Tomorrow, February 2, 2024, will be Groundhog Day just as the second day of February 2 has been every year since February 2, 1887, which coincidentally was just 6 days before my father Ballard Hicks was born. It began in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania and has slowly spread all over the nation. Tomorrow, the mayor and various other public officials in Punxsutawney will be joined by a bevy of media reporters and photographers, and a small crowd of assorted gawkers to learn if their beloved groundhog Punxsutawney Phil, now likely in his 125th or so generation, will or will not see his shadow and will or will not predict six more weeks of winter. It is a nice little piece of public relations for a relatively small town of roughly 6,000 which brings in a few hundred outsiders once a year to buy breakfast and maybe a tank of gasoline after having spent the preceding night in a local motel.
But, in my childhood on Beaver Creek in Knott County Kentucky, groundhog day could come on any day of the year when the weather was warm enough for groundhogs to not be hibernating. We had groundhog day anytime a member of the family was lucky enough to encounter, kill, dress, and cook a nice fat groundhog. The primary event at our house on groundhog day did not involve standing around and waiting for the local officials to fish a pet groundhog out of its concrete burrow, hold it up in front of an adoring crowd, smile for the cameras, and expound on their interpretation of what that groundhog could not verbalize for itself about the weather. Our version of groundhog day involved hearing the excited yells of whichever family member had actually bagged a groundhog and was yelling from the yard for the skinning knife and a dishpan in which the dressed meat could be brought into the house. The primary event on groundhog day at our house was supper and, if we were lucky, groundhog day could happen several times a year. It was also unlikely to be on February 2nd especially if it was a hard winter and the local groundhogs were still hibernating.
Sometimes, we got lucky and spotted a groundhog minding its own business within range of a .22 rifle near the house. Sometimes, our dog might just stray into a groundhog, alert the family, and drive it into its den which we would dig it out of with as few tools as possible. If necessary, we might have to build a small fire or use a bee smoker to smoke it out of its hole if it was in a particularly rocky spot. But, whatever the circumstances, when we spotted a groundhog it was lucky if it did not become the guest of honor at supper time. You literally have not had a fine supper until you have eaten a groundhog baked slowly in the oven with black pepper and sage and surrounded it on the supper table with a pan of cat head biscuits, homemade butter, shucked beans, new potatoes, and whatever else might be available from the garden, cellar, or among the pantry full of canned goods. Baking with black pepper and sage was our favorite recipe for ground hog but I have seen many other variants on the best way to cook a groundhog.
For many years, I have owned a copy of "The L. L. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook" by Angus Cameron and Judith Jones. That book has two recipes for what they call woodchuck, the other prevalent name for the fat fellow we sometimes called Mr. Whistle Pig due to the sharply pitched whistle which they use as a warning cry if they spot or sense danger. The L. L. Bean cookbook has one great sentence to begin their little section of recipes about groundhogs: "When one considers the number of woodchucks shot each year as varmints it is a pity that so few of them are eaten." That is a beautiful sentence and sentiment. I have to admit that I have never actually tried either of the recipes in the book but they are both interesting. The first is "Baked Young Woodchuck In Sour Cream And Mustard". The second is "Oven-Barbecued Woodchuck Or Muskrat". That is a wonderful sounding idea and I should have tried it long ago. And, Yes!, I have eaten muskrat also and it is wonderful when it is prepared properly. But that is fodder for a whole other blog post.
A quick search of the internet produces a recipe called "A Groundhog Stew". Another is for "Braised Groundhog Tacos". Another, under the label "How To Cook Groundhog" calls for a basic stew with vegetables much like a pot roast. Yet another internet recipe calls for "Buttermilk Fried Groundhog" which could be very interesting with buttermilk made from Old Bossy's fresh milk prepared in grandma's churn. There are several more easily found and readily prepared groundhog recipes to be found on the internet. But I must also offer this one word of caution about killing and eating groundhogs. Sadly, the widespread dissemination of coyotes all over the country has had a directly related reduction in the numbers of groundhogs in most areas. But, at least once every one of you should try a groundhog for supper on groundhog day at your house. But you should also consider doing whatever you can to help protect, preserve, and disseminate groundhogs in your area.
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