Where are the Groundhogs

My Hunting buddy has been hunting Varney Hanover Mt Forest area for 30 years . I started with him 10 yrs ago and we would shoot 30 in two day he had 70 kill in a day in the past, Locals claim its the coyotes but we never see damage to any dens rarely see coyotes during ground hog hunts. I had a guy tell me today he thinks they are using fly poison to kill them. Lets hear your ideas And no it was from killing them all as we often would leave a bunch for next year, We saw 10 total in 2 days this week

With all this rain think they all drowned

I hunt farms in eastern Peterborough County and central Northumberland County and the number of GHogs I've seen in the last few years can be counted on both hands. There's lots of Coyotes and Black Bears around,though.

I have seen more hogs up around North Bay this year than I have seen in a long time. They certainly seem to be on the rebound in the city anyway.

Coyotes, lots of coyotes.

I agree , the coyotes have cleaned them up. We have one in our yard. has a hole in beside the barn. The only one that I know about on our farm. Our jack rabbit , population is away down as well, can't remember if I saw any tracks last winter. Have a family of foxes , close by, I really don't mind them , like to watch the pups playing. The other night they were having a sing song. clean up a lot of mice and small critters. A lot of the cross fences have been removed in our area, farmers have gone to large fields, this leaves very little habitat for ground hogs and jacks. Think it is affecting our deer population as well. They have to change their travel routes. Sign of the times . old243

My guess would be coyotes and farming/land management. One area I have permission to hunt is owned by two brothers who farm 5000 acres.

They buy land, sell or bulldoze the home, barn, sheds etc. then usually remove all tree lines and anything that hinders mass farming and large equipment mobility. That particular 400-500 acres does have a limited stand of sugar bush/mixed hardwood around the perimeter. It also has a transient coyote population (not enough cover to hold them permanently). Never seen a ground hog there.

Just across the road is a smaller parcel with trees, fence lines etc. and there are a few rabbit and ground hog. Then across the next rd is another larger section, different owner with fence rows, a strip of hardwood timber and only hay production. The area has several coyote dens and heavy rabbit sign and a few ground hogs.

The third place is hay/row crop/cattle with no fence row cover, transient coyotes and about 80 acres of timber. It had a ground hog lying in the farmer's asphalt driveway yesterday afternoon went I went by there.

Neither of the 3 owners use any poison although one does spray crops, one tills, one only cuts hay and one drills.

In the several years that I have hunted those farms only the one with all the yote dens/timber tree lines/hay fields had any amount of ground hogs.

Oddly the two groundhog holding farms have several things in common, natural cover, hay/pasture and numerous metal equipment buildings and idle rows of farm implements. Most of the ground hogs have been near the implements and buildings rather than in the fields.

There is a poison farmers use for ground hogs. Ive heard it called bubblegum poison before.

Don't know much about it either, but all my spots have dried up too. My record was 35 grounds in one day about 15 years ago. I shot one last year, seen two more but left them.

Coyotes take a lot too, and foxes. They are smart hunters. I remember my old golden retriever would kill a groundhog almost every day when I was a kid.

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Habitat loss is a big one. Just as SkyP says above, the southern Ontario acreage that was formerly pasture and hay fields is now being cash cropped for a better money return. If you Google or hit the OMAFRA website you'll get some stats and I'm sure the acreage loss will be sobering. Probably why a square of good hay now cost $7 per bale in many areas. It's another big reason why we've lost up to 85% of our grassland and insectivorous bird species in the past 10 years. I'm pretty sure you can add herbicide changes to the list. The average cash cropper is now using a chemical cocktail (everything from coated seed to ground spray) that includes a list of chemicals that are proven endocrine and hormone disruptors. Many of these have long residual life (in years) in the soil and water. Many of these chemicals are being directly linked to many of the current crashes in insectivorous birds, bats, bees, etc., etc. Not even the chemical companies have any clue of the synergistic effects when you put this mix of chemicals on the land. Some of the papers out there are sobering to read eg. direct links between loss of all our bats from white-nosed disease due to endocrine/immune system disruption from neonics used in agriculture. Think of the impact to Mr. groundhog from a farmer simply spraying a seeded hay field with the good old dicamba/2,4-D mix to control perennial/biennial weeds. Both chemicals have residual life and both are highly toxic to birds, mammals, etc.

Found them !!....this is by far the worse (?) year for g'hogs in this area. We used to rarely see them, now I have them living under the barn and my range shack. My dog has killed 3 already this year.

Can't say they're a problem, they're a great help in making the .22 dirty and to practice the hunting skills. :)