Best times to hunt 'chucks?
Best times to hunt 'chucks?
06-10-2015, 09:07 AM
#2
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Allegan, MI
Posts: 8,019
I'm in lower MI and the young ones are really starting to come out the last two weeks and they are easier by far to shoot than the smarter older ones. I use a 22 Hornet and shot several adults over the last couple weeks of April and on through May, but now have only been seeing younger ones and have shot 6 in the last 10 days or so. They are a little bigger than a good size fox squirrel right now and the Hornady 35 grain VMaxs do a real number on them. They can be out at any time of the day now and the last couple I shot was after 7PM with the sun starting to cast pretty good shadows where they were out eating while I was doing my evening security check at the Fairgrounds.
Last edited by Topgun 3006; 06-10-2015 at 09:11 AM.
06-10-2015, 12:16 PM
#3
Fork Horn
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 172
The chucks are gone from the fields like we used to see them!
The new to the East coyote has ruined chuck hunting.
While I see a road kill chuck now and then the great farm hunting is gone.
The areas I am familiar with are NW Ct, E Ny and Vt.
The new to the East coyote has ruined chuck hunting.
While I see a road kill chuck now and then the great farm hunting is gone.
The areas I am familiar with are NW Ct, E Ny and Vt.
06-10-2015, 12:20 PM
#4
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 1,780
I will not hunt groundhogs until the first cutting of hay. I know you can shoot them earlier but it is harder to get a shot if the grass is high. Some guys want to eradicate them completely, but I like to give them some room until mid-summer. After the first cutting works out well as you can see them better.
As to time of day I like to set up in the morning. They are very active near their holes at dusk but if you spook them you may not get another chance. If you spook them in the morning or mid day just wait a bit and they will pop up again.
As to time of day I like to set up in the morning. They are very active near their holes at dusk but if you spook them you may not get another chance. If you spook them in the morning or mid day just wait a bit and they will pop up again.
06-10-2015, 12:44 PM
#6
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Allegan, MI
Posts: 8,019
I'll actually shoot or trap every one I can on the Fairgrounds here in town. I have special permission to shoot within the city limits because they are coming up from around the river perimeter of the property and have been undermining a lot of the older wooden buildings on the property, especially valuable ones in the Historical Society section. The adult ones are smart and hard to trap in a live trap and it's getting so the young ones are too. I haven't got one in a trap yet this year and have had to rely on stealth and the Hornet to cut their population this year. The DD that I owned killed over a dozen two years ago, but he died suddenly last July before we got very many, so it's all me now. I also can't do much over there during the day because of workers doing mowing, upkeep, planting flowers, etc. so that leaves the evening hours after 5PM to do my thing. The grounds is quite large with over 100 acres, but most of what I'm doing is up in the main building area, which is several hundred yards from most of the good critter habitat along the river.
Last edited by Topgun 3006; 06-10-2015 at 12:47 PM.
06-11-2015, 03:01 AM
#7
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: MICHIGAN
Posts: 2,568
We wait till the first cutting of hay is off and the second cutting is about 3 to 4 inches high to start. Soy beans are also about that tall then too so the whistle pigs can be seen easy. They are just starting to cut hay here and the soy's and corn are still short.
We don't shoot them all either but will coyotes.
Clean up the young ones and cook them. Lots of recipes for whistle pig on the net.
Al
We don't shoot them all either but will coyotes.
Clean up the young ones and cook them. Lots of recipes for whistle pig on the net.
Al
06-11-2015, 07:56 AM
#8
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Allegan, MI
Posts: 8,019
We wait till the first cutting of hay is off and the second cutting is about 3 to 4 inches high to start. Soy beans are also about that tall then too so the whistle pigs can be seen easy. They are just starting to cut hay here and the soy's and corn are still short.
We don't shoot them all either but will coyotes.
Clean up the young ones and cook them. Lots of recipes for whistle pig on the net.
Al
We don't shoot them all either but will coyotes.
Clean up the young ones and cook them. Lots of recipes for whistle pig on the net.
AlI'm going to go over near Martin pretty soon and try for some along a bean field where I got my turkey the 20th of last month. The farmer was just planting that day and told me they raise hob along the perimeter of the field and he said I'm welcome to shoot as many as I can. I would think the field should be up enough by now to be drawing them out of the heavy cover surrounding the field. The 35 grain Hornady VMaxs that I'm using in that Hornet aren't leaving much to eat on those small ones I've been shooting!
06-11-2015, 08:27 AM
#9
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 31
When I was a kid just learning to hunt with a Bear Kodiak Magnum recurve I used to go to an upstate farm where the farmer's wife used to pack us a lunch and some iced tea just so we could stay out and kill more chucks. Sneaking up on a chuck even in shaggy camo is not as easy and you may think.
Anyway this was because her father-in-law was wheelchair bound after the small front wheel of his tractor busted into a ground hog burrow and the whole rig flipped over on him. She offered a brick of .22 if we'd come back with rifles to really help clear them out. That's one grudge I really understood.
Anyway this was because her father-in-law was wheelchair bound after the small front wheel of his tractor busted into a ground hog burrow and the whole rig flipped over on him. She offered a brick of .22 if we'd come back with rifles to really help clear them out. That's one grudge I really understood.