Hunting Washington Forum

Other Hunting => Coyote, Small Game, Varmints => Topic started by: Drop-tine on April 11, 2011, 08:04:27 PM

Title: Ground hog hunting
Post by: Drop-tine on April 11, 2011, 08:04:27 PM: Anyone been hammering the ground hogs yet? I have shot 16 so far! Won the savage 17 at the spokane big horn show this year and i have put it to good use so far :chuckle:
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: bhylton on April 11, 2011, 09:37:56 PM: i really wish i have been! ive only ever done it down in central and southern oregon. where can a guy get into the in WA?
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: Drop-tine on April 11, 2011, 09:50:08 PM: Where at are you in washington and maybe i can help you
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: Heredoggydoggy on April 12, 2011, 11:17:05 PM: I wait until the end of May to give the litters of pups time to get out on their own. Shooting a female now means a litter will starve to death in the burrow. Unless they are causing damage to crops, I don't think there is any rush to shoot them.
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: Drop-tine on April 12, 2011, 11:57:22 PM: Yeah they are all on a farm i used to work at, they have been chewing on the end of the sprinkler pipes and just causing problems so the ranch owner called me up to do a little terminating :chuckle:
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: Heredoggydoggy on April 13, 2011, 08:51:30 AM: Yeah, some of us were supposed to go to an orchard that was inundated with them last sunday, but the wind and cold canceled the trip. I've seen the buggers climb trees to get to the buds.
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: BIGINNER on April 13, 2011, 08:55:28 AM: WENT OUT YESTERDAY AFTER WORK,.. SHOT ABOUT 25-30 SHOT AT ABOUT 100-150 LOL I NEED TO SIGHT IN MY GUN A LITTLE BETTER. LOL :chuckle:
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: PlateauNDN on April 13, 2011, 09:06:53 AM: Never used a firearm for prairie dogs. When I was young my dad took me out to my grandmother's alfalfa field where they were just terrorizing her crops and starting to make their way towards her grape field. He showed me how to use water, a big knife and a metal grate. I tell you my grandmother's cats and guard dogs never ate so good in their lives! We did that for a couple of days and my grandmother didn't have a problem for quite a few years after that. :dunno:
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: Drop-tine on April 13, 2011, 10:06:53 AM: :chuckle: I would say a little rifle sighting in would be on the top of my list right now biginner haha.
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: BIGINNER on April 13, 2011, 10:31:55 AM: Quote from: Drop-tine on April 13, 2011, 10:06:53 AM
:chuckle: I would say a little rifle sighting in would be on the top of my list right now biginner haha.

YA, I HAVE THE GUN SIGHTED IN AT LIKE 170 YARDS... LOL AND ITS A .22 LR. AND MY AVERAGE SHOTS ARE 20-70 YARDS, SO I HAVE TO SHOOT WAYYYY UNDER TO HIT THE SAGE RATS,... KINDA A GUESSING GAME AT HOW LOW I NEED TO AIM.. I NEED TO ZERO IT IN AT LIKE 50-60 YARDS..
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: jackmaster on April 13, 2011, 02:19:34 PM: damn i wish we had them on the west side that would be a blast for the ole 06, and that is the way you sight in a gun fellas :chuckle: what a blast that would be.
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: BIGINNER on April 13, 2011, 02:20:36 PM: Quote from: jackmaster on April 13, 2011, 02:19:34 PM
damn i wish we had them on the west side that would be a blast for the ole 06, and that is the way you sight in a gun fellas :chuckle: what a blast that would be.

YOU JUST TOTALLY GAVE ME AN AWESOME IDEA!!! :IBCOOL: :chuckle:
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: MtnMuley on April 13, 2011, 03:07:08 PM: Quote from: Heredoggydoggy on April 12, 2011, 11:17:05 PM
I wait until the end of May to give the litters of pups time to get out on their own. Shooting a female now means a litter will starve to death in the burrow. Unless they are causing damage to crops, I don't think there is any rush to shoot them.

Well said.
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: satchel3006 on April 13, 2011, 06:43:09 PM: I would if I could find some sage rats outside the city limits. I found a bunch of ground hogs but they were inside park boundrys. I've been thinking about heading over to Idaho to shoot sage rats
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: BIGINNER on April 13, 2011, 07:49:40 PM: Quote from: satchel3006 on April 13, 2011, 06:43:09 PM
I would if I could find some sage rats outside the city limits. I found a bunch of ground hogs but they were inside park boundrys. I've been thinking about heading over to Idaho to shoot sage rats

you're not looking hard enough... Lol they're everywhere
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: Hayfmr on April 13, 2011, 08:13:25 PM: They are not on my side of the Tri Cities. See a ground hog passing thru every couple of years. Have never seen a sage rat here. I did see 2 yotes this morning. Didn't have a gun with me though.
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: satchel3006 on April 14, 2011, 04:27:19 PM: Care to elaborate there biginner? ;)
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: BIGINNER on April 14, 2011, 10:46:45 PM: on a sunny day go out to any of the hills around tri cities. Heck any feild/sage where you can shoot. Look for areas with alot of little dirt mounds and holes. Usually by wheat fields and you'll most likely see sage rats. They're really hard to spot at first, but once you get used to it you'll see them everywhere.

I used to never see sage rats around here until a fellow hunt-wa member/ OBGYN took us sage rat shooting in the lower valley. Once I knew what to look for I see them everywhere. Heck I see 20 to 30 on the way home from work right off of 182 and 82.
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: raevan on April 25, 2011, 07:28:55 PM: Just for clarification; A ground hog is a Marmot, and a sage rat is a ground squirrel. In Washington the Hoary and Olimpic marmots are protected. The Yellow bellied Marmot found on the east side of the state are not protected. Be real carfull about Identifing your ground squirrels, most of them in the state are protected. ( see threads on Sage Rat and ground squirrels.
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: BOWHUNTER45 on April 29, 2011, 06:30:23 AM: Commonly known as the rock chuck ... love shootin those little hogs ... :chuckle:
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: Drop-tine on April 29, 2011, 07:38:27 AM: they are everywhere around Conconully I have put the 17 Hmr to good use on them already ;)
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: BOWHUNTER45 on April 29, 2011, 08:32:18 AM: yeah I used to shoot them in Winthrop for years ... I would camp at pearigin lake and the owner would let me hunt there every year ... spent 1000,s of .223 rounds there and when I left there were not many left ... but now there is new owners and guess what ... NO HUNTING !!!! sure appreciate the old days .... :chuckle: :chuckle:
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: BurleyDog on April 29, 2011, 09:07:28 AM: my family used to make boot laces out of the leather.

Apparently the leather from ground hogs doesn't shrink and swell like regular leather does.
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: Drop-tine on April 29, 2011, 09:13:43 AM: Yeah no kidding everywhere you go now days signs posted everywhere NO HUNTING/NO TRESPASSING or you will be prosecuted im pretty lucky though growing up in conconully cause i know everyone and most of them will let me hunt their land except for the Haberlees They have some of the best hunting in the state for mule deer... I even offered to build fence for him for free if he would let me hunt his land and he said no hunting but ill pay you minimum wage :chuckle:
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: grundy53 on April 29, 2011, 09:17:53 AM: Quote from: Drop-tine on April 29, 2011, 07:38:27 AM
they are everywhere around Conconully I have put the 17 Hmr to good use on them already ;)

Out in the Scotch creek area?
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: BOWHUNTER45 on April 29, 2011, 09:21:58 AM: .....yeah know that property in Conconully.... :chuckle: :chuckle:
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: Drop-tine on April 29, 2011, 09:34:05 AM: Yeah go ahead and cover the whole scotch creek area you might find one or two :chuckle: No I usually go out by fish lake or mineral mountain or silver hill
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: grundy53 on April 29, 2011, 09:45:31 AM: Quote from: Drop-tine on April 29, 2011, 09:34:05 AM
Yeah go ahead and cover the whole scotch creek area you might find one or two :chuckle: No I usually go out by fish lake or mineral mountain or silver hill

Silver hill is part of the scotch creek wildlife area and was actually the place I was thinking of. Fish lake is another good one. Fishing and shooting doesn't get much better. Love that town.
Title: Re: Ground hog hunting
Post by: Drop-tine on April 29, 2011, 10:04:39 AM: Yeah kind of the border on the north end of scotch creek the good hunting up there is mostly private though unless you head towards vonda olsens lake north east of the lake then you get into the fish and game land