Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Last GH of the 2011 Ohio Season

I went out hunting today on what is likely the last day of the 2011 season; it is supposed to rain for the next 3 days and drop to the low 50s; maybe even snow flurries on Friday or Saturday.

After covering a lot of ground on a mid-60s afternoon with plenty of sun and near 20 MPH winds from the south, I headed to the truck and one last good spot around 5:05 PM.....oops, a GH runs out of an unharvested 2nd crop bean field (beans were planted in a harvested wheat field after July 4th and are not quite ready for harvest yet). After walking near 80 acres, I was too tired to get the gun up and there wasn�t much of a shot even if I had.

I shot a GH in almost exactly this spot this last Sunday. Deciding to sit down and wait the standard 30 minutes, I note that will make me late for supper at 5:30�oh, what the heck, let�s wait for him until 6 PM, hopefully he will be back out to eat as he didn�t get enough when he spooked.

I then decide he�ll be back out again yet tonight cause according to one of my maxims: �a groundhog eating in late October is a hungry groundhog�.

I take up a position about 30 yards from the expected entrance point from the woods bordering the lane which borders the beans�the same spot he exited to.

At 5:50 PM I pick up movement at the edge of the brush. Safety gets clicked off my .223 Mini-Mauser, and the excellent Burris 4-12 Compact (set on 4x) reveals a groundhog�s head and shoulder exposed; it�s totally invisible without the scope. I squeeze the trigger, and at the sound of the shot, the crosshair moves slightly to the right. Did I pull that and miss?

I walk up, and there is a stone dead, very mature and fat, male groundhog; the 45 grain Speer Soft Point entered just above the shoulder � where I had aimed � and never exited.
Note: This is the tenth groundhog I have shot this October and all 10 were males.

As I carry him to join the other one I shot last Sunday in an adjacent harvested bean field, the sun has dropped and the sky is overcast. It is turning colder by the minute, and I see the one from Sunday is only partly eaten.

Most of the buzzards have left town and headed south.

we've had a couple of hard frosts here and still seeing both chucks and gr squirrels... been a number of days when our highs were in the 40s and 50s...
actually, our hummingbirds stayed a bit later than usual, too, but they've been gone for almost 2 weeks now...

nice job on waiting out the fat little buck chuck...

Johnw:

I usually find October 25th or so is it for the season here in NW OH.

Where do you live?

My post is meant to encourage some others to learn/apply GH behavior to their hunting success. The need for a 300 yard shot is way overrated, and in fact, those shots are seldom even possible given the undulations in what appear to be flat farmland.

For many other reasons, safety, etc the long shot is ruled out. Most aren't aware of tactics to do otherwise as they feel because they have a range finder that anything is possible....HA HA NOT!

Fall foliage colors and height make spotting at long range very difficult; bean eating GHs need killing, and long range is not very efficient.

Employing the tactics I described are standard success strategies, so I am giving them up to see how many others "get it" for next year.

It has its challenges, and I eschew the use of tripods and 20X scopes for the versatility of position and taking the shot when presented.

i'm in n.w. illinois...

most chucks around here that get shot are digging under outbuildings... a few farm kids get after them, but mostly they get left alone... i see quite a few roadkilled as well...

we have a large hillside and berm across a ravine behind us, and occasionally see one there... my boy made a long shot on one a year or so ago, from our picnic table...

I was a farm kid, too, so that's when I started hunting groundhogs.

When I lived in central Wisconsin, groundhogs were relatively rare, I suspect you may have less near you in NW IL than we. We never had many around here in my father's generation i.e. from the 1930s-1950s). But, seemed like they exploded in the 1960s-70s and a lot ever since.

I am not surprised the IL soy bean farmers kids are after them, maybe the adult shooters just don't appreciate them. But, IL farms are large, and it takes a LONG time to walk the edges of those 100 acre bean fields....

fixed that for you...

i actually doubt that most farm kids walk anywhere, outside of the yard... they all have 4 wheelers now, like we had ponies growing up...

We're lucky to see groundhogs above ground in September around here.
The coyotes have been so thick around here for years that there haven't been many groundhogs, but their numbers are increasing. I shot five this year, which is at least five times as many as I've shot each year for the past 10 or more years.
I'm hoping for an even better year next year.

Caneslinger:

You have more coyotes, and we have more groundhogs.

I think the northern latitude temperatures preclude a heavy GH population. And, I am one who does not believe the coyotes are at fault for reducing the GH populations.

I have rarely seen coyotes hunting in daylight hours when GHs are active, although I am sure Mr. Coyote does nail a few... On one occasion, I saw a mother fox carrying a young GH she had just killed, but again, that was one siting.

Thanks for responding; Good Hunting on those Ontario coyotes this winter!!!

BuckeyeSpecial,

I've seen coyotes prowling fields mid-day around here. I've actually shot a couple while watching fields for groundhogs.

It may be a coincidence that the groundhog population took a dramatic nose dive when the coyote population was increasing, I can't say for sure.

I suspect the coyote population in this neck of the woods is on a decline. I saw a coyote the other night. It bolted across the road in front of me about 20 yards away. It had mange so bad it was almost completely bald. They sure are strange looking without fur. I don't think that pooch will last long. We're getting frost most nights. I'm hearing of others that are suffering with mange too.

As far as groundhogs at this latitude, when populations are high, I've seen fields with dozens of them. When I was 18, I plinked more than a dozen in one field with a .22.

I hope to put a dent in the coyote population as well as the groundhogs -- starting about April.

Good hunting down your way as well.

Jerry