Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
|
|
We have not enjoyed nearly as many Yellow Bellied Marmots, aka Rockchucks as last year, when I shot 27 on our five-acre Ranchette. I'm up to 7 so far this year, but the one I made garden friendly today went out in style.
He had been hanging out with our Inukshuks on our 30' basalt cliff & sheltering in a deep hole near the top of the cliff. The rock is covered with marmot droppings & smells like marmot pee, so his passing is not regretted at all.
But he's been rightfully wary of me, and in our 10 or so encounters, when I have been packing a rifle, he has never stopped running long enough to give me a decent shot. This morning I saw him sunning himself adjacent to our northern-most Inukshuk, Herman.
I managed to sneak to about 200' of him, but only had the top part of him in view for a shot with my 22. I shot & saw him jump down, briefly hop around and then he dissapeared from view. When I walked up to where he had been, I noticed a lead bullet splash on Herman's basalt knee & no adjacent rockchuck body.
I decided my shot had been a near miss that maybe splattered the rockchuck with a little lead & rock.
However late afternoon, I was looking for asparagus under the cliff & found his body. I had made a heart or lung shot & in the process of dying he had fallen off our cliff at it's highest point.
He looked natural & he has now been buried with full rockchuck honors.
Rockchuck droppings at top of cliff.
|
|
Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
|
|
T Hocking! The yellow bellied Marmot, aka rockchunk death is all my fault.
Guess, I'm living up to my Idaho killer background.
|
|
neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
|
|
hey there say, BJ... love that PARK for the marmot... :)
|
|
hossjulia
Trad climber
Carson City, NV
|
|
lol, With all due respect, I think that might be a Neebee version of "F*#k you guys."
|
|
NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
|
|
This dude hung out with us for lunch on Matthes Crest... 2008.
He wouldn't eat carrots.
|
|
Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
|
|
He wouldn't eat carrots.
Cause you didn't get orgasmic ones at Whole Paycheck.
|
|
NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
|
|
^^^ Maybe, but I'm 99% sure they would have been organic if not orgasmic.
Edit: Maybe the problem is I bit it off and he didn't like the taste of my spit?
He was polite enough to take our picture though:
Maybe he lost his appetite because of my shirt?
|
|
mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
|
|
Snafflehound is a term used to describe any of various pestiferous rodents that inhabit the alpine zone.
Snafflehounds are notorious for gnawing on gear left at the base of an alpine climb; primarily boots because of the sodium left by the wearer's sweat, as well as backpacks to get at any food left inside.
Numerous cases have also been reported of snafflehounds gnawing holes in sleeping bags while climbers slept inside them.
They suck because they like to gnaw the brake lines and other rubbery parts of the undercarriage of vehicles parked at some trailheads (Mineral King, for one).
The term may have been first popularized by Fred Beckey. The eponymous "Snafflehound Spire" is in The Bugaboos, of course, and a "Snafflehound Ledge" is on the Beckey-Davis Route of Prusik Peak in The Enchantments.
They LOOK so damn friendly, but they are really an alpine guerilla species, to me.
|
|
couchmaster
climber
|
|
I've never eaten Rock chuck/Marmot. Heading to Fritz's house to check it out. Is it "fair trade free range" Fritz? What was the Marmots name?
|
|
Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
|
|
Not sure OT Marmot would approve of this...
|
|
Bruce Morris
Social climber
Belmont, California
|
|
I seem to remember that sometime in the 70s Ranger Tim Setnika walked into the rescue team site at Soda Springs in Tuolumne Meadows and caught 'Animal' Art Hanan barbecuing marmots on sticks over an open fire. As I recall, he was not charged however. No one wanted to get on Hanan's bad side, even the rangers.
|
|
rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Shetville , North of Los Angeles
|
|
Like the guy that got caught trying to steal Art's car stereo...?
|
|
Vegasclimber
Trad climber
Las Vegas, NV.
|
|
Not sure OT Marmot would approve of this...
Oh, he doesn't. This whole thread is making him conspire with the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog....ye have been warned....
|
|
Bruce Morris
Social climber
Belmont, California
|
|
Like the guy that got caught trying to steal Art's car stereo...?
Unhealthy life choice!
|
|
mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
|
|
The Hoary Marmot (Marmota caligata) is the largest North American ground squirrel and is often nicknamed "the whistler" for its high-pitched warning issued to alert other members of the colony to possible danger. The animals are sometimes called "whistle pigs".
Whistler, British Columbia, originally London Mountain because of its heavy fogs and rain, was renamed for these animals to help make it more marketable as a resort.
The closest relatives of the species are the yellow-bellied, Olympic, and Vancouver Island marmots, although the exact relationships are unclear.
http://www.whistlepigkorean.com/
|
|
Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
|
|
Easy, Vegas, don't shoot the messenger - I didn't buy none!
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!