AmericanLongRifles Forums

General discussion => Black Powder Shooting => Topic started by: Clovis on June 24, 2022, 02:11:03 PM

Title: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: Clovis on June 24, 2022, 02:11:03 PM
Here is a few I took out this week
(https://i.ibb.co/6Xs8cxb/20220623-180026.jpg) (https://ibb.co/VwBx0ZD)

(https://i.ibb.co/MG7Ls9g/20220620-184730.jpg) (https://ibb.co/cCQd1xy)

(https://i.ibb.co/hyMhPWS/20220623-174034.jpg) (https://ibb.co/ZVJtn80)
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: rich pierce on June 24, 2022, 02:18:38 PM
Only one garden raider this year. It was him or the garden!
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: Clovis on June 24, 2022, 02:24:01 PM
Yeah I shot a few for my sister that was eating her garden this year and the ones pictured are ones I shot  for the neighbor farmer...he gets upset hitting the holes when he is mowing hay
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: rich pierce on June 24, 2022, 05:09:08 PM
I’ve got a hide skinned and dried. Will see if I can bark tan it.
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: Daniel Coats on June 24, 2022, 06:02:03 PM
Made a lucky shot once with a .54 Hawken, in one eye and out the other.
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: MuskratMike on June 24, 2022, 07:25:57 PM
Don't have them in western Oregon. Look like fun to shoot but can see why they are a pest. In eastern Oregon we we have what we call "sage rats" because that's where they live. Basically an ugly ground squirrel. You can literally shoot them by the dozens and even hundreds with no effect on the population. A .22 rimfire is mostly used but i just can't resist using my flintlocks on them. Smaller harvest but a hoot to shoot at. The range we shoot at is anywhere from 25 feet to 75 yards for the scoped boys.
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: flinchrocket on June 25, 2022, 05:04:32 AM
Whistle pig
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: petejc on June 25, 2022, 06:48:37 AM
Rich Pierce,   You are wasting your time with that hog pelt....just my opinion.....
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: rich pierce on June 25, 2022, 02:03:06 PM
Rich Pierce,   You are wasting your time with that hog pelt....just my opinion.....
I will remove the hair of course. Should make a handy little bag. Skinned cased. I’ll consider it practice.
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: snapper on June 25, 2022, 03:03:18 PM
I got one that needs to be thumped.   Digging in my machine shed, under the cabin and chewing on my timbers.

Fleener
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: T*O*F on June 25, 2022, 03:57:03 PM
While mowing yesterday, I discovered an armadillo has dug a hole under the car I keep stored next to my shop.  Seems like they only come out at nite, so I can't get a shot at it.  I'll take a dryer sheet and soak it in ammonia.....then shove it down the hole.
 It'll  either bring him out or keep him from going back in.
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: oldtravler61 on June 25, 2022, 07:21:53 PM
  Rich that whistle pig hide will make a nice little bag.
  Oldtravler
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: MuskratMike on June 25, 2022, 08:36:38 PM
...and the hide makes a wonderful period correct bag. Here's mine.
(https://i.ibb.co/r0Kh7Hc/Finished-bag-1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/GpfDxRt)

(https://i.ibb.co/syZcWNk/Groundhog-bag-3.jpg) (https://ibb.co/XSq6YKN)

(https://i.ibb.co/Jx2Lq0h/Grounghog-bag-4.jpg) (https://ibb.co/hXH5chq)
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: Nessmuck on June 25, 2022, 09:13:57 PM
Long time ago…my In-laws had a wood Chuck digging holes near the built in swimming pool. Nice residential area too. I told my mother in law ..when you see it ,give me a call ( way before cell phones ) and I’ll take care of it. Well…got the call one afternoon…brought my .40 cal ( cap lock ) and was on the 2nd floor balcony…hung the barrel ovah the railing and shot straight down ….lights out and a cloud of smoke…she was happy !
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: Bob Roller on June 25, 2022, 09:23:39 PM
The Legendary "Pasture Poodle"and I was a scourge to them in the Smoke Hole area of WVa's Eastern panhandle in 1967 and 68.
I used my Leonard Meadows Long Rifle and the Henry barreled Whitworth for longer shots.My hunting partner,Bascom Ray used a modern single shot with scope sight.His eyesight at 80 was the reason for the optics.We rented a cabin and spent a week at a time and had a good time and did some sight seeing as well.He and his wife and 5 sons are all deceased and I recently met the grand daughter of the youngest son,John F.Ray and we are now friends and she knows about her Great Grandpa and Grandmom and her great uncles.She is a cutie and wants to know all she can find out about her family's back ground.Thanks for stirring good old memories with this thread.
Bob Roller
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: hanshi on June 26, 2022, 01:15:31 AM
I've seen the furry hogs from Georgia to Maine but just never got around to chasing them.  Georgia is covered up with armadillos.  They run the possums ragged trying to teach those shelled critters HOW to cross a COTTON PICKING ROAD! 
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: Jeff Murray on June 26, 2022, 03:36:30 AM
Armadillos are destructive.  My sister had a neighbor who used to get very wound up about the damage they did in his yard.  One night she woke up to gun shots and went to look outside to see what was happening.  The 92 year old neighbor was out front in his cowboy boots and boxer shorts blasting away with his shotgun.  Made an entertaining picture.
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: Keith Zimmerman on June 28, 2022, 12:25:29 AM
Man, I wish I had a place to hunt them.  Just yesterday I said that to a friend.
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: hanshi on June 28, 2022, 12:56:53 AM
Clovis, I would bet a can of powdah that those pigs were proud to have been shot with that gorgeous rifle.  ???
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: Clint on June 28, 2022, 01:57:32 AM
I had a friend , now deceased, who grew up in the early 1900's He loved to tell about when he was in third grade and walked to school carrying a 30-30 just in case he came across a wood chuck. When people still used horses, wood chuck holes would sometimes break a horse's leg and many town offered a bounty for each wood chuck nose brought to town hall. The school principle would give the boys a nickle for every wood chuck nose and old Wimer said that there was always a stack of rifles just inside most class room doors. The whole affair fell apart when the boys found out that the principal was passing the noses down at town hall for eight cents a piece.
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: Clovis on June 28, 2022, 01:59:46 AM
Ask any farmer to hunt them and they will give you permission...they hate them
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: Ghillie on June 28, 2022, 02:30:18 AM
Here in WV they are somewhat scarce due to coyotes.  The coyotes have just about cleaned them out.  I used to hunt them every summer till about 10 years ago.  Now it is useless to go out looking for them.
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: Austin on June 28, 2022, 02:56:37 AM
They have moved into barns, yards, anyplace a coyote won’t get em
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: Stoner creek on June 28, 2022, 03:12:00 AM
They have moved into barns, yards, anyplace a coyote won’t get em

 And that means that you need a “Barn Gun” to shoot them little devils. That’s why they call them Barn Guns!!!!
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: Daryl on June 28, 2022, 02:06:19 PM
Wayne! ::)
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: Longknife on June 28, 2022, 03:25:50 PM
I hunted and shot many whistle pigs when I ran a truck farm twenty years ago. I shot them with about everything imaginable. Flintlocks, percussion and suppositories. The farm was out of town and every time I went there, I would park at the gate, arm up and walk (stalk) in. Funny thing about those buggers, if they saw you, they would run straight to their hole and dive in.  All you had to do is go to the other side of their hole and wait, when they poked their head back out they would look in the direction where they last saw you and you just pop 'em in the back of the head!,,,LK
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: Daryl on June 28, 2022, 04:58:21 PM
I shot hundreds of them for the farmers back in SouthWestern Ontario back in the 60's. I had no ML'S then.
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: Clovis on July 06, 2022, 04:10:05 AM
Has anyone here ate the ground hogs that they shot?? I eat mine  the young ones I like to BBQ on a open fire and the older ones I debone the meat and make  stews with them ..either way I love how they  taste.
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: bluenoser on July 06, 2022, 03:20:46 PM
I did a lot of groundhog hunting when we lived in NC and we always ate what we harvested.  The MO in our little group was head shots only and no close shots.  Waste not - want not.
Tasty little beggars no matter how they are prepared.
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: bob in the woods on July 07, 2022, 02:55:34 PM
When I was a kid, my Great Aunt canned them.
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: Longknife on July 07, 2022, 03:14:12 PM
Has anyone here ate the ground hogs that they shot?? I eat mine  the young ones I like to BBQ on a open fire and the older ones I debone the meat and make  stews with them ..either way I love how they  taste.

Yep. I got two young ones that were trying to destroy my garden one spring. I began skinning them and my wife said "You are Not going to cook those in MY kitchen" I took them to a Rendezvous that weekend and had Whistle pig stew!!! LK
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: smylee grouch on July 07, 2022, 04:41:35 PM
A guy might get some good patch lube if he rendered the fat down. I was going to dispatch one once with my 36 flinter but the owner of the property came out with his 12 ga. pump and said he would do it. He got the critter but he also got the hose on his gas pump, about 7 times.  ;D
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: Austin on July 08, 2022, 04:03:04 AM
I grew up eating them; till I got old enough to realize how good a hunk of choice beef was…. Now i let the buzzards have em…

Y’all have got me on a rant! 😂
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: martin9 on July 08, 2022, 08:03:55 AM
Groundhog can be a little fatty...diet coke is the recommended marinade ;D
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: iloco on July 08, 2022, 07:29:11 PM
I killed 13 groundhogs that were in my barn last year.  There is a railroad track behind my house and they love digging holes under the tracks.  This year I have shot two so far.  On going battle every year.
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: D. Taylor Sapergia on July 08, 2022, 09:09:14 PM
I can recall eating two.  Daryl shot them both and we ate one while out in the field, and the other, our dad bbq'd.  I still have a dried skin down in the rec-room and the pelt is decent.
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: FDR on July 09, 2022, 06:37:46 PM
My Grandfathers favorite meal. I provided the young groundhogs!

Fred
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: Clovis on July 11, 2022, 04:13:03 AM
Put 2 more in the freezer this weekend..both shot around  35 to 40 yards offhand...with a 50 cal with 50 grains  of goex 2ff
(https://i.ibb.co/Kzt9mMD/20220710-190048.jpg) (https://ibb.co/S7kKJhc)

(https://i.ibb.co/Pj0LQts/20220710-191057.jpg) (https://ibb.co/XLMQ8Vf)
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: Daniel Coats on July 11, 2022, 04:52:06 AM
both shot around  35 to 40 years offhand...

Back to the future!  ;D

Just kidding nice shooting!!
Title: Re: Anyone groundhog hunt with their flintlocks?
Post by: Clovis on July 11, 2022, 04:58:15 AM
both shot around  35 to 40 years offhand...

Back to the future!  ;D

Just kidding nice shooting!!
  lol..that's definitely  in the future...