Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints How do you hunt badgers? And what are whistle pigs?

Around here, a whistle pig is slang for a ground hog. I think they call them that because when hunting them, when you see them, they're real low to the ground and hard to hit. So if you whistle, the ground hog will stop and stand up to look.

I'm pretty sure he was washing the blood off the hair.

I'll wash a bloody hide too but I wait until it's off the carcass.

A Badger skull makes a good conversation piece.

I have never put a badger in my sink, that is f##ked up

you ain't lived.......until you sink a badger.

We talking Honey Badger?

now THAT is f##ked up.

At least it wasn't the bathtub ........ or washing machine. WTF

In Kentucky also.

Depends on where you live on what you call them. In Oregon & Washington what we call a Ground Squirrel they call Picket Pins, over in Montana they call them Gophers. Last Thursday me & 2 of my adult son's were hunting Ground Squirrels & we had about 65-66 & were heading back to town when this Boone & Crockett Badger came running down an old fence line. Just as I stopped he turned & faced us & opened his mouth, my son shot him just under the chin & he never even wiggled. This is one of the very hard to get "fur" Badgers, much harder to find than the more common "hair" Badgers.
I've probably taken at least 100 Badgers with different sixguns over the years & could fill several pages with stories of run in's with them. Some times I've chased them & sometimes they've chased me! I'll show one photo tonight & more tomorrow.



Dick

I do go hunting specifically for badgers. Went out Wednesday morning. Spotted one at 4 yds. so I figured it would be easy to kill with my .22 l r. Wound up shooting it 3 times with the .22 and once with my .380, all head shots, before I put it down for good. It was female, 10.2 lbs. Camera battery was dead so I didn't get a picture. One of the hardest badgers to kill I ever shot.

So much for saving THAT skull for the windowsill.....

Whistle pigs are woodchucks, hoary marmots or rock-chucks. Man, can they screech.

Badgers are pretty scarce even when "thick" as they are a predator of sorts.

But follow Jim Conrad's suggestion. If you're primarily after whistle pigs, or sage rats, sometimes, the rancher wants the badgers in certain places left alone. Sometimes, they'll want coyotes left alone, especially nearish the farmstead at certain times of year. I personally kind of like badgers but if the landowner wants one gone, I'll take it for the fur, or possibly a mount. They are bad@$$es, actually I had a classmate who had one as a pet, Spike was her name. Potty trained, spayed! Nearly a dog, but you played NICE. She lasted four years, ate lots of mice, got run over.

Me & a friend were driving home from the county fair when this Badger ran across the road in front of us, all I had with me was my model 60 carry gun. I jumped out of the car & the Badger ran into a grain field & I could see him mowing down the grain as he ran, then he turned & started back towards me, I think because he was a young one & really didn't know what to do.
As he got to about 20 feet he stopped & I gave him a double tap with the 120 gr. TC cast slugs I had in the little 5 shot snubbie. At least one of them hit him & he took off out through the grain field with me it hot pursuit in my rubber Croc's. After about 50 yds. he ran down into a little bit of an old crater (lava) & turned & faced me & I gave him another double tap right in the kisser. This is the only time I've ever heard one make a sound, it was some kind of a squeal/growl, not sure how to explain it but he rolled over & I had him with one round left.


I've been shooting Badgers with sixguns for over 50 years & only once have I ever had a chance at a double & this was it. I had spotted a very large Badger running along a little spring so I parked my truck & sneaked back down along an old fence, crawled through the barbed wire & he spotted me & when down his den hole. I sneaked down a little closer & sit down with my back against a fence post & brought my knee's up into the Keith reclining position & waited. After about 10 minutes he slowly came up for a peek & then to my surprise a second Badger came up right behind him, holy pajamas I was going to get two with one shot! I was shooting my wonderful Bisley 41 magnum that has taken a lot of game using the 230 gr. Keith slug & 17 grs. of 2400. The range was about 35 yds. I slowly lined up the sights as the Badgers slowly lined up for me & in my youthful inexperience I rushed the shot & shot over them! Down they went & now I waited & waited, finally one of them came back up but he wasn't happy, I waited to see if his side kick was coming up but no luck, one of them was smart. This time I broke a clean shot & he never moved, I had a dandy Badger. I always go on the forums & give them away, I have Badgers all over the country.


I was coming back to town from a deer hunt & this monster Badger was crossing a grain field that had been harvested, I pulled over & grabbed my old model 357 magnum & ran back up the road & waited for him to close the gap. When he got about 25 yds away I think he smelled me because he stopped & raised his head just a bit & then started to turn but held his ground trying to figure out what to do. It was too late, I already had him in my sights using a 173 gr. Keith cast slug & 13.5 grs. of 2400, it punched his ticket pretty good, he made a little move away from me & it was lights out. Can't remember where this one went but somebody made a life size mount out of him, he was a real pig!


Every Badger is born with a bad attitude & it goes down hill from there. Most of them will try to get away when they see you but every once in a while you run into one that has a chip on his shoulder & he doesn't want you on his turf, those are the one's you have to be careful with!
This bad boy knew I was shooting HIS Ground Squirrels & he decided he didn't like me. I spotted him from a distance & he wasn't leaving, he was slowly coming over where I was walking through some Sagebrush whacking Squirrels. The next time I spotted him he was about 20 yds away laying flat to the ground & I could see he was mad! I had 2 sixguns with me & I pulled out my very special 7 1/2" 44 special Bisley stoked with 7.5 grs. of 2400 & the 250 gr. Keith & gave him a face full of lead poison just under the chin. That seemed to calm him down pretty fast & I had another Badger pelt to give away.



Dick

Wow Dick I am impressed. You actually hunt badgers! Well done.

Great!!

Sounds like a hell of a dare, or one of those "hold my beer and watch this" moments.

Shot this one with my old model 45 shorty using a 260 gr. Keith & 18.5 gr. of 2400. I was driving down a dirt road & he was running down the road towards me. When he spotted the truck he turned & ran back down the road & around a corner, I drove down a ways & jumped out & ran down the road 30 yds or so & walked up on the bank & sat down. I didn't think I would see him again but in a few minutes here he came again right back towards me. When he got within about 20 yds he spotted my truck & he laid down real flat like only a Badger can do. As I raised up the 45 he caught my movement & started to turn just as I shot, the big Keith slug hit him but not solid & he ran down through some Chokecherry bushes & out into some Sagebrush. I ran after him & after about 20-25 yds he slowed down & faced me, I could see he was hit but he still had some fight in him & I sent another one of Elmer's finest through him & that finished it.
I gathered him up & walked back up to my truck & I had lost my cellphone! I went back down & looked but couldn't find it, I went back up to my truck & here came another truck, it was a friend of mine who was a UPS truck driver, him & his girlfriend were out looking for elk. He tried dialing my number but no signal. The 3 of us went looking & one of us found it, don't remember who but I watch that pretty close now.



You notice the big grin on my face, that's because just a few minutes before I had the living daylights scared out of me by the Badger laying in front of me! I was hunting Ground Squirrels at the time & any time you're into good Squirrel hunting there's bound to be Badgers around, that's their favorite snack. Anyway I was walking through some scattered Sagebrush popping Squirrels when I spotted this Badger watching me from on top of his mound. I already had the 44 maggie in my hands & it was loaded with the Keith 250 gr. cast slug & 10 grs. of Unique. I slowly brought the gun up at about 30 yds & smacked him good & it flipped him down into his hole & I could hear him growling a bit. When I got over there it was dark down in the hole but I could see him & nothing was moving, he looked dead..... I've killed a lot of Badgers & been chased more than once so I watched for a couple of minutes to make sure he was dead & then I got down on my hands & knees & I could see most of his head but his body was covered with dirt. The only way I could reach him was with one arm so I used my Leatherman tool & got it onto his nose & started to drag him up out of the hole & just as I got him to the top he let out some kind of a death moan & I turned loose & flipped over as fast as I could, I thought he had me but he was dead, I think it was just gas or air, not sure but he scared the living hell out of me!



Dick