Pasture fields for groundhogs?

huh.....

Looks like we have another flyfisherman here. The Smallie fish'in should be starting down there soon.

Up here the spring Steelhead(lake erie tribs) is getting there, we had a cold front come through and slowed things down.

Itching to go........ /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Corey, i know what you mean about the cliffs, holes. lots of the hogs in this area live in the rocks, as well as fox, cats and even bear. my landowners are the same way, i don't blame them for feeling the way they do. i know what they've put up with.
as far as yotes, a friend of mine traps near Brandywine, at last count he had 7 or 8. i know of several killed here in Hardy co. some trapped, some shot in deer season. our woods get crowded in buck season. a USDA trapper worked the area last summer, traps, snares, M-44's. odds of calling one is slim! 169 bear were killed in this co. in 05. maybe 30 coyotes? we'll probably kill a couple in turkey season next month. we can night call till July, if the wind slacks-off i know where a couple hang out. can you guys night call in VA?
 
Yep, we can night call.

The problem 'round here is that the danged 'yotes are keyed in on calves and hardly pay any attention to anything else.

Turkey season normally gets a few, when they start sidelining the gobblers and nesting hens, but other than that, the best options 'round here are to get in with local beef and sheep ranchers and see what comes sneaking around the herds and flocks.

Oh, but if a cow happens to die, settle in downwind from the carcass with a light and SIT STILL!
 
it's been a few years since i bought a VA lic. last one cost me $150 or so? i thought you could night call, a friend told me it was illegal one day last week. if memory is correct you guys can shoot fox, cats, coon and coyotes at night? is that only on private land? i know the nat. forest fairly well on both sides of the line. laws are screwed-up here, can't shoot anything but coyotes with a light. i've killed a few fox on bright nights/snow on the ground without a light. that's safe, NOT. we've asked the DNR to change the regs for years. maybe one day? had a gray fox so close i could smell it, still didn't get a shot. honest, it was within 2 feet of the gun, i guess i could have taken a sound shot? i think they do that down in TN? it takes a good eye to tell the difference between a yote eye and a fox eyeball!
 
Night hunting is allowed on Dept. lands, but it must be in seasons and light must be detached from vehicle. There are also caliber restrictions to protect against deer poaching. My farmers have had to tighten up due to irresponcibility on the past hunters behalf. I can't fault them, but I will obey the rules regardless. Maybe someday things will come back the way they were, when killing a hog or dog was appreciated by the farmer whether permission was granted or not. We're paying the price for our carelessness as well as our ancestors, and friends, and acquaintences. Only good ethics and the teaching of this will promote our sport in the future.
 
ARCOREY,
Caliber restrictions for night hunting??? Is that a county or DGIF commission owned land restriction? I know of no caliber restriction for hunting private land in the Commonwealth, that differs from day to night. If you are sure that there's a restriction , please cite the statute.
F1
 
Hey VAnimrod, I have been shooting them in all types of fields. I have had the best sucess in shooting hayfields/soybeans in lowground riverbottoms, however I have a few very good places that are just pasture fields! One in particular is super! There are some old pieces of farm equipment laying in the field and an old homeplace with just the foundation and 2 chimneys standing, plus an old barn. There are groundhogs galore in that field and its very fun to shoot. There are lots of holes around the old farm equipment and several at the old homeplace sight. Woods border this field on three sides. To be quite frank about it there really isn't much there for them to eat..clover etc. but they are there. I have had good luck shooting them in a cornfield as well, my best sucess is after the field has been planted and when the corn is just starting to come up. This also gives you an opportunity for some crows as well. Here is a picture of that pasture field.
sfco08.jpg

Good luck. Sam
 
Flyrod1,
The caliber restrictions are for department owned lands. On private most anything goes except Sunday hunting. The caliber restrictions are to limit shot size and caliber in the non-deer and turkey seasons. For example buckshot size cannot be used to hunt during spring gobbler and small game seasons. This is what I got from a local warden when I had a bunch of predator hunting questions.
 
Corey,
I'm not trying to stir anything up, I just don't want anybody here in VA to get into trouble for a restriction that's not been publicized properly. Conversely, I don't want anyone to miss an oppurtunity to engage in , or use a method of pursuit of game, because they had the erroneous belief that there was a restriction against it. Having said all that, it is my belief that we are not allowed to hunt predators or varmints on Commission owned lands outside of a regular open season for a regulated game species. I confirmed that today in a conversation that I had with a DGIF enforcement supervisor. For example, we can shoot groundhogs or a coyote during spring gobbler season, but as soon as the turkey season ends, we can't hunt anything on commission lands until the next regular hunting season resumes in September, for squirrels,doves, etc. He also didn't think that we could hunt during hours that were not legal for regular game species,ie: one half hour before sunrise until one half hour after sunset. That would preclude night hunting with a light and firearm.
F1
 
Flyrod1,
No offense taken /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif. The officer I talked to gave me an example of coon hunting with a .270 during night season or a 243 during spring gobbler isn't going to fly, even if you're after yotes. For some it's just too tempting I guess /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif. Anymore you almost have to be a lawyer to hunt DGIF lands. Thank goodness I got me a good piece of private land where the owner is my warden /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif. I think if you can kill a yote, even if it isn't legal, as long as it is safe, it should be done. They're killing too many deer and livestock here. I"m probably going to take a beating for the above statement /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif, but they don't belong here and should be treated as a pest. I enjoy hunting them, but I want the whitetails back.
 
Corey,
I'm in complete agreement that we should kill coyotes whenever the oppurtunity presents itself, just make use of the loopholes in the laws. Unfortunately, they are here to stay! In the areas that I hunt (Rappahannock, Fauquier, Culpeper,Orange, Lousia, and my surrounding counties) the coyote problems are getting worse. With the influx of city(re: anti-hunting)folks to these areas the problem will grow rapidly. They don't care about the deer population, less deer mean less damage to their Bimmers and Mercedes and they could care less about turkeys and other small game. They'll only get the message when Tabby, Fifi, and Fido disappear from the yard or when a small child gets bitten by a rabid 35 pound animal, rather than a fox or 'coon. Other than farmers with livestock, the only other landowners that want the coyotes reduced are the horse and hound fox hunters. Some fox hunting associations are actually paying their own bounties on coyotes killed on properties on which they fox hunt.
I think it's foolish to think that we could really reduce the coyote populations by hunting, even if we had full access to hunt on all the land that contains them, but it would be satisfying to try!
F1
 
My understanding is that neutered and spayed wolves were turned loose in Bath county. I've heard of one killed already, and he still had all the tackle from what I heard /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif. I've also heard of horror stories about insurance companies in Winchester/West Virginia area dumping coyotes out to kill deer causing highway incidents. People should leave things alone, let us take care of it. More targets for all. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
ARCOREY;

The insurance story is pure BS. The same story has circulated around quite a few areas on the East Coast, from Maine to North Carolina, and always is just a bit a way from the location in which the story pops up...

Pure BS.

As for the "spayed and neutered wolves" thing, well, that's a new one, but given the size of some 'yotes taken recently, I can see how folks might start thinking that they were more than they actually were.

No wolves, spayed, neutered, or otherwise, just BIG danged dog 'yotes tipping the scales as 50+. Try upstate NY and Vermont; those 'yotes can go 70 toward late winter without much trouble at all. Same "wolf" release stories, same "big danged 'yote" facts behind it.
 
VAnimrod,
Ditto, You beat me to this response, I concur completely. I don't know who conjures up some of these stories that later become rumors, but someone's smoking some powerful stuff here in the Commonwealth! To think that DGIF, USFWS, USNPS, or other gov't agency( dang revenooers!) could subversively release wolves, mtn. lions, or other animals to "control" another species here in VA, and without public knowledge, is absurd!
F1
 


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