What is Worm Grunting?
Worm grunting is a method of capturing worms by coaxing them to the surface of the soil. A metal or wooden rod is placed firmly into the ground and vibrated by dragging a second piece of wood or metal across the top. Studies have shown that these vibrations mimic the sounds of underground predators, such as moles (Catania, K.C., 2008).
Sopchoppy Festival
Every spring worm grunters and would be worm grunters gather in Sopchoppy Florida for the Annual Worm Grunting Festival. The 9th annual event was held this past week (April 6 to 11th). Competitions and workshops were geared towards all members, young and old, preparing them to line their bait cans in time for the fishing season.
Grunting for Dough
Some people choose to make a living out of worm grunting. Gary & Audrey Revell, who are featured in the video below, have used worm grunting as their sole source of family income for over 40 years. It’s been purported to be quite lucrative (Kuralt, C. 1972). Professional worm grunters claim, however, that the sluggish economy is hurting business as fewer people are fishing.
I beg to differ. In fact, worm farmers across North America are running short on worm supplies due to an excessive demand for worms this year. There are barely enough worms to supply the composting community because the wigglers are being snapped up by fisherman.
So how much can you make in a worm grunting career? For now the Revells are remaining tight lipped about their incomes. But they’ve been generous enough to share a peak into their typical days at the office.
That video is so cool!
I had never heard of grunting before. Thanks for posting this!
Thanks Strumelia,
The Revells are such a cute couple too.
I think this would be a great summer business for kids.
I am going to try this tomorrow. I have actually heard of it before, but have never seen it. Now I am a believer. We’ll see how it goes.
Thanks David,
You’ll have to let us know how it goes. What type of worms would you be grunting for in North Carolina? Up here we don’t need to do much grunting. The Canadian Nightcrawlers are out in droves every night when the dew forms. We just pick them off the ground. The other night we saw a threesome mating. I didn’t know that worms could mate in threes!
Wow, free worms everynight. That would be awesome. Canadian Nightcrawlers are like $4 for a dozen over here so that would be really nice. I’m not sure what type of worm I have in my ground, but I’m pretty sure it’s not a Canadian Nightcrawler.
I didn’t get anything while grunting. I think I need to go to a forest to do it, or wait until after it rains. I’ll bet the worms are way down deep when it is this hot out. It’s like 90+ degrees here.
We will also try to do the same that we may catch those worms for rapidly fertilizing our school farm ..
Thanks ..
i love the video on the grunting, really interesting, i think i’ll try it in the spring