As a young man, hunting groundhogs was one of our top notch sport species. Thousands of acres of farmland were immediately made available when you told farmers you wanted to hunt groundhogs. The pasture poodles were a curse for farmers, riddling the farmland with their burrows while eating untold acres of soybeans and corn. Their deprivation on soybeans was easily spotted as there would be a semicircle of bare ground emanating from around the burrow.  It seemed their appetites were insatiable.

An old farmer and good friend, Chester Gosnell, lived south of Moscow and farmed a few acres of corn and soybeans. Chester was meticulous and actually hoed his soybean fields by hand.  Lord help any wayward weed or stalk of volunteer corn springing up on Chester’s soybean field. His fields were beautiful and weed free.

When Chester took to the field, along with his hoe and a sharpening stone, he carried his double barreled 12-gauge shotgun. Chester would lean the shotgun against a tree or a fence post and begin his weed patrol. As Chester went about hoeing, he would keep an eye out for any groundhogs munching on his soybeans. When Chester would see a groundhog he would trade the hoe for the shotgun and sit patiently waiting for the groundhog to come back out of its burrow.

Curiosity killed more than the cat. After a bit, the groundhog would peek out to see if the coast was clear. With Chester sitting motionless and his shotgun at the ready, the groundhog would step out for what would become his last supper. Chester didn’t miss.

To give an idea of how prolific the local groundhogs were, the field was less than 15 acres and Chester killed 66 groundhogs around the field’s perimeter in the early spring and summer. He killed similar numbers every year he planted the field in soybeans.

When other sport species were out of season, we always had a proliferation of groundhogs to hunt. There was a small hayfield south of Moscow literally “Swiss cheesed” by the groundhog burrows. One afternoon, I was with a friend and I pulled my pick up next to the fence surrounding the field. We agreed I would take the north side of the field and he would take the south side. When I blew the pickup truck’s horn, we would count the number of groundhogs standing up.

As I laid on the horn, 13 on my side stood up and 13 on his side. Twenty six groundhogs in all and just the ones outside their burrows.

Long range 22-caliber rifle competition is all the rage now with competitors shooting 100 yards or more at paper targets. Back in the day, we stretched our shots on groundhogs seen in open hayfields to 150 yards or more. When shooting, the gunner would have a spotter to tell him “up, down, right or left.” The impact of the bullets kicked up a very visible puff of dirt. Seldom did we actually connect, but it was great fun and a rousing competition.

I did have one gun which would reach out regardless of the distance. It was a Lee Enfield Mark III in British .303 which is about equivalent to a 30-06. I believe the ramp sights on the rifle went to 1,200 or 1,500 meters, but I never shot any further than 200 yards.

One warm afternoon, I stopped my truck at the little hayfield and brought out the .303. Finding a suitable fence post for a rest for the rifle, I spotted a groundhog about 200 yards away standing up behind a small pile of dirt in front of its den.

Taking careful aim, I slowly squeezed the trigger. With the crack of the rifle there was a huge plume of rock and debris filling the air in front of the den. It looked like the den and groundhog had been hit by a small howitzer.

Unloading the rifle and putting it in the truck, I climbed the fence and walked the 200 yards to the groundhog’s den. There I found a very dead groundhog, shredded from the explosion of the small granite rock I had hit on the small mound of dirt right in front of it.

Back in those days, groundhogs had very few predators and populations were out of control.  But, it all changed once the coyote came on the scene. Coyotes decimated the groundhog population in just a few years.

A coyote would spot a groundhog feeding and slowly begin to stalk it. When the groundhog had its head down feeding, the coyote would creep closer. As soon as the groundhog stopped eating and stood up, the coyote would freeze. Slowly the coyote would cover the distance to get between the groundhog and its burrow. When it was close enough, it would rush the unprotected groundhog. Like the ever-patient Chester Gosnell, the coyote doesn’t miss.

The groundhog is staging a slight comeback as the coyote numbers have dwindled here locally. Along with the demise of the groundhog years ago, we saw a great decrease in the number of cottontail rabbits. Rabbits, like many other animals, used abandoned groundhog burrows for shelter and to raise their young.

For individuals who have never tried it, properly cared for and prepared groundhog is delicious.  Very few of the groundhogs we killed went to waste as we usually had a list of people wanting them.

New state nature preserve 

The Natural Resources Commission approved the dedication of North Woods Nature Preserve, which is in LaPorte County, during its regularly scheduled bi-monthly meeting, held Sept. 19 at Brown County State Park’s Abe Martin Lodge.

Located within the Northwestern Morainal Natural Region and owned by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, the 38.22-acre nature preserve protects one of the best examples of boreal flatwoods within Indiana. Some of the dominant tree species include red oak, white oak, red maple, American beech, pin oak and black gum.

Indiana’s nature preserves provide permanent protection for significant natural areas within the state. The action increases the number of state-designated sites protected by the Nature Preserves Act to 299, representing more than 55,000 acres of protected land.

Readers can contact the author by writing to this publication, or e-mail to jackspaulding@hughes.net.

Spaulding’s books, “The Best of Spaulding Outdoors,” and his latest, “The Coon Hunter And The Kid,” are available from Amazon.com in paperback or as a Kindle download.