Define Varmint

[SimplyChad]

I see that word all the time but I never seem to see a all inclusive list of what the word Varmint includes. Is it just nongame animals? Or smaller animals? Does it vary from state to state county to county?

 

[wombat13]

According to www.dictionary.com, a varmint is an objectionable or irritating animal. Before looking at the dictionary definition, I would have said that a varmint is an animal that needs killing not to provide meat or fur but to eliminate the problems it causes.

 

[allaroundhunter]

Varmint = nuisance (for me)

 

[caribou]

I think of 'Varmits" as pests that are worthless and a problem.

Theres No "Varmits" in Alaska, we have "Fur".

 

[CoRoMo]

I've never understood the .30+ caliber varmint rifles because the critters that I call varmints can be settled up handily with a rimfire rifle.

 

[Manson]

I think the term varmit is generally accepted as meaning a nuisance animal that cause's problems and has very little redeeming value. I consider yote's and raccoon's, feral hogs,and here in Florida armadillo's vamit's.

 

[MTO]

Virginia code lists ten animals as nuisance animals: Pigeons, starlings, sparrows, black rats, norway rats, mice, nutria, woodchucks, feral hogs, and coyotes.

From the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries' website: "Under state law, these species can be killed at anytime and in any manner that is legal under state and local laws (It is NOT legal to trap wildlife live and move it to another location.) These are the only species this applies to and a permit or hunting license is required to use lethal methods on other wildlife that becomes a nuisance."

It's interesting to me that a number of other species I would think would be considered varmints (skunks, squirrels, moles, and raccoons) are protected.

 

[CoRoMo]

Hogs, oh yeah. We don't have them up here but they'd definitely require more than rimfire.

 

[303tom]

I see that word all the time but I never seem to see a all inclusive list of what the word Varmint includes. Is it just nongame animals? Or smaller animals? Does it vary from state to state county to county?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermin

 

[chas08]

Varmint = Anything on four legs that's a PITA...Right now, here around the house, It's Squirrels. They're coming on the patio, eating dog food, and gnawing on deer horns. In this part of the state there's no closed season, but I am in the city limits. In the rest of the state its hogs. No caliber restrictions required.

 

[GuysModel94]

Normally something you'd shoot, but not eat.

 

[A-FIXER]

^EXACTY^ for me it is anything I won't eat and is none game even squirrels,

 

[brnmuenchow]

Good question:
My grandfather told me a varmint is any small creature that can interupt the daily harmony of human life for ex. rats, mice, gophers animals of that type. In my lifetime varmints have been reclassified a bit IMO. Animals the size of coyotes, bobcats, etc.. I have heard people refer to them as a "varmint"

a varmint is an objectionable or irritating animal. Before looking at the dictionary definition, I would have said that a varmint is an animal that needs killing not to provide meat or fur but to eliminate the problems it causes.

The only problem I see with and not that it is really a problem, but Wolf's would also be put in this catagory, but I have a problem looking at a wolf as a "Varmint". Having spent time with a domesticated wolf several years ago, I would hardly put something like that in the varmint category.
So I tend to still look at varmints in a small annoying animal sense, but I have conformed a little and now I would consider a coyote, and bobcat as varmint's.

In a past post I posted: (What kind of varmints are in your area?)

South Texas so: Rats, Opossums, Raccoons, Feral Hogs, Skunks, Stray dogs, Coyotes, Feral Cats, Bobcats, Mosquitos (They can be a pain to shoot though!), Ground hogs, and once a Horse standing at my front door porch eating my plants!... I thought for as second I might have had too much "Lone Star" in my system, but alas he was there! (No I didn't shoot him, we don't do that here in Texas,... mabye the neighbors Roosters I have not decided yet!)

I put Feral Hogs in there, I typically would not consider a hog of any kind a varmint but I really don't know how else to explain the big buggers!

 

[MachIVshooter]

I've never understood the .30+ caliber varmint rifles because the critters that I call varmints can be settled up handily with a rimfire rifle.

Unless you want to dispatch them at range. I personally favor the high velocity .22 and .24 caliber centerfires for that, but I understand using .308.

A praire dog may be easily dispatched with a .22 LR, but not at 600 yards, and that's what I find fun. We use rimfires on the close-in ones, but it's hard to make the long shots. I did kill a praire rat at 266 yards with a .22 short, but that was a heck of a lob and it was the 8th or 9th shot. It also didn't die very quickly. At that range with my .220 swift, they still get turned inside-out, and my hit ratio out to 300 is about 70% with said gun.

I typically would not consider a hog of any kind a varmint but I really don't know how else to explain the big buggers!

How about game animal? I know they're a nuisance, but they're also good eatin'. And when you have to drive 500 miles to shoot them, they taste that much better

 

[Manson]

I'm in Florida and since we are still kicking this varmint question around tell me this. I understand why most of the critters mentioned would be considered varmints except bobcats.

Just curious. Is it because of a potential threat to small pets or farm animals? Or do they cause other problems I'm not aware of?

 

[Art Eatman]

Manson, it's mostly about threats to farm or ranch animals. Possums in the hen house. Raccoons and weasels will kill chickens. Coyotes or bobcats against lambs and kids. Or against pets, to a lesser extent. Feral dogs and cats are included.

Since the overall deal has to do with damage, feral hogs get included.

For those not involved in rural affairs, the list is likely much smaller.

 

[jmorris]

For those not involved in rural affairs, the list is likely much smaller.

Laughing I thought of, "Paw prints on the BMW"

 

[Manson]

Art. Thank you.

jmorris. "Paw prints on the BMW"!

I live on the edge of a 24,000 acre ranch and get all manor of wildlife on my property, (6 acre's) which is why I wondered.

 

[MachIVshooter]

I understand why most of the critters mentioned would be considered varmints except bobcats.

I personally don't consider bobcats (or coyotes) "varmints". They are predators, too large and too purposeful to be in the lower class of varmint with praire rats and the like. Doesn't mean they're not nuisance animals, though......

 

[ironhead7544]

Here in GA the beaver is a varmint.

 

[Art Eatman]

Circumstance counts for a lot in one's attitude about critters being varmints or not-varmints.

In Terlingua I live in a near-wilderness situation with little gardening in the area and no livestock. So, whatever wanders around my acreage or up the mountain and into the yard is entertainment. The only exceptions are ferals.

My wife's property in Georgia has armadillos as about the only PITA critter. But, they don't do enough damage to bother with.

Back during WW II, my grandmother raised chickens and turkeys. In those days you could buy a strychnine paste at Grove Drug on East 6th St. in Austin which came in a tube like toothpaste. It apparently had an attractive smell for possums, foxes and raccoons.

I guess a hostile person could make rough-on-rats sandwiches for somebody not liked...

 

[brnmuenchow]

Laughing I thought of, "Paw prints on the BMW"

In response to that I have the same problem in the country, I have a '98 Mazda B2500 that I use for daily commute into town, it's a truck so it has a bed and everything. What do I find in the morning when I go to leave, 5 cats huddled together on my 2006 Ford Mustang "Modified" GT coupe! WHY NOT ON THE MAZDA I ASK, WHY?!!! (They never sleep on the truck!) They are not feral either so I can't shoot them without getting in trouble.

 

[Sniper66]

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