Need Badger Tips!

[davr]

Getting ready to hit the opening of the Bobcat / Badger / Fox season on the 1st, and will be working hard at getting my boy a cat or a badger next week.

I'm hitting an area that seems to be fairly thick with badgers. I've seen 4 out there just driving the last couple years, and there are holes seemingly everywhere, although many seem abandoned long ago.

Any badger pros out there? Best sounds, set up, etc? Do badgers like to get down wind, or just come straight on in? How far does a badger "range". If I see one here one day, will he still be in that general area weeks from now, or could he be a mile away?

How far to set up from known used holes? How far between stands, how far will a badger go to get a meal, time of day, etc.

Just looking for some tips, having never focused on calling one in before.

Thanks!

 

[Michael J. McCasland]

I honestly can't call myself a badger expert. But here is what I've got. Badgers are placed close to the ground, if you can get up off the ground a little bit it would be good. About 50% of the badgers I've called came in grouchy and complaining about it verbally cursing me all the way. Generally they respond to loud agressive calling, basicly you get on your call and scream. I've only had one that seemed to get down wind of me and split. Most of the time they don't seem to give a darn about what is screaming, be it man, coyote or beast. A badger is truly a different critter to skin. They don't seem to have a tenden at the back of their rear legs. The skin is very rubbery. You absolutely have to skin a badger all the way down to the toes, those digging claws are a thing of natural beauty. The ears are extremely low on the head, the eyes are tinny and low on the head and the nose come quickly after working out the eyes. A badger stinks, but it is manageable. the badger has one of the most interesting and beautiful hides I've ever seen.

 

[Blakeinator]

Never called one in but you may be able to help yourself out further if you can identify a hole that has a badger in it and then call him out? I've been out shooting gophers with bow and missed a couple badgers that were out digging/hunting etc. and i chased them down their hole...then i sat 15-20 yrds away and waited for them to pop their heads up....missed both times. Anyhow, the biggest thing i think i learned from that was how to identify a hole that actually had a badger in it vs all the other bazillion holes. Here's how to tell in my part of the world. First thing is the mound looks fresh, not caked old dirt that's been rained on and hardened. The second thing is a very pronounced 'V' channel/groove in the mound from the badgers belly constantly dragging through it...they almost use it like a waterslide. The third thing is absolultely no small dimples in the fresh dirt that come from gopher's feet(they looks like dimples may have been caused by rain or something?) In our area the badgers are hunting the small richardson ground squirrels and they are everywhere badgers aren't...so if a badger in a hole...the gophers aren't and they stay away...they don't muddle up the mound with tracks either. Thats just our observations...in a quarter section full of holes i can either drive or walk and tell you where there is a badger if there is one still there. So if you have the opportunity to study the mounds...you may find one that fits the bill, come back in the evening and set up 50 yrds downwind of the hole and call him out? Or even wait him out? The ones i ran into happened to be active in the day so i didn't have to wait too long for them to come back up. They would keep their head low and swivel it around like a turret on a tank until they saw me and they they'd still stay there looking at me with their clown faces. My buddy was with me that day and hadn't seen one before and he just about burst out laughing at how funny lookin they are in that instance...all we can see is the black and white face and they do look kinda like a clown like that. Anyhow, good luck, hope that helps. Heck you may not even have to wait until closer to sunset you may be able to just step away from the hole(downwind) and try and wake them up and call them out for a shot. Make it a good one though or you might be digging. If they won't step out then your gonna need to do a head shot for instant kill and you can reach him with your arm into the hole.

B