Wood Chuck Hunting in New York

M

MikeMurf0505

Moderator
I an FINALLY booked for a Wood Chuck trip in New York in April. I'll be landing at Albany, and need some chuckin spots in Schenectedy, Delaware county, and vicinity.
Anyone got any good leads on checkin spots in NY?
 
Hmmm, I hope the coyote population is lower in that area than it is in central NY. Our woodchuck population is decimated in many places.


Also, I've spent many an hour hunting 'chucks and I can tell you that April is NOT the ideal month. They tend to still do a lot of sleeping until late in April or even May, you may want to reschedule if the only purpose is 'chucks. June is the best month IMO, 'chucks are out and plentiful and the temperature is not so high to make hunting miserable.
 
Hehe, if only you could shoot in Rochester... I could give you a few streets to set up on, and pop the chucks in people's front yards for hours.
 
i agree that sounds a wee strange.. but anyway on my farm i end up shooting coyotes instead. the woodchucks are all gone. took car eo that problem a long time ago :D
 
same situation here, no woodchucks, no shunks, foxes and few rabbits..

lots of fat coyotes though...LOL

April is not a good month for chucks, early June when the grass is still fairly low might be better.
 
woodchuck eating

grew up hunting wood chucks in upstate. I would look in the center of the state in the valley farming areas. Recipes? havent heard of any, what ever you do cook it well well done. Would probabley do ok in stew with alot of onions and pepper. I would freeze it for two weeks min also to tenderize, get all the fat off. Let me know how it works out.
 
2 issues..

1 - April is hit or miss in my part of NY (western) - Usually wouldn't see a chuck unless it was a sunny, warm day that time of year.
2 - But, as others have already mentioned, the 'yotes ate most of our chucks. I suspect you are going to be dissapointed.

I used to go out in the grapes and shoot 4-6 in a 1-2 our time frame. Last year, we were out one day for several hours and didn't see a single one!!! Major bummer.
 
In the western NY area when I was a kid we used .22's and it was mostly a summertime thing. A prime time was when the farmers cut their hay, the fields were clear and you could see forever.
 
As for how to cook them, I've never tried to eat one personaly but when you used to drive down a country road you would see the critters hung over the barbed wire fencing so I'm guessing sun dried woodchuck was a favorite back there in WNY. Of course back then they didn't have coyotes to steal those delicious little morsals off of the fences.
 
I live in Syracuse and there are woodchucks galore! I'm just talking the city though, I'm really not that sure of any rural spots.
 
There are many woodchucks left in NY; the problem is that they live in areas that you can't shoot in such as Thruway interchanges etc. Whistlepigs are cousins to the western rockchuck or marmot. Some farmers may allow you to hunt but they aren't usually keen on some stranger shooting around their equipment and livestock. There is plenty of state land to hunt, but the areas you are headed for means that you will have to drive a couple hours north to find state owned land that is open to hunting. Buy a NY state Gazeteer topo map book and study the areas of state land north of Albany. You'll have to do some walking, and ranges will vary as the diggers try to hole up where they have protection from predators and easy escape down the hole. CB.
 
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