Ground hogs.....woodchucks......whistle pigs......anybody have any problems with them? One has taken up residence at the corner of my barn. He (she?) has openings into the barn and to the outside. The den openings are right next to a cement footing for one of the pole supports of the main structure. I'm thinking that the location of this den is potentially damaging to the barn.
So, do you shoot them, gas them, poison them, trap and relocate them, or tolerate them? I am open to all suggestions and experiences.
Shoot them or whatever but get rid of them. They can damage foundations especially if the foundation is shallow. Get some liquid ammonia at the drug store, 32 percent if available, 6 or 8 feet of old garden hose and a funnel that will fit in the hose. Shove the hose down the hole, put the funnel on the other end and pour a 1/2 pint or so of ammonia down the hole. BE CAREFUL WITH THE AMMONIA. If it doesn't kill them in the hole, they will soon come out and a 12 gauge can finish them. A local fertilizer dealer used to rig 20 pound LP cylinders with a hose and wand and fill them with anhydrous ammonia. Shove the wand down the hole, open the valve, and give Mr. Hog a dose. But with the spread of meth labs that ended.
I use a cage trap baited with a lettuce leaf and commercial lure. Put the entrance of the trap as close to the chucks hole as possible. The lure can be purchased at most online trapping supply dealers. In places where NO domestic animals are around I will use a conibear trap blocking the entrance. This eliminates the problem of killing them in the trap later.
PS To dispose of them I give them what I call my Houdini test. See if they can escape from a steel cage while underwater. Sorry just a bit of my twisted humor.
Plug em with a 22 .If you get a young one they really aren't bad eating .There's a yellow fat under the front legs you must remove first .
Then you can fry it like a rabbit or roast it with potatoes etc like a beef roast .They're a strict vegetarian not like rat that will eat anything that doesn't eat them first .
If you don't want to shoot it fill the hole in with pea gravel which will make it real hard for the critter to redig the hole .
We used to have tons of 'em. The traps with lettuce works, but you still have to do something with them. a .270 works well or if you like the challenge set up near the hole with a shotgun.
As a side note, the holes can be really hazardous to livestock.
As I said we used to have a real problem with them, now we have a real problem with coyotes. The coyotes seemed to have eliminated all of the groundhogs.
Sounds like you need to get some coyotes! :D
They have dens all around my place. I see them crossing the county road near my mill very often. My lever action 30-30 works well, I keep the rifle by the mill if I start seeing them often. Sometimes they will sit out in the sun, easy target. A few years ago an older farmer told me how to eliminate them easily. He said, "Son use your chainsaw", (you can imagine the thoughts that immediately go through your head) He said get tubing/garden hose of some type you can put over your saw exhaust, put the tubing in the hole, start the saw and fill with carbon monoxide, hogs die, fill with dirt, readymade grave no smell when they decay. I never have tried this method, might work.
Oh no ,that would like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire .Besides that I somehow doubt if a coyote is as tastey as a whistle pig .Yuck !
When I was a teenager I hunted the things with a 30:06 .Now a good shot was one thing but if it were body on there was nothing left of them .If you have a hanking to eat them best use a 22 .
Quote from: wheelinguy on May 11, 2012, 11:31:28 AM
Sounds like you need to get some coyotes! :D
NO! Cuz once the woodchucks are gone the yotes go for the chickens! >:(
Actually the chucks were done in before we had chickens, we refer to it as 'The Massacre of '08'. Mother and 6 babies fell to a .22...Gandhi would not have been impressed but they wouldn't leave our lettuce alone. What's one to do? ???
JM
We used to have a bunch of them around here. They could sure make a hay field rough. I haven't seen one in years. I guess the proliferation of coyotes did them in ??? Grandpa told about Uncle Walt which would be my great great uncle tanning ground hog hides and cutting them into strips for boot and shoe laces.
wwsjr, I was really surprised to hear that you have them. Thankfully they have not made it to my area yet.
Maybe I could trade you some armadillos or fire ants. :-\
Magic,
No Thanks, we have plenty of both armadillos and fire ants. I have got 5 notches on the 22cal for armadillos so far this year. I had 12 mounds of fire ants in my yard after the last rain. Finally found something to eliminate ants or at least they move. Fire Ant Killer with 75% acephate. $14.00 for a pound. It only takes 1 or 2 tablespoons per mound. I hear coyotes yelping almost every morning, guess only time will elimate the ground hogs.
I have caught and killed a bunch in Hav a Heart box traps using apple slices. I use a 22 to dispatch by holding the end of the barrel against the cage so you don't hit a wire. After you catch and kill one do NOT wash the trap even if it got bloody as the scent of the first hog keeps calling in the next. When my dog was younger she also killed a bunch and drug them back to the house for proof.
A good sized dog will kill every dang one of them. My dog Flash was part Husky and he cleaned the buggers out. But he's long gone and I get one once in awhile now. I fixed all my barn doors with some flashing to stop them from chewing the wood. I had something dig under the steps to the house recently, so I stuffed that with a big rock. One day last summer one big fat fella was feeding on pineapple rinds I toss out. He wasn't scared neither. I had some water in a pale from the gutter pipe. I doused him a good one with 3 gallons of rain water to change his thinking. :D
Do you guys have the Phostoxin tablets for use in silos and rabbit fumigation?
Very cheap down here, for rabbits a tablet placed in the hole by rolling it down a 4ft length of poly pipe to direct the tablet, pour a little water after it. Then seal the opening with soil. As allways with chemicals read the label and MSDS 1st :)
You can get them with a standard old number 2 fox trap if you want to .Don't even bother with a number 1 muskrat trap because they'll pull right out of it .Dispatch them with a 22,Louisville slugger or a shovel .They'll all get the job done .
I have them here. We use to set leg hold traps. Growing up us kids would go check the traps with a baseball bat to hit the wood chunk on the nose.We never set the traps,just had all the fun. I have a dog so can not do that anymore. We use to be able to buy smoke bombs from the hardware store. Sometimes it may take a time or two to catch it in the hole. It probably has 2 holes too.Now we mow the fields like a lawn,so now the woodchucks live in the stone walls. My dog patrols the walls like an cop. He will bark to let me know he found one. Than I show up to tear the wall apart. Works good if the rocks are not big ones. He stays right by my side and is in the way as I move the rocks. As soon as he can see the wood chuck he grabs it and either flips it on it's belly or just grabs it on top of the neck and kills it.He always gets alot of atta boys.I have heard of a flex pipe over a car-truck exhaust and shove it down the hole.
Caddyshack is On the tube tonight. Now there's a serious attempt at ground hog eradication!
Block the holes to its den with a 220 conibear trap down in the hole. Easiest animal in the world to trap.They gotta come out sooner or later. If you have dogs cover the hole with a flat rock. Many farmers have died on aside hill when there tractor tire droped into a woodchuck hole. PS. Ilike that term "wistle pig",never heard it before. But I have whistled at em. My mothe inlaw had one for pet when she was a kid. Said they make good pets.
Walk around the edge of a field that has them with a .22. When you think you see something in the weeds, but not sure what it is, whistle. If it is a groundhog it will usually sit up. I guess that is where the term whistle pig comes from.
We tried the Hav-a-Hart traps with no success on the ground hogs. So when one of those critters came up on the back deck and got confrontational with me, we used the type of trap that you put down in the hole, and it's anchored with a chain. I couldn't figure out the reason for the chain, until I saw one go off, and flip that ground hog up in the air. It's not cruel, they die immediately, and we caught two within twenty minutes of setting them.
Quote from: WH_Conley on May 11, 2012, 11:15:06 PM
Walk around the edge of a field that has them with a .22. When you think you see something in the weeds, but not sure what it is, whistle. If it is a groundhog it will usually it up. I guess that is where the term whistle pig comes from.
:D They do sit up. The name came from them whistling as a danger alarm to others when they see a predator though. Prairie dogs do the same thing- only they're more dangerous to the landscape than groundhogs.
25-06 usually makes them disappear quick.
Go to www.rodenator.com and check it out!
get your self a black lab. Mine kills any critter in the area. only problem is she makes some hellacious holes going after them!! The only thing i see is a tail wagging out of the hole!! :)
One of the boys just stopped and said when he opened the door to leave home there was a young groundhog next to the garage looking around. When it spotted him, it stopped and looked at him. He said it turned around and waddled toward him and the door. Once it got to the steps, it started up to go into the house. He had to shut the door to stop it. He got his gun but it was gone when he opened the door again. I guess it decided it's den was too cramped and figured it might as well have a nice roomy house or maybe mom kicked it out. Next time he will have to invite it in, give it a couple of beers, and then take it for a ride. DNR would probably cite him for furnishing alcohol to a minor. :D
Quote from: gspren on May 13, 2012, 12:07:10 PM
Go to www.rodenator.com and check it out!
I am surprised to not see any comments on the rodenator!
all these ideas and havnt heard of any results from the doc
Can't buy a groundhog around these parts, coyotes done ate them all. I'm guessing I haven't seen one in 3-4 years.
Foxes go after them to because I've had them den in the back yard in ground hog holes. :)
It takes a pretty good dog to snuff a ground hog .The smart ones just wear the whistle pig down then break it's neck with a shake .The dumb ones go for in for a frontal assault andusually get nipped on the nose for their efforts .
It's a big deal to the folks that hunt them .They might sit 250-300 yards away from a hole with a 25:06 and scope it out for hours at a time untill they get a shot .
I never had the patience to do that .As teenager I walked the tops of box cars sitting on a siding that went through a deep cut in the banks .Ground hogs weren't smart enough to know something on top of a half mile of rail road cars might take a shot at them .60-80 yards from a 1903 Springfield got a lot of them .
More !Ground hogs are comical .During sometime in the winter the male wakes up and surveys the situation where all the females are .Then goes and resumes his winter nap .
He remembers where all the ladies are and come early spring goes "courting " so to speak .Now if he's tardy with his actions some other male might have claimed the prize while he slept and as such the female will send him packing in short order .I mean toss him out on his ear so to speak with much grumbling .
I laughed so hard seeing this action once from my bay window I nearly soiled my skivies .
In about a month of so from now come just about dusk the little kits will be romping around like little children .Amusing to watch .
They seem to like to dug under my firewood piles .When I do gather the wood more than likely there will be hole which they will abandon .The owls are somewhat fond of young ground hog as well as the red tail hawks .
You can use red devil lie to kill them. If you can find where they are going in and out of just pour the lie in the hole they will get it on their feet and lick it. Dead Ground hog.. smiley_hanged
A couple years ago a whistle pig had the bright idea to undermine my raised bed garden .With the help of a garden hose I changed his mind .Evidently brer ground hog was not equipted with a snorkel .
I may have told this story here before, I used to use a grain bin on my landlords place and went over once to grind a load of corn out of it. My little 4" auger that was stuck through the aeration tube into the bin didn't start well on its own so I had to spin the pulley to get it going, about the time I got down and got it going a big old woodchuck came trucking out of the tube about 12" from my face, my first thought was a badger and it scared the bejeisies out of me :D. They will destroy foundations around here but so far dad's dog seems to keep them in check ;D.
Why dont you just set up some speakers by the hole and play eminem all day or mabey Barbra Streisand, babs oughtta drive em out.
That would be cruelty to animals.
Results for the doc and his burrowing friends are not yet in. :) :) I am going fishing tomorrow and figure they'll still be here when I get back.
I musta stepped into 3 of them holes this spring along the edge of my little brushing project in the dogwoods and birch. They had them out on the edge of my property where the sun hits along a raised bank next to the field. Nice spot for a ground hog to sun himself in the spring. But a little surprise when swinging a brush saw around. :D
I've got a ground hog story too. One summer morning, I was talking to my sister on the phone, and she started screaming about her dogs. She had two Jack Russells, one of which was a multiple trophy winner of "go to ground" trials. The dogs were in an enclosed kennel and were being attacked by a ground hog.
I told my sister to call the police, and jumped in my car with my 22. The officer and I arrived at the same time, he took a look at my gun and said, "Leave that here, because all you are going to do with that, is tick it off." :D We went through the house to the back deck and saw the ground hog snarling and trying to climb the kennel fence. The dogs, were freaking out trying to get at that ground hog. The officer stepped off the deck steps and the ground hog turned to come at him. It took three shots to his chest to get that ground hog to drop! He continued toward the officer raised up and hissing until the third shot.
All three of us were shaken by the incident, and the officer bagged the ground hog for rabies testing. He checked the rabies vaccinations of the dogs, and told my sister that under no circumstances were the dogs to be let out of the kennel until she heard from him. The dogs were bleeding on their noses and forelegs, but we couldn't tell if the injuries were from the ground hog or caused by the kennel fence when they were trying to get at the critter.
Within a few days, the officer stopped by my sister's to tell her that the ground hog was NOT rabid.
:D :D
Reminds me of the story of the fella that got attacked by a beaver on a bridge in BC. It's an old story and played once in awhile from the podcast. Yip it was true.
We don't see very many woodchucks in this area anymore!
When I was a young teenager, we used to walk the fields and pop at them with our .22's, it wasn't 100%, but we got a few.
I think their demise started occurring with the popularity of the 22 caliber center fire rifles! With these, 200-300 yard shots are a lot easier!
A 40-50 yard shot with a 22 with iron sights is not too bad now .I'm not too sure though if I could pull that off today .
Come to think of it it's been years since I even shot a 22 .
Ive shot plenty of them with a 22. I shoot a 220 swift out to 300 hundreds with a bi-pod. Don't always hit em but it's always close. Chuck's right I cut down the population around here but you'll never get em all.
My apologies for posting this picture on two different threads (Forestry Forum Hat thread as well), but I am thrilled to have caught this lunker (6 lbs., 2 oz.) today. So this is what I did instead of erradicating my ground hog. I think I made the correct decision. I'll update on the whistle pig in a few days after I savor today's moment.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/bobby_bass.jpg)
NICE fish. Did you get that in your area , what did you use for bait?
Fish are probably tastier than ground hog anyway. :D :D
Yep. Caught in a reservoir about 20 minutes from my house. Used a Zoom Baby Brush Hog (for all you non-bass fisherman, that's a type of plastic lizard artificial bait) at the end of a Carolina rig.
That picture was worth looking at twice!
(I mean the fish :D).
Lester worked for the us park service on the blue ridge parkay. He wasn't allowed to kill annoying and damaging groundhogs. Red devil lye left no sign and sent them on their way. Cabbage farmers used small cans of gas to rid the fields of groundhogs. Joe, Ross, and me killed 189 groundhogs in 1992. We hunted Patrick,Floyd, and Carroll counties in mountains of Virginia. Land owners would offer to pay us. We killed 37 on Dr. Bruce's farm(chief cardiologist wesley long hospital greensboro N.C.). Their are hunters willing at no pay to rid your place of groundhogs.Some hunters really enjoy hunting groundhogs.
Quote from: SwampDonkey on May 17, 2012, 05:30:03 AM
Fish are probably tastier than ground hog anyway. :D :D
If it's carp probabley not unless you plank the fish which is easy to do .
You clean and scale the fish then butterfly it right down the back bone and pin it to a plank,apple,something like that .Season it with lemon butter and place it aside a nice warm charcoal fire and cook it until slightly brown .Unpin and discard the fish and eat the plank . :D
Ive got 5 this year, I feed them to the Fox living in a old chuck den in the corner of my property. One was baby but they grow up to make big holes too ;) All I use it my 10-22 usually out to 50 yards but most of my shots are 40~50 feet. Last year got a brand new 1200FPS 17cal pellet gun that I took one out with at 40 yards to the back of the neck.
For those that dont know the term "Whistle Pig" was coined long ago you could let out one quick shrill whistle and all the woodchucks in ear shot would stand up and often whistle back at ya. It is a warning momma and others use to warn the troop of chucks in ear shot. someone posted about those other rodents (Prairie Dogs) that do same thing only their calls are a bit more grunty different for sure. I had both as pets as close as 10 yrs ago for some domesticated prairie dogs that were quite social and loveable.
Mark
I used to just sit by the hole as a kid and thump'm with a fist sized rock. No gun barrel to clean. ;D Porkies used to be bad around here to because of a lot of old junk cars and buildings rotting into the ground. Cleaned up the mess and the porky problem went away except one that found a new home across the road in a barn. But someone took him out this spring on the road. ;D
Right, back on topic!
I tried a product tonight called the Giant Destroyer. It's a noxious gas producing cartridge that uses carbon monoxide (CO) to end the ground hog's life. CO is believed to be a painless way to go, so I think it's humane, given what I am trying to accomplish. Light it. Place it as far into the hole as you can. Cover all entrances but one before lighting. Cover the last hole with a piece of sod to prevent smoke escape. And see if anything gets disturbed in the next 24 hours. I'll then fill the hole with gravel and cement. Need to do this after dark to give a greater chance that the groundhog is actually in the hole.
We'll see!
Doc the only registered fumigant for fox dens in our state is a product called Dencofume, its carbon monoxide and very effective, the cartridges resemble a big stick of explosives, the wick is bent back along the cartridge so theres time to lite it and fill the hole in. I don't get many calls from clients to use it as the cartridegs are $17 each and on the last den I fumigated (ina large rabbit warren) I used 3 cartridges.
WildDog
That's a very good description of the product I used last evening. It looks like a small stick of dynamite. Calling it a "cartridge" does not provide an accurate mental picture. Cheaper here than down under, though. 4 sticks for about $6.00.
Coverings on the den holes are undisturbed this AM. Could mean I was successful, could mean they weren't in there last night. Only time will tell.
Groundhog 1, doctorb 0:
Went down to the barn to get the mower, and standing in the middle of the barn was the groundhog. He(she) scurried hectically around the barn looking for an exit. The one Hole was blocked and I was standing in the way of his only other exit route. Eventually races past me and my dog, who decided to run after him too late.
Conclusion: the hole is undisturbed so the little bugger was not at home at the time of the gassing last PM.
Action: filled the hole with gravel and concrete. He won't go in there again. Now I'll have to watch for any new diggings. I don't think this saga is over, but if he resides away from my barn, I can tolerate him.
I think you need a sidearm ;D
I would not tolerate it. One will be 2-3 than 2-3 will be 4-5 and so on. It use to take me a few times to smoke them out. It's just a guessing game if thay are in thier hole. Just like a lot of things that you deal with in your profession,get it early and treat it and get rid of it.
Doctor B - They've been known to have more than one den sometimes but if you can find all the dens and wait for a nasty, rainy day, they'll be in one of them for sure.
They're the type of animal that doesn't like to be around outside when it's raining- too much noise to be able to hear their surroundings..
On Friday, Cowboy Bob came in from mowing the yard, and told me that he had seen a groundhog in a tree at the rear of our property. To be honest, I thought he was yanking my chain.
This morning we were having coffee and he said, "There he goes! Get your glasses!" I went one better and got out my binoculars and sure enough, that groundhog was in the tree at the first crotch, which is about six feet above the ground.
Okay, that is a first for me. I've been around a long time, and I've never seen a groundhog go up a tree. If the tree was leaning, maybe I would have believed it, but these are two different trees that this critter has climbed, and both are branch free up to six feet. :o
Please tell me that someone out there has seen a groundhog up a tree!
I didnt beleive my wife until she showed me that very same thing a few yers ago
A few years back I shot one out of a tree, he was about 15 ft up!
Same here, the one I got was easily 10' up in a tree.
I "may" have seen one climb a tree once with a 4wheeler behind it giving it some encourgement :-X
I got video-graphic proof 8) :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjy7r3ZBxl8&feature=youtu.be
The young hound has not been trained to hunt so when I determined exactly how long a ground hog can survive in a tree she took it way out in the woods and buried it. The actual demise of the critter was edited out to protect the innocent ;D
I had one run up a tree once, but it wouldn't stay there long enough for me to get the gun. Made a fast exit to the woods.
Hey Roxie!
You ain't having a hallucination, them skutters can climb a tree sure 'nuff! They don't much like climbin' them, but if hard pressed they'll shinny up a tree. When I was a kid, we had a few for dinner. First parboil it then surround it in a pan with sweet taters. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes, throw the hog and taters out for the dogs and eat the pan...
My dog chased one up in a tree here about a month or so ago. The ground hog stayed in tree for about 24 hours. It was about 10 feet up. The dog stayed below the critter and barked most of the day. Then i put the dog in for the night, and let her out the following day. The groud hog was still there!! I figured it was stuck and didnt know how to get down, ive never heard of them climbing a tree either. So me and the wife went to town that day and put the dog away. We came home and the critter was gone. In hind sight I shoulda got the .22 out, but I must be getting more sensitive to animals. I too didnt realize they could climb trees.
Baby ground hogs spotted this weekend on the fringes of our lawn. When I got home tonight, a thunderstorm hit big time, yet my dog didn't come runnin' out of the rain. Found him down by the barn. Buzz ( my yellow lab ): 1, baby ground hog: 0.
:D :D Good dog!!
Atta boy!!!! You may have yourself a wood chuck dog.
Labs make good hog dogs once they get it figured out, my lab mixed dog Ginger used to kill quite a few but now that she's over 10 she can't catch most of them but she will still get a slow one or two. ;D
ground hogs....that's sausage, ain't it? ;D
We started a community garden behind my office in North GA when I worked as a county extension agent. Had a terrible time with ground hogs to start the season. I finally borrowed some conibear traps and set several of them up in the entrances to the burrows. I think I got one the first night, and then I caught a rabbit (whoops) later that week, and then I never caught anything else. I know there was more than one groundhog out there, but we never had a problem with them after that.
Sounds like that they might have been hanging out surreptitiously in the trees :).
Couple weeks ago I shot at a ground hog. Figured I missed but a week later could smell it. Couldn't find it, but next day scared up a vulture and then knew just where it was. Buried it.
Today, while poking around back of my shed I found fresh gravel by a stack of wood. DanG!!
Started unpiling the cover and discovered the ground hogs had excavated under the concrete floor of the shed and had quite a bit of gravel dug out for their home.
A few pics.
Of the stack of 2x10's after removing protective cover and the entry hole showing under this end of the stack.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10180/100_0597_28Medium29.JPG)
Removed some of the stack to find the entry and the exit where gravel was moved out and piled up behind the stack of 2x10's
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10180/100_0600_28Medium29.JPG)
Filled as much of the den hole as I could pack back in, but expect tomorrow will be a busting out or a busting in hole visible. Then the traps will come out.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10180/100_0603_28Medium29.JPG)