My first badger

D

Delw

Guest
April (my wife) and I where talking about this story again so I thought I would share it.

About 8 years ago we were out hunting prairie dogs with my parents. We got rooms for the weekend. Dad and I shot alot (the hunting was good back then) Just befor the sun started going down we saw what I thought was a huge prairie dog looking at us while driveing down the road.The sun was setting so it was hard to see the thing(sun was right in or eye's).
I get out of the truck put the bypod up and lay on the ground. took aim the head was just sticking out(about 30 yards). My scope was getting alot of sun mist to It so i went to grab my ar-15 out of the truck. While I was doing that we started hear growling and hissing. We looked for about what seemed like 10 mins. to find this. When all of a sudden This prairie dog came out of his hole and charged us. When it got about 10 yards away It wasnt a prairie dog. It was A pissed off badger. I jumped in the cab of the truck and this thing came right up to it growling and making a big rucuss. Being a bit scared and startled we watched in for a while (about 1 min.)
I grabbed the .223 out of the back seat of the truck and put the sites right on its head.Just when I pulled the trigger It dawned on me that I had hollow points in the gun. SO when I squeezed the trigger I jerked to the left so not to hit it there. I wanted the mount).This happened at the exact same time that. I didnt think I could do that so fast.
Anyway after the shot the badger went running to its hole. while I was trying to find some hunting bullets (the non explosive type)DAD said I hit it.As he watched it I found a FMJ and loaded it in the gun. but then it was too late he was already back in his hole.
We got out of the truck and went to the hole armed with my ar-15 and a .357mag dad had his 9mm. we got up to the hole and could here it growling and hissing. Now its dark and my very first badger is in its hole wounded. I wanted it real bad and Dad just wanted to go back to the room and eat. SO we left and headed back to the room.

april and I mom and dad went to a local bar to eat. While sitting there I was telling my wife about this badger. I told her there had to be some way I could get it. After dinner dad and mom went back the there room and my wife and I stayed to have a few drinks. while sitting there april came up with a way to get it out.She said " you can dig it out cant you" Hell I said it was just a little fur ball couldnt be any more dangerous that a housecat. Besides we could hit it with a shovel. Oh heck we didnt have a shovel and it was 8 pm. we paid our bill and went back to the hotel room.

on the way to the hotel room we passed the Game and fish guys house and the lights were on.Thats were I can get a shovel. I go up and nock on the door. His wife answers. she said Tim was on,lake patrol at the colorado river. So i told her my predicument.She gave me 2 shovels and told me what she thought of me doing this.(basically said i was crazy)

We load up the truck and get to the spot where I shot the badger. We'l after hearing how mean they really are (from the game guys wife). I figured april would hold my Dads 9mm
while I dug the hole. After diggin for about an hour stopped to take a break. Damn Tims wife was right there holes go for ever. I dug 4 feet deep and about 10 feet long.( soft sand). I continued to Dig I wanted this badger bad. After about 3 more hours I finally hit pay dirt.

I saw the badgers rear end. I told april hey I found it and this is how we are going to proceed. I reached down the hole with the shovel handle and poked it a few times Shit its still alive it moved.I dropped everything and ran behind the wife(she had the gun). We waited about 30 mins till I got the nerve to go back and figure something out. Ok I'll wrap this towel around my hand and grab it throw it to the ground and if it moves you shoot it. Then it happened In all the excitement I forgot my wife didnt know how to shoot a semi auto pistol.she didnt even know where the safety was. I took the gun off safety for her and told her to shoot it if and only if it moves.

I reached in the hole took a deep breath and grabbed the thing by the back leg, and when i was pulling it out it slipped. oh crap now i have to do this again.reached back in the hole grabbed it by the back leg and through it to the ground.
Now mind you it was about 12 oclock at night now and we are using the trucks lights(not to mention the fact we have been drinking). when the badger hit the ground april thought it was still alive she fired 7 rounds at it from 5 feet away as fast as a pro could pull the trigger. when the dust settled the badger was just sitting there with its intestine's all over the place. At that time the only thing i could think of was how bad this mount was going to be. I walked over to it and poked it a few times then turned it over. Not one hole from the 9mm. When I shot it the first time I hit it just under the belly and the bullet just gutted it from the front paws to the back paws.

The thing died in it hole and probally was not alive when I poked it with the shovel. I gave the shovels back the next morning and head to phx to get the mount. When at the taxidermist it dawned on both april and I how lucky we were that it wasnt alive. those claws are huge and the thing had even bigger teeth.
Now I have it on my wall in a full mount just like when I first saw it growling at dad and I.

just thought I would share this.

Delw
 
I was looking at some old threads and had to laugh my ass off at this one. I had a visual through the entire story.

These are ferocious little buggers. I got pretty close to this guy, but the camera was not up to my eye. He was one pissed off weasel.

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Thats about what the badger looked like except after digging all I saw was his ass
Delw
 
Great story...
I had one the first year I hunted Mt. come to with in 30 yards of me, he was tearing up stumps and things growling and carring on the whole time. It was very fun to watch. Every time he came to a stump, it would litterally explode, then he would go on, and the dirt would go flying 20-30 feet in either direction as it went for small rodents, then off to another stump. I got to watch it going over the clearcut I was in for about an hour and a half. Very entertaining...
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cool story Delw...


When I was younger living in MI I use to go to WI to help on a friends family farm. Buddy and I would go out and hunt rabbits with BB guns in our free time. Was a few times badgers would put us in a tree. BB guns only pissed them off more. Not a funny thing to piss one off. I've seen the damage they done to livestock, barns and farm equipment.

I use to hate to have to fill in the badger holes by hand. Some would take a few wheel barrels of dirt. Impressive little diggers!

cmc
 
mtmiller your nuts to get that close to a badger. I hope you had the camera in one hand and a cocked 44mag in the other!

cmc
 
No pistol, but my arm was stretched out as far as it would go and I was ready to haul ass if needed.

On another note, my old boss used to pick up live porcupines with just a light leather glove. He said it was easy and I watched him do it a couple of times. Guess I am a wimp, I never had the nuts to do it myself. Anyone else harass wildlife a little bit?
 
Great story Del
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Well lets see.....I killed a groundhog with a cresent wrench, [adjustable wrench], when I was 8 years old.

I grew up on a dairy farm...we were cutting corn for silage, my papaw was cutting, my dad was packing the silo and I was hauling full and empty wagons from the field to the silo. Anyways....I had been seeing this groundhog about every other trip to the field and he must have finally gotten use to all the noise and traffic in and out of the field, because he was quite a ways from his hole when I spotted him next to the creek. So I opened the toolbox on the tractor and the only "big" thing in it was a 12" cresent wrench. So I grabbed my chosen tool of death, jumped from the tractor, got between the groundhog and his hole and started towards him. I thought he would run.....I was wrong. He stood up on his hind legs and gave me a growling noise.....I said yeah right and swung the wrench, connecting with the side of his head. He fell over dead.

Never once did I think, "What if I miss?" Its amazing how brave you are as a kid when you don't know any better
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That was my first kill and have been ruint ever since....here I am nearly 30 years later still killing stuff.....but I do choose better weapons now
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My brother and I use to walk out into alpha fields and sit about 15 yards from woodchuck holes with a bat and a 12awg back in Michigan. We would hit the ground a few times with the bat then wait a few seconds. The little buggers would pop their heads up and boom. Then on to the next hole. Farmers loved us and we hated the little buggers after a few times doing endo's on the motorbike when the front tire would get sucked into their hole...

cmc
 
Darn good stories,thanks for sharing.I once chased a Jela{?} monster all over a portion of Death valley.I didn't know they were poisonous,I just knew they were big and I liked the name.My dad had grown up in Calif., but had no idea what a Hila{?} was.He sat there and watched his 7 year old son chase this deadly thing around the desert
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!

Come to think of it,maybe he did know
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