Posted on 06/25/2025 5:24:23 PM PDT by Dacula
I need to get rid of some wildlife in my suburban Atlanta backyard. My biggest problem is wife foxes. I have three that have dug a hole and live in the ground. They are about the size of a medium sized dog.
Here in Indiana, coyotes are also a wild menace. Not sure about the rules where you live, but we are allowed to shoot coyotes that come on to our property. No permit needed.
If watchdogs don’t work, use an 8-foot watchpython...
We don’t have armadillos, but we have coyotes, groundhogs, possums, raccoons, skunks, foxes, wild turkeys, rabbits, herons, mallards, and once I even saw a weasel or muskrat. An occasional bobcat, too,
Once we played mariachi music all night, along with moth balls that were hung in gauze. Did the trick against the skunks!
I kinda like the idea of ‘Wife Foxes’, to tell you the truth...
Aguila makes a very quiet .22 round. Something around 750 fps at muzzle. Sounds like an air gun, but close in deadly. I’d not use it on a fox, however, as I am, in the end, pro-fox.
Depending on your situation it is sometimes best to let nature reach an equilibrium. Kill the foxes, and the raccoons take over. Kill the raccoons and the aramadillos take over, kill the armadillos and the snakes and bugs take over, on and on.
Try giving them a nice little vestibule over their den with a large box like an oven or refrigerator box. Then try using a short locking snare trap over the den. That way your neighbors dont see and if a dog happens to get in you can let it go.
Dont use prey urine, that could bring more. It would have to be a larger predator. Despite some of the stupid things I see online human urine does work, at least on rural ones, but you cant just spread it everywhere. You have to put it in the den. Your foxes may be too habituated. Try something like coyote or bear.
Is it directly under a wooden building? If not then you should be able to buy special large smoke bombs from whatever counts as your nearest fleet/farm store to smoke them out. You could alternate smoke/garden hose until they decided you just made life too much of a hell to keep renting from you.
If missile weapons are entirely off limits and you believe you have reason to be concerned about their presence then you still definitely wouldnt want to engage in a bit of home chemistry. As you likely know, chemical pneumonitis has been known to take out members of poorly trained janitorial crews. Foxes are known to keep plenty of ammonia in the den, fortunately for them they dont keep a little bleach in there also because if a little mixed then that would be really irritating. In theory, if they happened to accidentally dump together a bunch of ammonia and bleach at the same time just when something happened to fall over the hole they would be having a real rough day. They cant call 911 because they dont have pockets for their cell phones.
Golden Malrin fly bait , seriously it will kill them and they eat it like candy.
Set out a dish of it.
But it will also kill a dog so extreme caution with it.
Check to see if it’s legal to use that way
NEVER FEED WILD ANIMALS.
YOU ARE ATTRACTING THEM TO OTHERS WHO MAY NOT WISH FOR SUCH COMPANY.
Get a Donkey. Not kidding, look it up.
Possums are also tick vacuums.
Great to have.
Gotta be careful about using them outside of Federal recommendations.
Don’t get caught.
I often wondered is pouring ammonia down their tunnels would work well.
I thought a length of hose to feed it a bit deeper, and a funnel and pour, and bury the hole.
Moth balls seem to work in inclosed spaces.
Where do you live? The everglades? 😉
Sorry. I’m more interested in the animals. Neighbors likely don’t get my dinner patrons as they don’t put out food, as I do. If this were Florida and we were discussing alligators, or Maine and we were discussing bears, I’d agree with you. Skunks have been in the neighborhood the entire 50 years I’ve lived here. Rare to even know they’re around. No tales of rabid animals in the area, thank goodness.
I don’t mind foxes, but a snare might work. I shoot pigeons
with a .20 air gun early in the morning or late evening.
During the day the neighbors hear a .410
It’s called wildlife for a reason but if you want to get rid of them just make life miserable for them. Throw some vinegar or ammonia soaked rags in the holes. That’ll get rid of them... Your other critters won’t like that either but raccoons and groundhogs aren’t easy and a fence won’t stop them.
Why are the animals a problem? I have raccoons, groundhogs, and possums, and none cause any issues. Possums actually eat about 1800 ticks a month, or some ridiculous number. They attract the ticks to them as they move, and then pick them off and eat them.
I would doubt you could find a place without raccoons in the US.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.