 4-5 years ago either. In those days, I'd pull-up to the farm and without fail..if my truck door was open more than 1 minute..one or two would try to jump in. Weeping eye(s)...matted fur...not great looking specimens. Most the farmers I know are indifferent about cats at best, but every one of them are fond of birds with multiple bird houses/feeders etc. Birds and cats (that provide their own food) are a bad combo, and I've yet to meet a farmer who likes cats more than birds! lol
accumulaterjr
Member
- Location
- Sudbury ont
I'm near collingwood ont, and I have not seen one in 5 years or so. And it used to be that I couldn't go out without getting at least 5. But apparently out markdale way they are everywhere. So I've been told...
Chuckbuster
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I was just down in Simcoe County again. Over the course of a couple of days I saw 2 between Midland and Awenda Provincial Park. And they were both within city limits...gorging themselves on the manicured lawns of local factories.
I prefer to call them woodchucks... thinking of the time a friend of mine and I walked his fields for a couple of hours waiting for at least one of the ones who were infesting his pastures to show itself but we got skunked because they all stayed below ground. So we walked back to the house and were unloading in the farm yard when in comes the guy's shaggy old barn dog, who'd followed us around all this time but had disappeared when we turned back, with a giant 'chuck in his mouth and dumps it at our feet for a second before grabbing it up again and running off with it, presumably to enjoy a hearty meal. I swear that dog was laughing at us, hell I know he was.
canadian hunter312
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Brant County
I see them all the time on my drive to work...too bad it's in town
Conestoga Blvd?
Counted 9 on Friday...
Growing up as a kid on an Ottawa Valley farm, every evening after supper and chores we'd grab the .22's and go out hog hunting. We were never without targets of opportunity and had a hell of a time keeping up with the population. Even with the hound running her circuit twice and day and nailing her fair share.
Now, 25 years later, on my own piece of land not far from there, I think i have shot 3 in 7 years in my fields, despite carrying a rifle most of the summer.
The coyotes and the fishers sure don't leave much.
Now, 25 years later, on my own piece of land not far from there, I think i have shot 3 in 7 years in my fields, despite carrying a rifle most of the summer.
The coyotes and the fishers sure don't leave much.
I find myself wondering how a woodchuck-groundhog virus could be spread fast and far enough to almost wipe them out as described. They are solitary creatures after all, and live in underground survival bunkers. Also odd it doesn't make the news, 'most every such story does.
Chuckbuster
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
What I have been told by an MNR biologist friend is that no one really knows what happened to the population; just that it crashed and has never recovered. But then, nobody is investigating it, either.
Found some good information here: http://www.terrierman.com/groundhogdeath.htm
Interesting observations, but still doesn't explain going from thousands upon thousands of ground hogs to almost none.
It seems to me that there is less hay / pasture planted than there used to be, which is prime ground hog habitat. In Southern Ontario there were almost no beans grown 30 years ago, and are now very popular, so because those fields are plowed more frequently, the ground hogs are forced to the edges (if any exist), which give them less open ground to watch for predators.
Not to mention the fact that pesticide use has more than doubled since round up ready crops were introduced. I predict that some day Monsanto will be a very bad word.
Ground hogs, I miss them... and would be happy to miss more of them.
Just my uneducated 2 cents.
There are THOUSANDS running around the City of London run golf course at Lake Fanshawe (NE London). Burrows in the sand pits for cripes sake and you have to be careful not to turn your ankle in a hole.
If there is a decline in their numbers, and if that has anything to do with coyotes, then that suggest a corresponding increase in coyote numbers?
I've been putting a hammering on them all spring/summer long...and get anywhere from 4-8 of them every time I go out. Granted, I also think I put more time into it than anyone I know. More scouting, more knocking on doors, more networking, etc. etc. It's a full time job! With all the hay cut/off in the last few weeks...things are good for a little while longer, but hot...humid..wet weather has the stuff growing like mad now. Almost a foot in the last 10 days. Contemplating a Tikka T3 Varmint in .243 Win., but the Savage is so good at the job...not sure why I'd change things up at this point.
Dug through the photos from the last 2 weeks, here is a big one I took @ 181 yards with the .223. Got 7 others that day, mostly smaller...less photogenic. (but here if anyone want to see)
With all the hay cut/off in the last few weeks...things are good for a little while longer, but hot...humid..wet weather has the stuff growing like mad now. Almost a foot in the last 10 days. Contemplating a Tikka T3 Varmint in .243 Win., but the Savage is so good at the job...not sure why I'd change things up at this point.Dug through the photos from the last 2 weeks, here is a big one I took @ 181 yards with the .223. Got 7 others that day, mostly smaller...less photogenic. (but here if anyone want to see)
Shot lots with a 22 in the 50s-60- on the 5th line of Essa between 5-10 sideroad, what I didn't shoot my old dog Brownie got as he would sneak up on them and one shake they were dead and his meal for the day, many happy days then on the farm. would do it again in a heartbeat but don't think you could even carry a gun there now without every cop in the country would be there to arrest you.
Interesting observations, but still doesn't explain going from thousands upon thousands of ground hogs to almost none.
It seems to me that there is less hay / pasture planted than there used to be, which is prime ground hog habitat. In Southern Ontario there were almost no beans grown 30 years ago, and are now very popular, so because those fields are plowed more frequently, the ground hogs are forced to the edges (if any exist), which give them less open ground to watch for predators.
Not to mention the fact that pesticide use has more than doubled since round up ready crops were introduced. I predict that some day Monsanto will be a very bad word.
Ground hogs, I miss them... and would be happy to miss more of them.
Just my uneducated 2 cents.
Pastures, hmmm... they too are an endangered species locally. I seem to recall that woodchucks were naturally a woodland species that benefited from the cultivation of the eastern forests, and when I lived in what was mostly deep forest I used to find their burrows on the edges of clearings, sure enough. Maybe like the ruffed grouse they really liked farm land that was returning to nature but as the return progresses that time is passing and their numbers are naturally going down?
