Woodchucks have taken up residence around the foundation of my house and garage. I see them in the yard sometimes. In town here I can’t shoot ’em. Animal Control brought me a Havahart trap baited with a banana (!) but I caught nothing. I have dropped rat poison and mothballs down the holes with no apparent results. Any suggestions out there?
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Replies
Plastic explosives worked well in Caddyshack. Oh wait, that was gophers. Never mind.
Thumb,
Had a similar problem myself. Forget the "bait". If you have access to EVERY hole, jamb and block those with "have a heart" traps into every one, place cinder blocks around them so they can't burrow around.
When they get hungry enough, they'll walk though and trip them. BTW, they usually have several interconnecting holes, so if you don't get 'um all...........good luck.
Also, release them AT LEAST 5 miles away. or they will be back....and keep the traps in place for a while later, for others who want to enter the holes.
Jon
My first thought was a .22 cal rifle and some patience.
Then I saw that you canb't discharge in town so I thought the moth abll trick would be just the thing.
And apparantly the little furrballs areusing the mothballs to keep the moths out of their hair.
So My next thought ios to find a really sweet looking woodchuck femme, the kind that'll definitely make wood chucks chuck wood, if you know what I mean. Dress her in the rodents equivalent of a string bikini.
You are in luck, because the latest style for them, according to Chuckstyle Magazine, due to hit the garden stands in May is a bannanna peel.
So dress her right up and offer her an apple worthy of Eve's attention to lure the furry fellah's out from under and down the street to the nearest manure pile.
Shoot them there.
BTW, You might try posting your dilema of in the garden forum Over the fence, too. Good Luck.
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
I got rid of them once with a couple of borrowed dogs. The next year a new set moved into that preexisting tunnel network. Having them here is a problem I'd like to solve but haven't.
Edited for spelling
Edited 4/24/2004 1:15 pm ET by Cleveland_Ed
What has worked well for me is to take a propane weed burner but do not light it.
Flush a few tens of gallons od water down a hole to make sure it is open.
Turn on the torch, fill the hole with propane air mix/
back up about 10 feet, light torch, walk toward hole till "woomphs" no more moles.
If you search around online for pest remedies there are recipes for nasty soups you can cook up with household ingredients and spray in the infested areas. We used one to get rid of raccoons.... peppers, onions, chiles, etc.
It worked for you so I'll try it.
The problem is worse than I wrote, and I'm getting close to actually paying to have a nuisance trapper take them.
>> Whoomph
You da man!
Just one question, how do you tell when the hole is filled with propane air mix?
with a HF torch ( the $30 cast iron one, not the cheapest stamped $12 one) wide open, it has worked after 4- 5 minutes of saturating the burrow. You do need to be sure the burrow is open via the gallons of water step.
Oh, by the way, you may leave a 10 foot dia circle of scorched grass around the hole - which is why you back off and cautiously approach the hole with a lit torch.
Man, why don't you just stand back and throw the torch in?
.
I put a couple feet of extensions on my weed torch.I do the same thing with mountain beaver burrows. I don't have to get quite as close when I am lighting it off.
I also like to just put a bunch of wet paper and wet wood in the burrow, and run the burning torch on that. The force of the torch keeps pushing all the smoke into the burrow.
On my property that means you can sit there and watch the smoke coming out of several holes all over the hillside.
For the rest of the time that you're given Why walk when you can fly
quittintime
That could result in the stench of decaying, burned, groundhog carcass wafting up around and possibly into, the house.
Be careful what you wish for...
I had groundhogs living under a cantilevered part of my last house. We tried everything to get rid of them. The neighbors told us that when we were not home they would sit out on my front porch like they owned the place.
The most annoying part was the wifes complaining. I tried everything to get rid of them. finally I backed my truck up to the house and put a hose from the tailpipe to under the house. Killed them just fine. the problem then was the stench. we had to move out of our bedroom for 2 months and couldnt open the windows for an entire summer
will they cycle an auto-loader? if they can, you'd think they could handle a reasonable length of rifle bbl...
m
will they cycle an auto-loader?
Made the 6" barreled Colt go back and forth. Did not run any through the Mossberg M-44--just didn't think about it more than anything else.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
and one other thing i noticed in your earlier post- i buy 'cb longs' around here. they're cb caps in a long rifle size. feed and shoot much better than the shorts. (i keep them around to 'dissuade' the arboreal rodentia that develop an excessively aggressive interest in bird seed)
m
i buy 'cb longs' around here
Wow, I haven't seen any of those since the last time I was in a Gibsons.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
No idea if any of this stuff works or not ... but here are a number of links
powered predator urine
a number of ideas
Mostly though, I don't mind woodchuck's preped right they taste ok. It keeps the population down.
Adam
Purple Thumb,
Bait your trap with fruits and veggies and cover it so it's dark. If you have access to a feed store they may have smoke bombs. If you want to shoot get .22 CB caps, cover the end of the barrel with a baby bottle nipple with an X sliced in the end. No louder than snapping your fingers.
First you make a roux.
KK
kkearney' post got me thinking about sniping woodchucks, wondering exactly what a CB round was and finding they do not all mmmm... taste the same.
The links take you to:
An explanation of fps and speed of sound on ammunition
An interactive website by NASA (set output to sound speed/ stay on Earth)
Choose your ammo
The last is a delicious looking recipe for woodchuck
http://air_guns.tripod.com/supersonic_shots.htm
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/atmosi.html
http://www.22ammo.com/lowv.html
http://ushotstuff.com/wg/GroundhogSmp.htm
However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. Winston Churchill
Edited 4/24/2004 3:12 pm ET by Turtleneck
turtle.. that first site was way cool.... but i get the distinct impression eddie has way too much time on his hands.... hah, hah, hah
and the last site.... with the recipe for woodchuck.... says to garnish with creamed dandelion leaves.... this is the right season for that.. a little longer into the spring and the dandelion gets too bitter for eating greens
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Edited 4/24/2004 10:31 pm ET by Mike Smith
kk.... i got woodchucks too.... what's a CB round?
my varmint dispatcher passed away .... he's probably put coon hunting with his buddies as we speak..
the man could shoot....
anyways , turtle's site had some pretty good ammo for sureptitious dispatching.. have you ever used that Aquilla round ?
and thanks for the babybottle nipple tip tooMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Mike,
CB cap is a subsonic 22. Coonasses learn to poach at a very early age. If no bottle nipples are available a 2 liter plastic bottle or cored potatoes work 22 shorts. One potato per shot.
I'm gonna look for the Aquilla.
http://www.airgunexpress.com/Accessories/CB%20Caps%20(Flobert)/cbcapsflobert407-08-0327+.htm
This would work good too.
http://www.usfirearms.com/cat/hunter.asp
damn coonasses ! you guys quack me upMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
oh , wow.. .17 .... "bad gopher"...
and only $839 MSRP.. i take it the sight is a laser dot ?
and here i've been blowin my money on tools...
bad gopher.... take this !Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
We know how to eat.
We know how to party.
http://www.nojazzfest.com/
.17 is on my list.
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Ahhiii!
kk.....
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Ahhiii...
you really missed some GREAT cajon food when you missed TexFest..... James Duhammel and his mom really , really put on the feast...
man.. the food alone was worth the tripMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
.17 is on my list.
Was on mine, but now, the debat is which one (we now have two).
The .25 WSSM looks like more fun, right now, anyway (.25-06 numbers in a .243 length case).Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
CapnMac,
Nice ballastics on the .25 WSSM but I still want the .17. I want all of them!
KK
I want all of them!
Not just you, me, too.
I also want the moon, too: an FN P90 in .25WSSM would be just fun. An AR-180B would be even more so.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
SIG MKIV....Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming.... WOW!!! What a Ride!
SIG MKIV
Well, yeah, but a little redundant necked down to .25 . . . Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
It's a 20.....
20 is smaller than 25.......Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming.... WOW!!! What a Ride!
the box i currently have is CCI 22 CB LONG, 100 rds. the only 'stock number' appears to be 0038. hmm, i also just noticed it now says "WARNING: Range is 1.5 miles, 2 kilometers..." for cb caps. when i was a kid, the boxes all said "one mile" for regular ammo. what does it say on a box of 7mm mags these days? 10 miles? 20?
i'm sure we're all safer now.
m
We dont have woodchucks here, but we do have possums. They can wreak all kinds of havoc on a garden.
What seems to work is at random intervals around the garden..........take a whizz. Has to be man whizz, girl stuff dont work. ( Dont ask me why ).
We had a few resident possums but never any garden damage.
They all seem to have moved out in the last sorta 6 to 8 months. The 4 dogs probably took care of it. None got killed, I just think the smell of the dogs and the fact that they are here did it.
If you squirted some whizz around, and managed to drive the lil fuzzy buggers off, wouldnt it be worth a scramble around under the house to fill in the now vacant holes?
Everything, 100% of it, depends on how you look at it.
DW
i'm sure we're all safer now
No doubt. After all I used to be able to save my pocket change and be able to walk to the Gibson's in lovely Plainview, Texas, and get my very own box of .22LR for 49¢.
Gibson's is long gone. When I was last in Plainview, 4-5 years back, fast food joints had replaced it. We must be safer--fried foods os sevreal different types are available . . . Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
have you ever used that Aquilla round ?
I have, it is most interesting (the Colibri, especially). Best thing is that it is LR sized, which means much fewer chambering/loading problems than with CBs.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
No louder than snapping your fingers?
I'm curious because we can't get it that quiet even using a Gem-Tech 96D or an intergrally suppressed 10-22.
I sure feel foolish wasting all that money when the real secret was just to grab a couple of the boy's bottle nipples and slip them over the barrel.
As for killing chucks in a no-shoot zone, I've found that a rubber hose from the tailpipe down into the hole does wonders.
we can't get it that quiet even using
The Colibri round is just the primer under the rimfire edge (like a CB), but loaded into an LR case. Not a lot of signature to suppress. Still some (you do not want to light off any in an enclosed space w/o hearing protection), just less.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
I hear that in some areas prairie dogs are a problem. Seems an enterprising individual figured out that he could use an industrial vacuum truck to suck the critters out of the burrows. He has installed a screen and some padding and claimed that the animals were not harmed. Couldn't imagine it does them much good. Evidently he makes money two ways. People pay him to vacuum up the pesky critters and others pay to have them as pets. Very popular pets from what I read.
Way I figure it is that if an industrial vacuum truck can suck out prairie dogs a good shop vacuum should have a shot at extracting gophers. Worth a shot. If it works you can sell your services. Don't know about selling them as pets. Food? Gopher on a stick? Gopher gumbo?
Potato cannon projectiles? Drive by gopherings? A quick dozen gophers shot into churches front door during services? Whatcha want to bet they try for under the robes and up the pants legs. Make for a lively service.
If you set up a franchise I get a percentage, or photographs of the mayhem at the church. Could be a whole new industry out there. Gopher Suckers.
forlorn - very interesting
.
THe prairie dog vacuum trucks wind up killing adult prairie dogs but not their pups. This is how they are harvested for the japanese pet market.
Seems an enterprising individual figured out that he could use an industrial vacuum truck to suck the critters out of the burrows.
That was on Modern Marvels. The dude is using a very serious truck-mounted vacuum to haul the pds out of their holes, like a 6" pipe is what does in the hole. Not exactly shop vac suction.
The pickets are none too happy to land in the bin, either. These are not the pet shop pds, but the very nasty wild ones.
And that's jusr what they got on video--I can't imagine how much more fun it is when you vacuum out all of the other things sharing a pd mound into the back of your truck . . . Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
---"...I can't imagine how much more fun it is when you vacuum out all of the other things sharing a pd mound into the back of your truck . . . "---
Like several rattlers, etc.
That was a local man doing the vacuuming around here. He was selling them for $50.- each. About three years ago they were found to catch a serious "monkey fever" that kids were catching from them and his business dried up when it was made illegal to sell them, to stop that fever from spreading.
We can get poison pellets, that takes care of them. It is sold in feed stores and comes in little packages.
Works good, since they made it illegal to pour a little gasoline and cover all the holes well. The fumes used to kill them fast.
i picked up some 'super colibri- aguila' awhile back but haven't used them because it says on the box not to fire them in rifles- handguns only. seems they may not have enough oomph to make it all the way down a longer barrel. 20gr bullets, no velocity given.
m
my favorite part of prairie dog vacuuming is when they're released. the vac is reversed to blow them back out. "pull!" ;-)
m
BANG!!!Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming.... WOW!!! What a Ride!
seems they may not have enough oomph to make it all the way down a longer barrel
Had not even thought to try a longer barrel. They are kind of fun in an auto-loader. Much more "polite" than sub-sonics.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
purple thumb's problem is woodchucks, not gophers. they're a whole heck of a lot bigger than prairie dogs so he'd need a real vac-zilla to suck one of those big boys out.
m
No fire arms.. oh is there ever a plan "B"
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming....
WOW!!! What a Ride!
"oh is there ever a plan "B"
Allow me my friend. The survivvors can rebuild anyway they want.
View Image
Who Dares Wins.
Edited 4/25/2004 7:53 pm ET by Gunner
EXCELLENT!!! Retro to the max, you delt with it.... You da man!
Remember this thread???
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=29935.1
How about in all fairness a simple shot across the nose???
View Image
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming.... WOW!!! What a Ride!
Edited 4/29/2004 9:26 pm ET by IMERC
I didn't remember that one, I'll have to look through it.Who Dares Wins.
In the house I used to live in I had groundhogs move in under my workshop. At the time I wasn't in my shop very much. Then I had a couple weeks vacation and was in the shop a lot and aparantly they don't like loud noise {router-table saw-screamin sears shop vac-ect} .
They just couldn't take it any more and moved out.
I know a couple of bow hunters who would love to have the practice. I got one with a bow once but it wasn't in my yard- got him at the state park. Now I don't hunt anymore.
BT
Air rifles are technically not firearms. I have one that shoots over 1K fps. I personally don't like to be near animals when they die. Trapping I prefer.
The taste and smell of powdered cayenne pepper can prevent a woodchuck from eating your plants. Simply sprinkle a liberal dose of cayenne pepper on plants and in your garden dirt to repel woodchucks.
Groundhogs also find the smell of garlic, either raw or in powder form, repellent. Got the info here: https://verminkill.com/get-rid-of-groundhogs/
After 15 years they should be dead by now.
If they all bred he could have 32,000 by now.
That was a fun thread with names I haven't seen in years.
KK