Posted: 9/29/2007 6:01:11 PM EDT
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Ok, so there is a hole not far from my parents house. It has to be a badger hole because I'm positive nothing else in the area could create such a hole. Its several feet deep and it does not go at an angle like a rabbit hole or dillo hole. So, my question is this. How do I get the thing out? I want to exterminate it, bad. Plus I want the fur to hang on my wall. I have no experience with them. They have no season where I am, plus, its wise to kill it if you ask me as its not 50 yds from my parents house. How would I trap it? Call? Methods and means please. I plan on using an AR on it so what round? 55grn soft point?(I have a few of those) If I trap it, I'll just use a .22lr so as to not mess up the fur too bad. Thanks guys. I'll post pics if I EVER get it. 33 |
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I suppose ill let you in on a few secrets. First of all, if you are planning on trapping it, you need to make sure there are no dogs/cats/cattle. or anything you would NOT want to trap in the area. almost always, I use a hole set, which means, in short, a fake hole that goes down at about a 30-45 degree angle into the earth, with the trap just outside of it, about 9 inches from the base of the hole (I just use my pinky and thumb, stick them out as far away from each other as i can get them, and from tip to tip is about 9 inches). and set the trap to the right, since most animals are right handed so to say. Also, use natural things to guide it to the hole. even the smallest twig could direct the animal in a direction you want or dont want. Make a platform with the dirt you dig out of the hole, big enough so that a badger could stand on it. Now, when you set the trap, some people like to bury them, like me, and some like to leave them open. if you leave it "open", traps have a tendency to freeze down easier if you live in an area that freezes fairly hard. also, BAIT! if you dont use the hole that he is supposedly frequenting, I smear bait around the hole, so he has something to sniff, and then throw the bait in the hole. bait can be porcupines, rotten meat, pretty much anything for a badger i think. After you make the set, step back and look at it from a distance. Does this intrigue you to go up and look at it? There is an animal in us all. you just have to know where to look for it. Trapping is an art. you may be able to throw a trap down, anywhere, and get something in it, but to trap the specimen you want, thats a different story. ETA: i have also called them in, when calling for coyotes. |
I used .223 55gr SP on these badgers, same as I use for coyotes. Watch your ass, though - these suckers are tough and have a general bad disposition in life. You can try calling them, I've heard it works but it may be kinda tough - I'd use small bird distress and rodent squeaks. Don't want to frighten it off with the sound of prey that's too large. You may also try sitting the hole at dusk and dawn, you might catch them then. I happened upon these two while they were making tracks for their little home. I tanned the pelts of both of these and they came out great.
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Well, it seems that I have a problem. I guess one of these little gems attacked a outdoor cat my parents have a while back. Tore it up pretty good, but it survived. At first we all thought it was a bobcat but I was sceptical of that as a bobcat would have killed it quick. I think a cat could get away from a badger if it was fast enough and this one was. The hole is 50yds away from the house and the trap that I tried caught another stray cat that did not have its shots...which is a good thing. Hmmm, maybe I'll try filling the hole with water in the afternoon and sit back and see if it pops out.... It'll have to wait, works in the way right now... |
| herYou can leave 5ft of snare but use steel wire so that it wont open up because the animal backed up. This is a safe trap you can use that wont kill it or anyother animal that gets caught in it. Leave a small dead rabbit in the trap but in peices so that it has to stay around the trap longer. Take some pics when you catch it in the snare. |
Shot this one with a 410 one morning. he was just walking across the front yard and I had it handy with #4 shot. 20 yards out and he was dead . The shots went thru the body from the rear quater and out the front shoulder and some evn followed inside and blew out the jaw.
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I'd definitely be careful about poking around near the hole or trying to fill it in. A buddy of mine thought it would be a good idea to probe a badger hole with the muzzle of his SKS. He really wanted to flush that thing out and get a nice badger pelt. When all of those teeth and claws came flying out of the hole he went into panic mode and unloaded the SKS into the badger and hole. The badger was pretty useles as a pelt after six hits with 7.62 soft points at muzzle contact range. It was a pretty humerous sight though to see him freak out and just keep nailing the trigger as the dust cloud grew . He was still squeezing the trigger after the 10th round was out. A ticked off badger is pretty impressive |
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Ragnar suggests 2 methods that may work. Method 1: At mid-day, cover the hole with a black cloth. Wait with your favorite badger-dispatching tool (pistol, AK, club, whatever). When badger comes up to see who turned off the lights, nail him. Method 2 (might not be useful, as it is reserved for skunks, etc who have long fur): Take a piece of barbed wire and form a loop. Attach the loop to the end of some heavy wire, about 10' long. Stick the device down the hold and twist it. The barbed wire becomes tangled in the mutt's fur and you can drag him out. beware: badgers are kind of pissy when they are abused in ANY manner. |
 And that is why I've not stayed anywhere near the hole for more than a min or 2. And I have a rifle pointed at it the whole time I'm there. That would be my dumb ass unloading a 30rnd mag into it. Thanks for the suggestions guys, if anyone else has some please by all means post them. I may try that black cloth one Frank, thanks. |
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First off I would leave the badger alone they eat alot of rodents, I doubt a badger got ahold of your parents cat. Second skinning a badger sucks ass, they are difficult to skin and stink very badly. If you really really must kill it, get a small centerfire rifle like a 223, a lawn chair and a cooler or beer wait no guns and booze..... pitcher of sweet tea and go set where you can watch the burrow about an hour and a half before dark. |
we have large animals (horses, llamas, cows) and medium animals (sheep and goats). none of those do very well when they run and put a foot in a badger hole, which tends to be about 8-12 inches in diameter and plenty deep. and badgers will dig anywhere they think they can get a rodent, which is fairly often around anywhere in eastern oregon. i shoot em when i get the chance. |
+1 My boots, knife and magazines still stink from a week ago, even after leaving them in the garage for a few days. Make sure you have a SHARP knife if you plan on skinning it. Oh, and .45 doesn't do the trick on these bastards. I put seven rounds into the one I got last week and he just stood on his haunches and stared at me. Three rounds of .223 put him down. |
Oh yeah !! When I was a kid, and .22 shorts were 30 cents a box, my cousin and I would get ammo money by running the barbed wire into coyote dens, then cashing in on the bounty money. One memorable summer morning we ran the wire into a badger hole. Big mistake. The badger came boiling out of the hole and ran us a good hundred yards, snapping like a bear. We learned a whole new respect for them and never went back!  |
Awesome!! I'm gonna make a try to kill this little bugger in a week or 2. I have still not had time to try and get it. Hell, it'll probably die of old age before I can get back at it. 
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