The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-08-29
HUNTING FAE W6ebeAVeR
IA Willy Animal That Makes a ehIftIna
Taraet-cuIinary Notes.


chuck when he sees It. This is what
stirs the first excitement in the hunt
er Of chucks-knowing chuck when
he sees 1t. The department of agri-
culture at Washington can describe
woodchucks so infinitely that their
own mothers would think they were
muskrats or rabbits, not being famil-
lar with scientific nomenclature.
Now, the special season for hunting
chucks is Immediately after the hay
ing season begins. First one must
have a hunting license; then one
must return to the old boyhood home.
When a meadow is moved and the
field lies bare before the eyes little
mound of naked earth strikes the
eye. IL deserves more than passing
glance. 1t is woodchuck hole. Sit
ting beside that hole is thrilling
black something 1t looks tawny or
red) stub, and that stub is the wood
chuck, sitting on its launches on the
lookout. 1t resolves itself into an
animated lump, wallowing around in
the grass stubble. A thousand might
not recognize that stub as chuck
till il moved, not even there in mid
field. How much more difficult 1t is
to identify the sly old chuck whose
habitation is in an old pasture, full
of stumps and stakes, is not easily
understood until one has spied among
the stumps for them.
Some woodchucks dig their holes in
midfeld. some under the spreading
roots of a choke cherry tree and
some in old stone fences Some are
in old pastures, some in wood lots
and some of the largest are found
along the edges of old clearings,
where they have hidden the entrances
of their burrows in the briers and
underbrush heaps. Always the hunt
ed woodchuck is very shy His bear
ing is exceedingly acute, although his
eyesight is sometimes said to be
poor" by people who judge by the
looks and not by the facts, just as a
similar class of people judge politi-
clan by the things he doesn't do and
bless him for them rather than
| Judge him for what he is.
The right kind of boy can tell a
woodchuck as far as he can see him.
He will pass stump, stone, stick,
shadow, tuft and weed scornfully by
only to stop, shivering with excite
ment, because he catches sight of the
Whit of wind through sunlit hair or
spies the tiny CLINT of whiskered
eye, or the point of an ear, or the
waddle of hidden figure in deep
grass-he fairly feels that 1t is or is
not chuck Perhaps there is men
tai telegraphy between boys and
chucks-grown-up cannot remember
and the small boys have secrets they
tell none but their own kind
Anyone can kill chuck?" some
hunters say, scornfully, and they are
not law protected game, but that is
because they protect themselves.
Even when one has seen chuck,
and knows ii is a chuck, 1t is not so
easy to kill one. The easiest chuck
to see Is the one in mid-meadow. Try
to crawl to shooting range-the
chuck sees or hears the approach. He
fees to the mouth Of his burrow, and
on the approach of the danger he
draws lower and lower down into his
hole-the rifieman has the choice Of
shooting at his whole upright frame
at $50 yards, at his head at 100
yards and at nothing at rs yards. Try
shooting at a mark foot high and
four inches wide with little rifle to
see what craftsmanship is required
to get a chuck, or at a three'lnch
lcircle at 100 yards.
Now, woodchuck, after ii has
heard the zip of bullet a few times,
lchanges its habits, just as deer that
is much hunted changes its ways.
A chuck that is much hunted will
begin to eat earlier in the day and
pass all the midday hours out Of sight
in the ground. 1t will come out for
only a little while toward night. Be
fore coming out 1t viii rest in the hole
lust out OF sight, and listen for an
hour, and then II will stick only its
head out and listen for half an hour
no sneeze escapes its notice, no foot.
fall, however light. no rustic in the
Igrass. however faint
II is a creature of choice tastes
nc prefers clover to timothy hay. II
enjoys string beans, vines, leaves and
Iall II knows a few herbs and grass
es on which to pamper its appetite
IL will eat and destroy several hun
dred pounds of hay in a summer. II
Twill devastate on eighth Of an acre OF
garden in a morning If the gardener
fingers too long at breakfast or sharp
ening his wheel hoe.
A young woodchuck is good to eat
He should be shot through the head
dressed Immediately, parboiled and
fried in butter. A thin brown-1our
gravy, poured over hot soda biscuits
goes very well with the young chuck
A pair of three young chucks roast
ed and Drowned in dripping pan
with either sage or mild onion, crack
er or toasted crumb dressing, makes
a fine game dinner. Properly cook
ed raspberry sauce, little tart in
flavor, is as good a side dish as could
be had. Moreover, those fastidious
persons who have to doctor and mess
1around in everything they eat will
find that young woodchuck salad is
better than mutton and as good as
a young chuck.
An old woodchuck should always
be parboiled in saleratus water. II
may be boiled twice on occasion
Then, when well boiled, II should be
run through the meat grinder and
ground exceedingly fine. II makes q
meat gravy one never forgets, and II
baked in a biscuit crust pie, with a
slight sage flavor added to the sauce
one will rejoice forever more. II Is
better than the famous possum, and
no coon ever had better flavor.
A woodchuck hunter needs no ad
vice regarding the weapon with which
to seek woodchucks, but the novice
does. No animal is harder TO kill, for
II will often fee with wound that