we stopped shooting them when one sunny day we took note, that cutting an adult in half at range sent the young'uns out in harms way - to retrieve the parts of the elders (mom-n-dad?) and drag them back into the holes! We both had the same thought at once. Made it pretty tough to continue that shooting and have fun...
Hiya Sam,
Picket pins and rock chucks, some of the few critters Idaho still has in shootable numbers some years, are omnivorous. What you and your pard thought was mourning and compassion of the young'uns towards their burrow mates was actually just the little cannibals dragging in fresh vittles for leisurely dining opportunities out of harms way.
If you doubt that, just observe them closely for a while. The little buggers might possibly be praying for their road killed kin along the highways but I think rather that they are, if indeed the lesser varmints do pray, saying thanks prior to dining on their squashed brethren. If you doubt that, just stop and glass them the next time you see live and dead squirrels along the road way. . .
Some of the best chuck shooting I ever had was with a hot loaded Varminter that would produce chunks and pieces almost like a 105 HE round. There were three large dens that had not been shot on for a couple of years and it was one of those banner years that happens now again. The landowner, who was spotting for me, couldn't believe how the little cannibals would feast on the gory parts and pieces.
We still live in the middle of chuck and ground squirrel property. We have ample opportunity to observe them. Anyone who kills these rodents will get no flack from me or from the hay farmers and ranchers that I know.
