various calibers depending on the range...
Posted on 06/19/2009 5:33:57 PM PDT by randita
We have been plagued with groundhogs burrowing under our front porch slab for a couple of years. The burrowing has caused several cracks in the slab.
We have tried liquid fence, mothballs, noise, electric trip wires, have a heart trap, plugging up holes with stone and cement (it just digs new ones). Sometimes we are rid of them for a little bit, then a new one comes along.
This morning, I went out to pick some lettuce from my small garden and there wasn't any left. It had all been chewed off. We live in suburbia and can't exactly sit out on our front porch in a rocking chair with a .22, waiting for the pest to emerge. Although a carefully aimed shot out a 2nd story window has been fruitful on a couple of occasions. Then again, we can't just sit by a window all day waiting to see the pest.
We can't poison it (would love to!) because it might die under the porch slab and our basement (which we heavily use) would reek to high heaven.
We are at our wit's end. Any and all ideas appreciated.
Any miracle ideas?
Two things seem to work well. Pour amonia (full strength) down the hole or pour used cat litter down the hole. Either way groundhogs hate it and will abandon the area. Since I live in a rural area and am plagued with groundhogs borrowing under my in-ground pool, I get rid of them with my .22 hornet. I’ve recycled 7 so far this spring...
Attach garden hose with adapter to your car’s exhaust, stick the hose into the hole, start the engine and watch CO do its work.
Cover all holes but one. Light a fuzee (road flare), drop it down that hole and cover it up. It will suck every bit of oxygen out of the length of the hole. It will work.
Somewhere there is a video of the verminator. It is a device that allows you to fill the hole with propane and ignite it. Looks like lots of fun.
Give me some toads ‘n’ frogs hips, I’m gonna mix ‘em up together, Mix ‘em up good, mix ‘em up together, kill that dirty Groundhog.
When I was a kid working the farm, we had this can of powdery stuff.
Toss about a tablespoon down the hole, and shovel it over. One (or more) dead woodchucks.
It was some cyanide compound that released cyanide gas when it got wet. Doubt if it’s available anymore.
various calibers depending on the range...
Step 1: Point out the cute little ground-hog that’s sitting on the front lawn to the kids.
Step 2: Have the wife answer the door when a clueless neighbor stops by to tell you that he’s seen a skunk on your front lawn ... and that because the skunk was there during the day it was probably rabid.
Step 3: Calm the wife down by explaining the visual differences between a groundhog and a skunk, using Pepe le Peu as a visual reference tool.
Step 4: Explain to the wife that you’ll go get a trap from the local lawn/garden store and haul the thing 20+ miles away to a nice field.
Step 5: Make a mistake by answering wife: “Yes, I’ll need to drive the ground hog out there in the same car we use to haul our kids around.
Step 6: Assure wife that the groundhog will STILL be in the trap.
Step 7: With a great deal of frustration, watch as wife calls a pest-control company
Step 8: Meet the pest control guy when he shows up. Make a joke about how some idiot neigbor thought that the groundhog on the front lawn was a skunk.
Step 9: Explain, speaking very s-l-o-w-l-y, to the pest control guy that yes, you know the difference between a skunk and a ground hog. Because you grew up in rural New England. And you know that a groundhog is fat and brown while a skunk is thinner, black/white and with a big fluffy tail.
Step 10: Watch as the pest control guy sets up the trap and camoflages it with leaves.
Step 11: Go to work.
Step 12: Return from work to find the groundhog sitting on the lawn happily munching on something, while a seriously confused and distressed squirrel cools its heels in the trap.
Step 13: Watch the pest control guy reset the trap.
Step 14: Wake up the next morning, go outside and find the groundhog IN the trap, happily munching on the bait apple.
Step 15: Call the kids out to see the captured groundhog.
Step 16: Explain that no, the groundhog will NOT make a good pet.
Step 17: In response to tears and sobbing, take pictures of the groundhog while it’s in the trap happily munching on the bait apple.
Step 18: Wait for the pest control guy to come and collect the trapped groundhog.
Step 19: Call the wife to explain that the groundhog is really gone.
Step 20: Four day’s later open the letter from the pest control company containing an invoice for $275.00 for the capture and disposal service.
Step 21: Curse like a f*&%ing sailor. To no one in particular.
havahart trap, string beans as bait.
Will the ammonia work for moles? It would be a lot less expensive than spreading grub killer granules.
Have one of those. Hasn’t done the trick, though.
Good story! I’m the wife in this case and I would jump up and down with glee to see a captured groundhog, dead or alive!
Good story! I’m the wife in this case and I would jump up and down with glee to see a captured groundhog, dead or alive!
You have to stage it up, funnel them in.
Works like a charm
Rodents are easy... I’ve been fighting Cutter Ants for two years now. My front yard will soon qualify as a Superfund site.
TT
Explain your staging and funneling technique, please.
You obviously need to rent one of my alligators!
Groundhogs are interesting creatures. They even climb trees. They can fight off dogs. Larger ones can pass 15 lbs.
Underground they have a special chamber for toilet calls.
They have a shrill whistle but I’ve only heard it a couple of times and I have a lot of groundhog experience. I’be seen them in trees too.
At the farm where I worked as a teen we kept the horse feed in aluminum garbage cans. The ground hogs would take off the can tops and hop in for a feast. I killed a whole mess of em back in those good ole days.
I like the suggestions of others who say keep filling up the holes with foul material. I’ve never tried it myself however.
22 magnums can produce a quick clean kill on em but I worry about quieter loads.
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