Groundhog Competition - SW PA

quiksilver · 07-13-2005, 10:07 AM

I'll be competing in the annual Mug & Brush groundhog hunting contest this Saturday. They will be accepting entries of teams of two hunters until Friday. I believe the cost is about $30/team and includestwo free t-shirts or hats.

Generally the rules are as follows: There is an assigned weigh-in station with free beer, soft drinks and pizza located in or around Connellsville, PA. Teams will show up before a pre-determined time (8:00, I think) with a maximum of 5 hogs. The team with the heaviestfive hogswins. (My experience is that you'll need 58-60 pounds of hogs to have a good shot)

There is also a special prize for the heaviest hog.(Usually, a 14-16 pounder wins)

Interested parties contact the Mug & Brush barbershop in Connellsville, PA at 724-628-3956.

The game laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania apply. Groundhogs must be shot on Saturday, July 16.

Lots of local farmers have just taken their hay off, and they are generally delighted to let you go out and shoot some hogs on their ground. Groundhog holescan cause serious damage to farm equipment and livestock, and are generally viewed as a nuisance by the agricultural crowd.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission does not support competitive hunting, as it is their position that it provides an incentive to engage in illegal activity. Please do not participate if you plan on engaging in any of the former. This is a great day to get out and do some hunting, network withlocal farmers,work on your marksmanship, or even make an interesting hunt for a youngster or first-time hunter.

Wish me luck.

ccm352 · 07-13-2005, 10:43 AM

I wish we had one of those on the eastern half of the state

PA Bow/Flinter · 07-13-2005, 11:08 AM

I wish it was a little more to the north...or I had a drivers lic. Anyways..good luck...I'm going down to my grandma's next week for a week of hunting those critters...she just cut the hay this week....gonna be fun

deerslayer223 · 07-13-2005, 11:36 AM

ah man i wish i didn't just bust my leg up. Connelsville is only liek 45mins from my house i'd hit this contest up in a heartbeat. i love to kill groundhogs. Oh well maybe next yr i can hit it up!

Rick James · 07-13-2005, 12:56 PM

Man does this sound fun. I have a real sweet ground hog killing machine too......Savage 93R17 - FVSS. Stainless Synthetic bull barrell .17 HMR with a 4.5x14x40AO Simmons ATV on it. The 17 grain slugs pretty much turn them inside out.........lol.

PAHUNTER21 · 07-13-2005, 11:00 PM

I'm from the Elizabeth area, not too far from Connelsville, I will seriously look into the competition, but I'm affraid I've already purged the biggest ones off my land already.[:@]

I've gotten about 16 hogs this year. Just moved onto the property a year ago. Have been clearing the place of hogs ever since. The only ones left are the sneaky b@stards.

Thanks for the info!

lost horn · 07-14-2005, 07:40 AM

but I'm affraid I've already purged the biggest ones off my land already.[:@]
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That's ok shoot the young ones they are much better eating.

quiksilver · 07-14-2005, 10:25 AM

PAHunter-

If you've never done this hog hunt before, I'd highly recommend it. If you team up with another guy and make a decent day of it, you'll probably get at least5 hogs. If nothing else, it's fun to go down to the check station and watch the weigh-in.

2 years ago, I bagged a smallcoyote, so I had him down there and everybody checked it out. If you're available, you could use this year as a primer for next year's contest. Get acclimated with the rules and the guys that run the show.

You really have nothing to lose. I think the guy that sets up the contest is named Barry. He's also an active member of the Yough River Sportsmen's Association (they stock the Yough). He has a neat little barbershop in downtown C'ville. It's nice to support guys like him that go the extra mile to set up a pretty unique event.

There are usually about 40-60 teams that sign up.You'll meet a lot of interesting people at weigh-in and get a few good laughs.

We've been saving our best spot for two years. Two years ago, we took 23 hogs and 1 coyote and weighed in at 55 lbs.off of this farm. We just couldn't get anything big. As I recall, we had one 12 pounder, 3 11's and a 10.

Last year nobody hunted it andI was on vacation during the hunt, so they were left alone to fatten up. This year is all freshly cut hay and soybeans.

I should've posted this thread earlier, so more guys had a shot to clear their calendar. I'll make sure to give a better notice next summer.

PAHUNTER21 · 07-15-2005, 03:00 AM

Quicksilver,

Thanks for letting me know about it. Me and my father-in-law know plenty of spots to bag some big hogs other than my back yard. I don't think we are going to do the competition this year, but make sure you let us know a while ahead of time next year.

Good luck. It seems like alot of fun!

quiksilver · 07-18-2005, 12:52 PM

Well, here are my results from the hog hunt.

I killed the first hog at 7:10, it was about the size of a chipmunk. The pups were out early, and I had 4 down by 10:00 - my biggest was only 6 lbs. My partner took anice 12 pound boarout at daybreak, so we were still off to a decent start. This farm is notorious for getting much more hog activity in the late evening.

After 10, the heat became a factor, and the hogs were making themselves pretty scarce. Not much action until around 3. Between 3 and 6 (had to leave at 6), the action continued to heat up. At 5:30, we were having steady hog sightings, and were getting some pretty good shooting in.

Due to time constraints, we had to leave for weigh-in at 6, when the hogs were really coming out. We wound up weighing in a respectable 5-hog limit at 53 pounds out of 19 total. So it was a losing effort, but we left a happy farmer behind, and had a lot of fun.

I think the heat kept the big hogs in the ground until around 5:00 or so, b/c we had only seen one mature hog before that point. Between 4-6:00 wetookfour 10pounders.The pups didn't mind the heat as much, and they were out most of the day.

I whiffed on what would have undoubtedly been our lunker at 330 yards. I couldn't get him to stand up, which would have helped me out with the windage.He was heading back into a brushpile when I burned one right over his shoulders. I killed a 10.5 pounder out of the same hole an hour earlier, and this hog would have eaten the first one.

All in all, it was a fun day, and we had a few good laughs and patiently await next year's hog day.