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Post by Purebred Redneck on Mar 31, 2008 16:24:08 GMT -5
I don't care what you guys say, groundhogs are small game  These guys are really moving around in the green fields. I don't think I've ever saw this many - could be a very good year hunting. Our season doesn't start up until the end of turkey season, may 12. That's a couple weeks before squirrel season, so I might head out the conservation grounds with a fishing rod in one hand my 17hmr in the other. With spring upon us now, are your seasons open? |
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Post by Purebred Redneck on Mar 31, 2008 16:35:15 GMT -5
An interesting side-note from the state of Missouri
Last year, an estimated 3200 (rounded) people hunted groundhogs with a estimated 15,000 (rounded) killed.
To put this into perspective: 76000 people killed 1 million squirrels last year.
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Post by klsm54 on Mar 31, 2008 16:44:52 GMT -5
They are a varmint in Pennsylvania..... I think...  You can hunt them 6 days a week, no Sunday hunting, year round except during the firearms deer season, and no groundhog hunting before noon in spring gobbler season. |
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Post by klsm54 on Mar 31, 2008 17:04:55 GMT -5
Okay, it took a little searching, but I found the Pennsylvania estimated harvest figures. In 2006, 80,522 hunters took 910,564groundhogs.
For squirrels it was 174,151 hunters bagging 784,741 tree rats.
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Post by Purebred Redneck on Mar 31, 2008 17:46:23 GMT -5
You guys shot 100,000 more groundhogs than squirrels  I find your numbers fascinating. I never understood why groundhog hunting was so big on some other forums. Even seeing a groundhog in missouri is cause for celebration |
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Post by Jack on Mar 31, 2008 19:52:15 GMT -5
No season on them in NY, as far as I know. Shoot them any time you want, any way you want.
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Post by klsm54 on Mar 31, 2008 21:44:34 GMT -5
It's pretty popular up here in PA. Gun shops advertise, and run specials on, varmint rifles this time of year. It's a pretty popular topic on all the Pennsylvania hunting forums. And we have a pretty much endless supply of the critters.
As far as squirrels, we don't have nearly as long of a season as you do. We can't hunt them until mid October, but the season runs until early February, except for the 2 week deer season. Squirrel hunters, along with all upland game hunters are in a steady decline, more so than woodchuck hunters.
The Game Commision says that 369,848 hunters pursued squirrels in 1990 and bagged 2,044,264 of them. Both the numbers of hunters, and squirrels bagged, steadily declined to less than half by 2006, to the numbers in my earlier post. That is just due to lack of interest in squirrel hunting as there is no shortage of either squirrels or prime habitat.
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Post by Jack on Mar 31, 2008 22:14:20 GMT -5
Small game hunting season in NY encompasses a lot of stuff- squirrels, rabbits, upland birds like ruffed grouse. Small game season varies a little by area, but it's early September until about the end of February.
No spring season on squirrels in NY.
I just checked to make sure I wasn't way off: squirrel is Sept 1 to Feb 29. That's for gray squirrels.
Red squirrels are classified as varmints (as are woodchucks)- and varmints can be hunted any time. You do need a small game license to hunt varmints, even though there are no regulations on varmints.
Woodchucks have always been a varmint that a lot of people hunt, and we've traditionally had a lot of them. We have a lot of dairy farming here, and woodchucks love the alfalfa that dairy farmers grow, as well as beanfields. I've talked to a few guys in the last few years that think woodchucks are declining in numbers due to the predation of coyotes.
Loss of habitat is a big problem, I think- a lot of dairy farms are now suburbs. There are fewer and fewer places where you can find a field that doesn't have a house right behind it, or next to it, that prevents you from shooting on the field.
Another big problem for woodchuck hunters is gas prices. Often people drive the back roads until the find a good field, hunt it for 30 minutes, then go find another one. When gas was .29 cents a gallon, a 22LR and a tank of gas was all you needed for a great evening of woodchuck hunting. Too, you may have to drive quite a ways now to find country open enough to hunt in.
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Post by Purebred Redneck on Apr 1, 2008 9:52:32 GMT -5
These fox squirrels are varmints Sure they get into the fields pretty often and steal corn or dig up some roots. But "varmints" ? As a small game hunter in Missouri, we want to kill fox squirrels. They are highly sought after because of their size and the fact that gray squirrels probably outnumber them 2:1. They aren't rare by any means, but killing one or two a day out of the six limit is a pretty cool deal.  |
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Post by klsm54 on Apr 1, 2008 10:08:42 GMT -5
Red Squirrels are varmints, not Fox squirrels.  These little bastards are more annoying than a Blue Jay with their non-stop chattering. Fox Squirrels are more of a southern thing, we have a few in my part of PA, but they are much more plentiful in the southern counties. Now I'll tell you how our Game Commision works to drive hunters away from the sport. Not intentionally, just through pure stupidity...  Red Squirrels were always a varmint here in Pennsylvania, a great thing for a kid to sharpen his eye on. Our Game Commision is always looking for ways to close "poaching" loopholes. So in their worry that somebody could be crawling around the woods before Squirrel season, using "Red Squirrel hunting" as an excuse, they lumped them in with Gray, Black and Fox Squirrels and put a season on them.... So this was bad, real bad, but then they went and protected Chipmunks... That's right, we can't legally shoot a Chipmunk...ever... And they wonder why kids don't get interested in hunting. After they pulled these real screw-ups they tried to make up for it by making a youth squirrel season, for one week before the regular season. Now tell me how one Saturday of squirrel hunting, they're in school the rest of the week, is going to make up for the months and months of Chipmunk and Red squirrel shooting..... Is it any wonder why hunter numbers are dwindling? Of course they have taken great strides to stop those dreaded squirrel poachers.... |
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Post by Purebred Redneck on Apr 1, 2008 10:43:28 GMT -5
Yeah, we don't have anything like that here.
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Post by Jack on Apr 1, 2008 11:30:03 GMT -5
Yes, PBR, it's the red squirrel Klsm shows that is a varmint, not fox squirrels. We have very few fox squirrels in NY.
Our red squirrel is the size of a chipmunk, and as Klsm also pointed out- quite annoying.
Few people eat red squirrels- too small.
Klsm, I've long thought that PA hunting regs are some of the screwiest in the nation...and making a season on red squirrels seems pretty silly.
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Post by klsm54 on Apr 1, 2008 12:20:23 GMT -5
Yeah Jack, a season on Red Squirrels, protecting Chipmunks, only allowed to hunt Crows on Friday, Saturday and Sundays when no other hunting is allowed on Sunday... ...oops...except Coyotes. And I won't even get into all the rules and regulations involving State Game Lands and State Rifle Ranges.... |
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Post by jimh on Apr 1, 2008 12:56:01 GMT -5
As a small game hunter in Missouri, we want to kill fox squirrels. They are highly sought after because of their size and the fact that gray squirrels probably outnumber them 2:1. They aren't rare by any means, but killing one or two a day out of the six limit is a pretty cool deal. Red once you get out of the saint louis area i find that the majority of squirrels are the fox squirrels. in fact i go out of my way to find the greys as i fell they are more tender. now you hunt a ton more squirrels than i do, so i'm asking, where do you find more greys than fox squirrels? |
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Post by jimh on Apr 1, 2008 12:59:44 GMT -5
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You can hunt them 6 days a week, no Sunday hunting, year round except during the firearms deer season, and no groundhog hunting before noon in spring gobbler season.
