The villian:
The solution:
&
The villian:
The solution:
&
Oh, no! That’s a shame! I’ll stop complaining about Possum Raids to my bird feeders, now. :(
You need a ‘Watch Beagle’ and a few puppies running around! ;)
Snip..."For this reason, many landowners in the state can commiserate with the sentiments of Henry David Thoreau. While conducting his agrarian experiment in self-sufficiency at Walden Pond, the 19th century American nature writer expressed his frustration that of the 2.5 acres of beans he planted for himself, “my enemies…woodchucks have nibbled me a quarter of an acre clean,” leading him to later assert that after seeing one of these marmots steal across his path, he “felt a strange thrill of savage delight, and was strongly tempted to seize and devour him raw.”..snip...
"Upon harvest, gut and skin the groundhog, making sure to clean out its body cavity. It is important to trim away all excess fat from the carcass, and be certain to remove the seven to nine scent glands from under the forearms and small of its back. Then, soak the carcass in salt water for 24 hours. As a general rule, younger, smaller woodchucks make for better eating." More at link...Good luck! (Maybe find pet badger?)
Is the ground gog nocturnal?
"Badgers are opportunistic carnivores and will eat almost anything under the size of a woodchuck (groundhog). Badgers are especially adept at capturing burrowing mammals such as woodchucks, ground squirrels, and gophers. Other food items include voles, mice, ground-nesting birds, insects, and carrion.
To capture prey, badgers give chase and then will burrow after their prey effectively trapping the animal. They are even known to block entrances to burrows dug by communial rodents like ground squirrels prior to digging after the prey."
Sounds like a pet badger would take out the groundhog and local voles! While they will not eat your garden, however, they may not respect it very much either!
(Tres "Cute",Ne'cest Pa? (Watch out for the teeth!))
Oh man, you have my sympathies! We had groundhogs a couple of years ago living under the barn & within striking distance of the garden. My garden is out in the open & for the most part, groundhogs/squirrels don’t like the exposure. One groundhog was coming up the fence line & climbing into our redbuds to eat the seeds. Our trap was just like the one you’ve pictured and I had a terrible time catching them. Watermelon (which I was assured was THE bait by someone with experience), cantaloupe, apples, various veggies all were used .... just couldn’t get them in the trap. We finally caught a young one with an apple. Fortunately for the garden, the coyotes appear to have run off the groundhogs - haven’t had a problem in 3-4 years. We’ve had a mama fox using the holes under the barn as a den.
Good luck - hope you get ‘em!
My eldest brother’s every effective garden fence was only about6’ high; but about 3’ outside of it, he had a 4’ kennel wire fence.
The outer fence created space to wide to clear both in on3e jump; but the ‘runway’ between was too narrow for a deer to jump the inner fence; it also doubled as a run for his Beagles. :-)
Any deer that got over the 1st fence was forced to run to a corner, and jump back out of the run.
The inner fence had 1” poultry wire, which kept out all except the smallest of pests.