How to hunt badgers?

[Islander]

I was out yesterday asking for gopher permission for myself and the boy, and stumbled across a couple of goldmines. First guy basically asked me to hunt deer and coyote on his 1 and a 1/4 section, near Cochrane( not yet sure about the deer regs there. I am still in bear mode after a successful spring , and haven't really looked up regs for deer. Can you guys tell that i'm new to Alberta yet? More stuck on bears than deer. Go figure.) If its draw there for deer, I'm SOL as I didn't put in. Anyhow, second guy has several sections, and he said to have at er for gopher, coyote, fox and badger. While the boy and I walked around slaughtering the cannibalistic little rodents (nearly 100 of them, til we ran out of shells) we noticed a ton of badger holes. How do I go about stacking the odds in my favor to get one of these guys? Any info on hunting methods would be greatly appreciated. Oh yeah, sometime soon I'll post my bear pics. Not a hog, but I'll take him for my first Alberta bear. 5'10 nose to tail, 225-240 lbs, 17 1/2" skull. Young lanky boar. Got him south of GP, on a weekend trip from Calgary, taken with my buddies .270 at 75 yrds after an unsuccessful bow stalk. As for badgers, any info will help. Thanks, Islander

[GrtWht]

Islander, I spend a lot of time hunting west of Cochrane, It is a great area for deer. Mulie is draw, but antlered elk and whitetail are general (I'm speaking of WMU 314) There are some real hog Mulies out there and I hope to draw a tag for one this year. As far as the Badgers go they are fairly hard to come by. The best time to see them is late in the day like at dusk. Good luck with the hunt this fall.

[Bushmaster]

Any badgers I have shot, I have just happened upon. The best way to get them is to trap them, as they are mostly nocturnal.....and a ton of badger holes doesn't necessarily mean a ton of badgers, more likely a very industrious individual. But good luck, I'm sure the land owner will be happy to be rid of them.

[Young Eldon]

:) Badgers are hardly worth shooting in the summer since their hides are only prime during the winter. Killing a mature female during the summer is also very likely to leave her young to starve to death - not a humane thing to be doing!

They do not hibernate and will dig gophers out during the winter, the dirt from the holes they dig is thrown up ontop of the snow - so it is very easy to see where they are working. If you examine all of these freshly dug holes, you will find one that is still plugged with the dirt. That is the hole the badger is still in. The dirt plug keeps the cold air, noise, etc. out while the badger is sleaping down the hole during the daytime. Badgers are very nocturnal and that makes hunting them quite fruitless. Most are trapped in the winter (Chicken guts at that plugged hole) or shot opportunistically during the summer.

If I had to hunt them in the summer, I would locate an area with fresh diggings and try calling them with a rabbit squeal (gopher squeals would be better) from downwind.

The prime hide of a winter killed badger is one of the most luxurious pelts you can get due to the colour,thick under fur and long quard hairs (formerly used to make men's shaving brushes).

Ranchers have had a long history of killing badgers since the badger holes can rarely cause a running horse to fall and kill it's rider. The badgers also like chickens. Nowadays ranchers may be further ahead to keep the badgers around to help reduce the gophers and buy their eggs at Sobeys?

[lazy ike]

My sons and I were out gopher shooting just East of town and we saw a basger doing his thing, I got some good shots with my camera. 312 and 314 are very low priority draws for mulies, indeed if you apply fast enough with a 1 you will often get drawn.

[roger]

spot and stalk, not very entertaining thou.
i got three in one shot with 6mm once...
have 'called' one with a crow call in a frenzy, not sure whether he just happened my way or was coming in, either way it expired.
winter/spring badger is an awesome pelt, skulls are impressive too, ive got one bleached..
early morning... look for dust clouds..
some years there are tons, then none..
welcome to AB

[gonefishin]

My brother in-law has a problem with them on his farm and asked me to get rid of some. I would locate the holes they were using and sit and wait. I would sit at around 2:00 in the afternoon and wait for them to come out and sun themselves. I never had to wait more than half an hour in the 2 trips I've made so far.

[Redfrog]

I've used predator distress calls. I like a high pitched open reed call. Set near the holes and call. i only stay for 15 minutes. if they are coming, they are there by then.

[270WIN]

I appreciate the info posted by Young Eldon on how to trap badgers. We've got at least one on our place (attracted by the gophers) and the damage it is doing to the land is a concern as we ride and pasture our horses there. I know that badgers help keep the gophers in check but I can deal with them on my own with some help from my .22 and .222 rifles.
Thanks Eldon. I'll put that information to good use next winter.