Groundhogs with the bow!
General Topic
Well the groundhogs are poking their heads out here in Virginia.
I have been stalking some in the backyard all week and finally scored Monday night. I took a 40 yard shot and the schwaker connected big time. The arrow made a complete pass through and skipped into the creek. Unfortunately so did the groundhog.
I attempted a recovery but couldn't catch up due to the heavy flows. hopefully will get some photos of the next one.
I took 14 last year. It is amazing how many of these little guys feed in my yard.
Does ground hog make a good burger? ;)
I hunt a ground squirrel, I only wish they were that big.
oz
Summer Fun Years ago!
Summer Fun Years ago!
I had a blast hunting them when I was younger for Practice!!!!
Shot a prairie dog once. It ended up being WAY more difficult than I thought it would be!
I saw some little ones emerging from a hole today. I will be stepping up hunting them now that they are mobile and on there own. I don't like the thought of killing a female with small young.
I use Judo tips and a recurve so that I don't blast through them, if you blast through them most of the time they will make it back down the hole. If you don't blast through them the arrow will hang up on the hole when they try to go down. Typically the holes are not straight into the ground so they cannot drag an arrow around a corner and down the hole, causing a lost arrow. Many a sunny afternoon when it is to hot to be roofing you could find us in the shade of a big tree waiting for one to poke it's head out.
oz
My first bow kill was a groundhog. Had a blast that first summer, shot about 4 or 5. Haven`t bothered since, but may get back at them. Lots of fun to stalk.
My first bow kill was a possum and my second was a groundhog. I spent a lot of summer evenings in my teens stalking field edges for chucks. I don't usually start hunting them until after the babies are old enough to fend for themselves. They are more and they are dumb. Its pretty obvious I'm not a farmer!
But do you have a full body mount?
Is that considered a "full strut" pose Charlie?!
I have a grand total of 1 prairie dog kill under my belt too.
LOL Charlie!
Never a groundhog, but we used to shoot a few prairie dogs in MT. Tough little target, great fun. If you stayed still after a while they would all come back out. Shot from sitting position. I mean me sitting, not the dogs..... the ones standing straight up on watch were string jumpers for sure. The best ones were the ones with just their head sticking out and looking away.... shoot all your judo heads...... go pick em up.... sit and wait a while for them to come back out.... We got a few.
groundhog are great archery hunting quarry, and great eating. I like the younger ones parboiled, breaded and chicken fried. The older ones I grind for sausage. They make a great bratwurst.
Prairie Dogs are a great trophy with the bow! The ones I hunted were wired little things. They catch you drawing or anything and they would be barking and back down the hole. Arrow dodgers and string jumpers for sure! I finally got one like TD mentioned, half out of the hole and looking the wrong way at about 40 yards. Took me almost 4 hours to finally get one but it was damn fun trying!
Damn Fuzzy.....LOL! I just KNEW you'd have a recipe for them.......
I need to get some good judo points.
groundhog brats: debone one medium to large groundhog and remove most of the fat and any gland tissue and any apparent large sinew/tendon ....should have 2 to 3 pounds of boneless meat ..... debone and remove skin from equal amount of chicken thighs......................
beat 3 large eggs in a cup of whole milk...............................
coarse grind a cup of pearled barley in a food processor or coffee grinder
mix the deboned meat with a pound of pork fat cut into 1"-2" cubes, add the barley and 1 tablespoon kosher salt, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper, and 2 teaspoons garlic powder and mix by hand in a plasic or glass bowl........refrigerate 2-4 hours......
add the milk/egg to the meat, mix well, let stand at room temp for 15 minutes, grind in sausage grinder with coarse plate, stuff in 23mm natural casings, tie in 5" lengths, refrigerate up to 7 days until grilling, do not freeze.
