SUNBURY — Aside from fishing, one of the other things you can do during the summer is to help farmers alleviate their fields of ground hogs. There is no shortage of ground hogs, and I can’t remember the last time I talked to a farmer who was interested in keeping a good supply of ’hogs in his fields.
First, ask permission.
Nothing ticks a landowner off anymore than some uninvited jerk blasting away behind the barn. Many landowners will be glad to have you lower the ’hog population.
Here again, this doesn’t automatically give you and a bunch of your buddies permission to hunt deer there in the fall. Make it clear what you are doing, and if you hunt coyote or fox, you may get more permission for that. Deer hunting, on the other hand, is a different story. You may in fact gain permission to deer hunt.
Ask the farmer or landowner, but get to know them before you ask permission
to hunt deer. Make yourself available for some hard
labor. Permission to hunt deer is becoming a more and more valuable commodity.
All right, back to ground hogs. There are lots of rifles and calibers that are efficient for ’hogs. For those of us who drag the ol’ deer rifle out cof the case for a couple of “sight-in” shots before deer season, we need to crack off a few rounds during the summer, too. It does us and the rifle good, and you might know a little more about what you are doing when the big buck makes a break across the powerline in November.
My .308 kills at least a couple of ground hogs each summer, and is not so unfamiliar when I pull it up to my treestand in the fall. I also have a Savage .223 over 12-gauge that I refer to as my coyote killer, though I haven’t even scared a coyote with it.
It does have some turkeys and ground hog notches — the coyote will get it eventually.
Wait, I forgot. I did scare the living effluvients out of
a coyote with that thing one morning when I was checking traps. I caught him out in the open in a big field one morning when I was checking traps a couple of years ago. This is a single shot, and I got four rounds off at him until he hit\ the tree line. It was a good 500 yards, and I was “walking” it in on him as good as you could with a single shot.
I got to watch him go through all five gears, and by the time he hit the woods, he was in double overdrive. I had the dirt flying up pretty close to him, and I left there with only the satisfaction that at least he knew I was there.
I dearly love archery hunting and fishing, but there is something special about the heft of a rifle in your hands. To some, it is a foreign feeling. Some are scared of guns, or have no desire to own one.
I grew up with firearms and am just as comfortable with a rifle or a fishing rod in my hands.
As gun owners, we need to be vigilant as there are those who would take our rights away. In recent years, there is a movement to use international law to circumvent our strong gun rights in this country. At the moment, international law in this area wields little power, but times are changing and we need to keep an eye on such things.
■ Ken Maurer, Herndon, is a licensed fishing guide and a regular contributor to
the outdoors page. Email comments to kenrose@tds. net.
