I've shot a couple of badgers but only as targets of opportunity. I've trapped a couple dozen over the years but they are not all that common around here.
My mist recent experience with a badger was just before the black bear season. I went to check on one of my bait pits and noticed one had the lid tilted but not pulled off as a bear will. That usually indicated a group of raccoons worked over the corner and got inside. I pulled that part of the lid off and immediately noticed a set of badger fangs headed my way.
I jumped back and started running through the brush backwards. I was just able to stay ahead of the whirlwind of fury which kept me in one piece. It was close enough deal that if I would have turned around or tried to draw my pistol and shoot, that badger would have had me for sure. It was a young badger and he didn't carry the pursuit very far before he turned and took off into the brush. I was very cautious lifting the pit lids not only the rest of that season but for the next couple of seasons too.
I have always believed "whistle pigs" were a marmot or maybe a pika. Woodchucks are pretty much called that and ground squirrels are usually, but wrongly, called gophers.
