Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Woodchucks killed off by coyotes.

If I owned land in the east, it would be open for snaring.Period.

You must think we only hunt on private land. Pa literally owns millions of public acres that are open to trapping and hunting. Should I ask the Govenor just were the snares are set?

Too many people on public land there to set snares without dog problems. I would try and pull the coyotes on to private ground and catch them. Shouldn't be too hard to do I would think.

I just got back from chuckin here in NY a few minutes ago. killed 3 with my old Marlin .22 mag.. Saw a couple more I didn't shoot at because of cattle in the background.

Private ground has all kinds of animals on it also..

If you know what your doing you will have very few if any nontarget catches. If there are 8 coyotes on that property with any frequency, I should catch 6 of them within 3 weeks.We are not talking about a long time period.

Show us a snare and where to buy it.

I make my own snares. There are several reputable snaring videos out that would get you on the right track. Check the trapper and predator caller magazine.There are a couple really solid guys that know what they are doing. John Graham comes to mind, although he traps a lot too.

Just for the record battue...domestic dogs generally won't fight a snare like wild animals will....I've caught my Cur dog in my own snares while running my trap line several times....once caught she just sets there and waits for me to come and let her loose.....I wouldn't want to leave her in one overnight but when you're close by like running a line or bird hunting there really isn't that much danger......
That's not to say that snares aren't dangerous because they are and should only be used in the right places by experienced hands but as usual....there's two sides to every story....
Don't take my word for it though....there's lots of information out there that will confirm what I'm saying if you care to look for it....

FieldGrade,

When it comes to trapping and such if you say it's so then that's good enough for me. Thanks and I'll take your word on it.

Regarding woodchuck hunting in my area - northern NJ and lower NY State: 1) many dairy farms are now gone, and with them cultivated pastureland; 2) farmers are now growing corn, not alfalfa; 3) coyotes; 4) after 9/11, even more folks wanted to be far from NYC, and farmland and woods became housing developments. In addition to all that, a friend told me that he called NYSDEC regarding the woodchuck "drought" in NY State. They told him there had been an outbreak of hepatitis in the woodchuck population. This was about 10 years ago.

I have a bunch of woodchuck rifles and nothing to use them on. I started to notice coyotes in woodchuck fields in the late 1990s. Now we have them in all 21 counties of NJ.

Went to a shoot today traveling East on the Pa Tpk perhaps 50miles each way. How many acres of hay, new corn, fallow fields, cut and uncut grass fields, etc did I pass thru? Sometimes you could see a mile on either side of the road and all predominately fields of some sort and all surrounded by wooded edge cover that the Groundhogs like. Who knows, but obviously saw only what I could on my narrow path. One small pass thru a small slice of Pa farm country. Only saw a couple cows and saw more Groundhogs than cows. How many Coyotes would it take? Well more than are running around.

I think perhaps when it comes to Groundhogs they are getting a bum rap.

You'd have probably seen alot more chucks if you'd driven through the same area in late afternoon/evening. 5:00 - 8:00 pm is primetime right now. I've been told there are still alot of chucks in Southwestern Pa.. I still see a few in Wayne, Susquehanna and Bradford Counties. In NY it depends on where you look. Delaware, Schoharie, Broome, Southern Chenango and Otsego are pretty barren. Get up into Cortland and Madison Counties and there are still quite a few. The farm I hunted yesterday near the Chenango/ Madison County border is loaded. The 3 I killed yesterday brings my total to 27 off that one farm so far this year and there are still alot left. There are still a couple back fields there I haven't even hunted yet. The owner just started cutting hay this week and only had one field next to the road mowed when I was there yesterday.

Also, battue, they coyotes may NOT be in that area.. If it is mostly fields and edge.. I am not sure.. I know in the area I am familiar with in Pa. Coyotes have moved in.. Not sure how many.. They kill a couple each deer season.. Some in turkey season.. In the area I am familiar with, I think the big thing is the farms are not being kept up and going to brush..

Maybe the fields that still could have groundhogs, are being hunted more than I realize.. I also wonder if they go through cycles like other game.

I would have to look back at my journals, but in the 90's I hunted chucks hard for three or four summers.. My best year was 186.. But many of those favored places are now fields of golden rod..

I was just trying to ease your mind where your gun dogs are concerned friend....but again..."snares ARE dangerous" and I don't recommend anyone that doesn't know what they're doing to run out and buy a bunch of snares thinking they're gonna do predator control....more likely they won't catch Coyote one but instead will kill a bunch of Deer and other non target animals....especially in the east where it's so densely populated....