OT what is this strange animal in our backyard

Woodchuck with bright ear tags ride bus for free, here.

Box trap, spray paint, and release a couple blocks away. No problem.

Car exhaust helps keep them passive, on the way to the release site. Cage next to the exhaust, and some towels to keep the gas in, make sure they are really sleepy.

So does darkness.

jsw

I learned a couple years ago that I'm part of local lore in the small town in Nova Scotia my mother's family came from.

About 35 years ago I was camping on my grandmother's timber lot with a couple friends. I had made a trip to Labrador, hitching and by ferry, and while there met a fellow who taught me how to snare rabbits. Anxious to impress my friends with my new skills I got hold of some wire, found all sorts of rabbit runs in an abandoned orchard, and figured to have a couple rabbits in no time. I set 3 or 4 snares in the runs around the orchard. When I returned they were all pushed aside, and not a single rabbit. I reset them, opening the loops a little wider. Same result. Damn, these must be big rabbits. Opened the loops wider, and came back several hours later to find a very angry porcupine in one of the snares. There was no way to release him, so I was forced to club him to death with a stout branch. After that we felt obligated to eat him, and proceeded to roast him on a spit. It was edible, but not something you'd want to eat a lot of, so I made a big pot of lentil stew with the leftovers. That's the way to cook 'pine.

My uncle has since inherited the land and is building a camp. I was there a few years ago and he told me some locals stopped by to visit and wanted to know whether he was related to the guy who eats porcupines.

Ha! Good one!

I'm told that porkies that live among evergreens taste like a pine tree. That's one critter I've never eaten.

Wes can update me on this, but during at least part of the time when I lived in Michigan (1966 - 1973), it was illegal to kill porkies. Not because they were trying to preserve them -- they do a hell of a lot of damage to trees -- but because they were the only animal slow enough that you could kill one with a stick. It was an ancient law that was based on the idea that someone lost in the woods could always catch and kill a porcupine to eat.

During that time the conservationists were raising hell about the law, pointing to the awful number of trees they destroyed. I never did hear how that legal fight came out.

If you really have to pick one up, say it stuck its head in a hole and you can't hit it, you can pin its tail down and then slide your hand toward the tip as you grab. I'm not recommending that but I got away with it.

I skinned it successfully, salted the skin and hung it up to drain, but the crows got it. Same with the skunk.

jsw

On Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:52:26 -0400, Wes wrote the following:

(That should take out a woodchuck, Ig.)

until I saw how

I used the .22 for the ground rats around here. They do far more damage than tree rats. They ruined my weed patch, erm, my lawn.

-- Peace of mind is that mental condition in which you have accepted the worst. -- Lin Yutang

I'd be worried about using this with schools of children running this way and that.

Joe Gwinn

I know that a pellet from this air rifle goes through 1/2 inch plywood. (I hope that I remember right)

I heard from a few people who said that I could not kill a groundhog with that and now you say I can. Hm

What I would REALLY not want is to injure this woodchuck, so that it runs away and then dies in a burrow under my porch. That would really stink!

until I saw how

Ignoramus20428 wrote: ...

Dying in the burrow probably wouldn't be so bad, if you closed it up with dirt. I once had a raccoon die under a plywood "porch" that was only inches off the ground & the only way to extract the corpse was to reach in & pull it out. Piece by piece, that is, 'cause by the time I had figured out where that awful smell was coming from, it was well into decomposition. That was THE most disgusting thing I've ever done, and I've done some disgusting things.

Bob

Read carefully. You can take out a woodchuck with almost anything *if you make a head shot*. That's what a couple of people have explained to you. If you're able and disciplined to do that, go for it.

Jim Wilkins pointed out why 'chucks are hard to kill if you don't shoot them in the head. His is not some minority opinion. Having shot and killed a couple hundred of them, and having once immersed myself in the recommendations from the wildcat clan who shot them all the time, I can agree what Jim says is widely known among varmint hunters. They don't die easily if shot indisciminately in the body.

If you don't kill them, they'll make it into their hole and die there. That may not be so bad if you fill the hole immediately, or, if the hole is under your porch, it can produce a stinking mess that will disgust you for several weeks.

Bingo. If your chucks are calm enough that they'll sit still for you to shoot, maybe you can make a clean head shot.

Try this trick: When no one is in your yard except for a chuck chomping his way through your vegetation, give a sharp, short, high-pitched whistle. Or use a toy whistle to do it if you can't whistle. That fluttering sound of a regular whistle does not help; pull out the little ball, if you can.

If the chuck is comfy he will sit up on his hind legs and just look. Shoot now. This is something that varmint hunters have been doing for many years, and it usually works.

If the chuck is nervous, he will run when you whistle. Your chances of getting a clean, still head shot will be much less. 'Time for the trap.

After sitting alert and motionless for a while my lips are too dry when I try to whistle. Do you know if an ultrasonic dog whistle works? I don't want to attract the neighbors' attention as well, since they might all want a shot themselves.

Several mouth noises that don't sound human or threatening work, like clucking and hissing. They sit up and look for the source.

OTOH if you make a loud deep WOOF like a large dog lots of animals flee in terror even if they were staring at you, who are obviously not the large dog. That's my immediate reaction to a sudden nearby noise at night outdoors. It works on people too.

jsw

On Fri, 18 Jun 2010 17:53:44 -0500, Ignoramus13320 wrote the following:

So, you don't set traps where kids and dogs can get at them. Simple.

Find their hole, pour 29.4% ammonia down it, and cover it. Problem solved, nitrogen released from the ammonia as it degrades. Buy it at a surveyor's supply. A gallon cost me $7.75 a while back.

P.S: Keep the jug of aqua ammonia away from kids/pets, too.

-- Peace of mind is that mental condition in which you have accepted the worst. -- Lin Yutang

Still had rules for the 2008 Hunting season tucked away on the computer:

=3D=3D=3D Small Game Early September Canada Goose Hunting A small game license entitles you to hunt rabbit, hare, squirrel (fox and gray), pheasant, ruffed grouse, woodcock (HIP endorsement required), quail, crow, coyote (applies to Michigan residents only) and waterfowl (with a federal waterfowl stamp and Michigan waterfowl hunting license, if age 16 or older) during the open season. Opossum, porcupine, weasel, red squirrel, skunk, ground squirrel and woodchuck also may be taken year-round with a valid hunting license. No license is required for a resident, resident=E2=80=99s spouse or resident=E2=80=99s children to hunt small game= on the enclosed farmlands where they live, except a federal waterfowl stamp and state waterfowl license are required to hunt waterfowl. =3D=3D=3D

Michigan has had no closed season on them for as long as I can remember...

I've heard the same story you told (save them for survival situations), but in general, not just a Michigan thing (shrug).

--=20 Leon Fisk Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b Remove no.spam for email

Still had rules for the 2008 Hunting season tucked away on the computer:

=== Small Game Early September Canada Goose Hunting A small game license entitles you to hunt rabbit, hare, squirrel (fox and gray), pheasant, ruffed grouse, woodcock (HIP endorsement required), quail, crow, coyote (applies to Michigan residents only) and waterfowl (with a federal waterfowl stamp and Michigan waterfowl hunting license, if age 16 or older) during the open season. Opossum, porcupine, weasel, red squirrel, skunk, ground squirrel and woodchuck also may be taken year-round with a valid hunting license. No license is required for a resident, resident's spouse or resident's children to hunt small game on the enclosed farmlands where they live, except a federal waterfowl stamp and state waterfowl license are required to hunt waterfowl. ===

Michigan has had no closed season on them for as long as I can remember...

I've heard the same story you told (save them for survival situations), but in general, not just a Michigan thing (shrug).

================================================

Now I'm really curious about this. Was it a myth? Or was there a reversal of the law at some point?

I don't remember the hunting rules but I do remember environmentalists making an issue of it, because of the tree damage.

Let's see...Google...well, it's illegal to have sex with a porcupine in Florida, but no Florida law surprises me...

...a police officer in Escanaba clubbed a porky to death with a fire extinguisher...

...lots of people (posting in blogs) think they're protected here and there, but nothing about the actual laws...

My guess is that it's an old myth.

I have some old Michigan hunting rules & regs. I know they don't go back to the time you remember though, I'm not as old as most people think ;-)

I'll try and look around for them later and see what they say.

I resemble that remark. d8-)

Ok. Don't bust a gut over it. Googling around, it looks to me like it's an old wive's tale. But who knows? There have been some strange game laws over the years.