Carnivorous squirrels......

Curt Barrett

Curt Barrett

New member
I always heard about the meat loving squirrels but never witnessed it till today.

I was shooting groundhogs at a spot that also has quite a few ground squirrels. We call the ground squirrels "greydiggers". I had shot several groundhogs and was moving to a new spot. One of the hogs I shot was on flat boulder on the face of some cliffs. While walking by I saw movement up on the flat boulder. I looked through my scope and there was this greydigger working hard to tear a chunk of meat off the dead groundhog. He was tugging away like a coyote working a carcass.

I kept watching and soon this squirrel that was less than 1/4 the size of the hog was trying to drag it off. It was funny to watch. He was really working his "tail" off trying to move that big hog. He hardly budged it.

I've been shooting hogs and greydiggers since I was a little kid and haven't seen this before. Do you other fellas see this often or is it a pretty infrequent occurrence?

Take care, Curt
 
I used to shoot ground squirrels often when I lived in California. I've seen them grab a dead squirrel and disappear back into their holes many times.
 
Curt, where abouts do you hunt "groundhogs" in Washington? I thought the hoary and olympic marmots were the only ones here and they're protected. thx
 
wrongtarget, they are "yellow belly marmots" and are not protected and they are very much legal to shoot. You are correct about the other species being protected.

As far as where I hunt, well I could tell you but then I'd have to kill ya. LOL! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Take care, Curt
 
I've heard of yellow belly marmots but wasn't sure if they were one in the same as the others or some low life slang! Thanks again.
 
I was at work one day and looked out the window and spotted a gray tree squirrel. He was eating something and as I looked closer, I saw he was holding a dead robin! He was holding it in both hands like a corn cob and chewing away on it. I couldn't believe it and told all the ladies I work with to come and check it out. They all got sicked out and I laughed. Pretty bizarre!
 
I think it’s pretty common knowledge that gray tree squirrels eat plenty of bird’s eggs and baby birds. The ground squirrels we have here are not only carnivorous, but cannibalistic as well. See them all the time eating their litter mates; the ones that didn’t make it to the other side of the road.
 
Curt,

That must have been quite a sight with the ground squirrel trying to drag off the rockchuck. I have never seen anything like that.

I have a very few times witnessed ground squirrels here go after one of their own and try to drag a dead or dying squirrel down a hole. I mostly use a .22 rimfire for much of my squirrel shooting and it seems that when a fatally hit squirrel is going thru its dying flops is what triggers a healthy squirrel to actually attack it.

When shooting the Belding's Ground squirrel over in Oregon I have also noticed they would go after a long dead buddy and try to drag it down the hole, to eat I guess?
 
Watched a prairie dog drag a jack rabbit I'd shot down a hole once. We walked over there and you could actually hear them eating on it down there.

- DAA
 
I guess that explains how some of those squirrels get so plump. I always thought it was a predator or scavenger bird doing the cleaning up after some squirrel hunting. Looks like the squirrels are giving a helping hand possibly.

Take care, Curt
 


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