May 27, 2021 4 min read

With the summerlike weather heading our way, who can’t start to think about groundhog season. The farmers are all out planting fields and the young groundhogs born this spring are starting to emerge from their burrows. Soon it will be time to become the sniper. I suspect I am not the only fan of the hog hunt. Jack O’Connor used to say the best shots in the country were from the eastern part of the United States groundhog hunters.

The groundhog likes to make his home in low-lying fields of clover and corn, where he can easily feed himself. This requires the hunter to do some fancy long-distance shooting at a very small target. Few if any animal living today has done as much to improve rifle accuracy and overall performance as the lowly, unpopular woodchuck. Unlike the rabbit and many other animals, he does not need to kick anybody out of a hole he just digs a den for himself.

While it’s true his legs are short, and he may be missing some hair here and there, he is built to survive. The eyes of the woodchuck are made to detect danger as it approaches but are set well on top of his head, making the small target even smaller. His short legs allow him great burrow digging capability. He may waddle if he runs but he is built for den living and digging. Mr. Woodchuck is built for defense and digging is his best one. More than one time, I have watched as he stood on his mound of dirt, piled high in front of his den, watching an approaching dog or human.

His keen eyes and his digging allow him some advantages that the hog hunter must overcome to be successful. First you must locate them. The older hunter can still enjoy hunting the digging beasties. I don’t go too far from the vehicle but before you prejudge my work ethic, my equipment I carry is heavy. Heavy barrel rifles with a light fast chambering are necessary, topped off with a heavy high-power scope meant to reach out into the field. The scope allows you to see the dust kick up after that shot. The tucker bag contains the range finder, a rest, ammo, a hat and a bottle of water. If I could carry a tree with me for shade, I would. Groundhogs like to camp out in the middle of some darned hot fields usually with little shade.

Despite becoming the No. 1 target of super accurate rifle aficionado’s everywhere and hated by many a farmer, the lowly groundhog has managed to survive. The farmers hatred is well founded as their digging is destructive, but the lowly groundhog does do some good. He aerates the fields and provides nitrogen in the soil. These holes also provide homes for other non-digging animals. I have seen groundhogs undermine barns, sheds and outbuildings. The groundhog’s gestation period of 31 days is the shortest among mammals, which helps him to survive. Not because he has another litter but because his pups can be 1-9 with 4 or 5 being average and they emerge into the fields to survive on their own 44 days after birth.

The worst enemy a groundhog has is not this hunter but the coyote. Next week, we can talk a little about the coyote and his damage in the area.

• Last week, I made a mistake in my article about the turkey hunting Scenery Hill Gang. I mistakenly called Dave Mageras’ daughter the wrong name. Poor Lyla must forgive this poor old writer. Here is to Lyla Magera and her great success with her first turkey. I also heard of another great hunter in the gang who called in her first spring gobbler, Emily Snyder, Bert’s daughter. She is 19 years old and called that bird right to her.

While I was talking to my contact and friend in Scenery Hill, he told me he will be planning a hunt to Montana. Maybe when he gets back, we will have a good story about hunting mule deer and then a subsequent hunt to the same state in January for mountain lion. Sounds like a good story.

George Block writes a weekly outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter