Groundhog mouned

I've had them charge me when I was out hunting them and small game. Just prior to any cutting the hay is up around your knees and you can't see them. They CAN get to you and I have had a couple of close calls. Just after hay cutting is when g-hog hunting is SWEET!

The idiot things used to charge the tractor while making hay and get caught up in the cutter. It's a PITA to get a chopped up groundhog out of the hay-bine. You can't sell a hay bale with a churned up dried out groundhog in it. Horses won't go near it. If you do inadvertently sell some bales like that, your hay customer will be back and not very happy. It's worse if you hit the mound and it ruins the cutting knives. You can usually see the mounds but not always.

These creatures are so hated that farmers from the adjoining farms used to knock on my in-laws door asking about "Who's the guy who shoots all your groundhogs and can you ask him if he is willing to come shoot ours".

Ummmm yeah.

Hers's how it looks cutting hay:
cutting hay with the 4010 and 489 haybine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk3ifye2Sdc

IH 856 cutting alfalfa w/ NH 489 Haybine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0wskaIsqaI

I was just talking with a friend who was a kid back in the '60's. He told me a local farmer would provide the rifle and ammo (I think he said a .243), and pay a $5 a head bounty on each groundhog. His friend has a .22-250, they'd take to the high ground, and have quite a day. The only part of the job they didn't like was filling in burrows.

JohnnyE said:

I was just talking with a friend who was a kid back in the '60's. He told me a local farmer would provide the rifle and ammo (I think he said a .243), and pay a $5 a head bounty on each groundhog. His friend has a .22-250, they'd take to the high ground, and have quite a day. The only part of the job they didn't like was filling in burrows.

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WHAT? $5/head bounty? I've never gotten that offer. I've actually offered to pay the farmer or do some work for access! But that was back when farmers didn't worry so much about liability and you could readily do that.

BigSteve57 said:

WHAT? $5/head bounty? I've never gotten that offer. I've actually offered to pay the farmer or do some work for access! But that was back when farmers didn't worry so much about liability and you could readily do that.

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Yeah, I asked him about the $5 bounty three times, and that's what he said. That probably had something to do with also filling in burrows. Back in the day, five dollars was a princely sum. I could fill up the gas tank of my 1970 Buick Electra 225 for about $15 in 1976.

Yeah, I know, raccoon, but the sentiment is the same. Couldn't find a groundhog one.

scout6 said:

Yeah, I know, raccoon, but the sentiment is the same. Couldn't find a groundhog one.

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Daddy has seen this before. Leave him be, sweetheart, he's sleeping.

JohnnyE said:

Yeah, I asked him about the $5 bounty three times, and that's what he said. That probably had something to do with also filling in burrows. Back in the day, five dollars was a princely sum. I could fill up the gas tank of my 1970 Buick Electra 225 for about $15 in 1976.

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My grandfather made similar deals with me and my cousins. Those things were bad for mowing and worse for cattle when they got a leg down a hole.

JohnnyE said:

Yeah, I asked him about the $5 bounty three times, and that's what he said. That probably had something to do with also filling in burrows. Back in the day, five dollars was a princely sum. I could fill up the gas tank of my 1970 Buick Electra 225 for about $15 in 1976.

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Well filling in holes...OK. I've never offered or been asked to do that. Plus some of those mounds are huge. I'd want a tow behind blade to level some of them.

sports89man7 said:

cop halts traffic in BOTH directions and shoots it twice. cop could have put on gloves and picked up and put it on the side of the road... i think that situation could have been handled differently in my opinion...

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How many groundhogs have you seen during the day? I've seen hundreds and killed my share. Some were killed up close, some were killed from afar. Thing is, none of them were charging me. That groundhog not being afraid of the LEO means that there is something wrong with the groundhog.

Yeah, put on some gloves and pick up the groundhog. You think the groundhog is just going to let you pick it up? This isn't a pet. Do you actually believe the silly woman in the car that said, "Oh, he wants to be pet." Sounds about as stupid as the guy that tried to pet a wild bear. Wild animals don't want to be pet. Hell, I don't want to be pet by a stranger and most of the dogs I know don't like strangers. No way that groundhog wanted to be pet.

Every time a groundhog has seen me, it has run away from me or remained completely motionless under the impression I did not see it. They haul butt away from me when I am on my bike and they are on the side of the road. Stop next to one the next time you see one along the side of the road, get out of your car, and see if it wants to be pet. That thing will be gone before you can even get out of the car.

On the off chance that the groundhog actually approaches you "to be pet". Go ahead and pet it. Rabies shots aren't too painful nowadays, so I hear.

If the stupid groundhog was crossing route 26 over and over again, it was going to die anyway, or some idiot motorist was going to cause an accident trying to avoid it. The death of the groundhog is the best thing that could have happened in this situation.

Wait until I show this thread to my wife.

Groundhog should have been sent to the vet to get treatment...Ummm yeah.

I can't say if that groundhog was rabid/sick; from the descriptions it sounds like it was.
However, perfectly normal groundhogs will charge you especially if cornered or if you get between them and their hole when they are running toward it. Not always of course.
Groundhogs charged the farm tractors when making hay for crying out loud.
They are tough, mean tenacious fighters and anyone who thinks they can just pick one up, even if it's sick, that hasn't had its brains rearranged is well...I'd love to watch that scene..

The cop did just fine. What else should he have done? Had a moment of silence? Said a prayer? Cried? GEESH.

My feelings about groundhogs are summed up by my all time favorite T-shirt:

Isn't the mouning period over??

Mr H said:

Isn't the mouning period over??

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Either one year, or two weeks.

I'll check with the Missus... It was her groundhog...

Groundhog lives matter

eruby said:

Lucky it wasn't super hot, or it would have been stinking to high heaven.

#skunklivesmatter

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Sounds like Loudon county.