Speaking of woodchucks...

[Jstpssng]

...has anybody ever tried filling their entry with concrete? My mother has one under her shed which had 7 babies in it all summer. They seem to have left and I want to discourage anyone from moving in. Of course I also would need to fill the other entrance.
My father had a lifetime war on the little buggers but after he passed away I told my mother that they aren't hurting anything and when she's done with the land it will likely be subdivisions. That was 3 years ago and it's amazing how well they do when not controlled. The area around that hole is laden with deer ticks which I suspect is related to the woodchuck home.

 

[MossRoad]

...has anybody ever tried filling their entry with concrete? My mother has one under her shed which had 7 babies in it all summer. They seem to have left and I want to discourage anyone from moving in. Of course I also would need to fill the other entrance.
My father had a lifetime war on the little buggers but after he passed away I told my mother that they aren't hurting anything and when she's done with the land it will likely be subdivisions. That was 3 years ago and it's amazing how well they do when not controlled. The area around that hole is laden with deer ticks which I suspect is related to the woodchuck home.

I've just filled them in as soon as I see them start new burrows and used a hose to water it in as I go. They've never come back to the exact same spot.... they moved 2' over. My guess is if you concrete it in, they may just dig next to the concrete next year.

 

[dirttoys]

I've just filled them in as soon as I see them start new burrows and used a hose to water it in as I go. They've never come back to the exact same spot.... they moved 2' over. My guess is if you concrete it in, they may just dig next to the concrete next year.

This is dead on. I had a little old farm house we used until we built. They started under the deck next to the foundation. I pulled up a board and pour concrete in all the holes, basically expanding the foundation by 8 inches, put the board back. Fast forward 2 years, I had pulled the next 4 boards and laid chicken wire and a 3 inch slab............

Now they seem just as happy tunneling and living under the slab

The only thing better is when you finally get fed and resort to extreme measures, they stink for about 2 weeks after they pass.

Best,

ed

 

[Jstpssng]

I got the answer to THAT question, now I wonder how they know the tunnel is there when it's been buried.

 

[Midniteoyl]

I use bug bombs. Find their entries, throw 2-3 bombs in nozzles first, plug the holes and wait with loaded gun (having 2 people help). They either die in the hole or trying to dig out. Don't care either way.

If you want to keep them from digging under decks/sheds/slabs, you have to dig about 12" out and 12"-18" deep all the way around and fill it with rock or gravel. Don't let them get the upper hand. They will absolutely destroy everything.

 

[ponytug]

I don't think concrete is going to cut it. I would bury wire mesh or chain link out far enough that they don't feel safe, and then vertically at the perimeter so that they don't go under. Just don't hit power / water / sewer lines when you do it...

All the best,

Peter

 

[oosik]

I hear your desperation - Jstpssng. I think your Maine woodchucks are the same as our Ea WA state ground hogs. Maybe just a little different flavor. Concrete is not the answer. They will simply dig a new hole right around the plug you put in.

The only way we have ever been successful - gun, trap or poison. I, personally, don't like poison. Too much chance of secondary poisoning. Traps can take about the same effort as the daily feeding of your beef cattle.

Traps and guns take time. When we moved down from AK my twelve year old son took great pride, pleasure in eliminating every single ground hog on the property and within 100 yard outside the property line. You know exactly what that entailed. The largest population was in the valley that leads into the little lake.

He did such a complete job - that now some 40+ years later - they have never returned.

Remington single shot 22 with a 4X Redfield scope. He became quite the sniper.

 

[Jstpssng]

The problem with burying wire is that the shed is on the corner where two rows of spruce trees converge, which my grandfather planted sometime after he built the house in 1927. While it was once the family farm, it's now 30 acres of a 350 acre undeveloped area with houses all around, the town leaders have a bulls-eye on it for development, and it's in a no-shoot zone. I've long held that if somebody had any foresight they would try to pick up the entire undeveloped area and keep it as a green zone, but all anybody can think about is getting more tax money.

 

[hube2]

The only reason I have a problem with woodchucks is the devastation they can bring to my garden. Other critters will just eat a little here and there but ground hogs when they find something they like they will work their way down a row and eat everything to the ground. They really like to do this to broccoli, cabbage and bean plants. If it was not for this I would just leave them be. I actually have one living at the back of my property right now that is not an issue so I let it be. They will only forage so far from their holes as long as there's plenty of things for them to eat nearby.

I've tried using traps, but I've never actually caught one. 22 is the best thing to use. Also do a search for gopher gassers, they do a good job as long as you can find and plug up all the holes with dirt.

 

[mikester]

Concrete and water won't get you anywhere. You can try a metal flex line to your tractor's exhaust but their tunnels run everywhere with multiple exits and they use water traps.

What you need to do is be persistent enough that they want to move away. Don't give them a nice place to hide and feel safe. I finally got rid of mine after removing the wood pile and taking a backhoe to his home.

 

[skipmarcy]

I've told this before … When I was a kid I helped an old German guy winterize houses on our big lake in CT in the fall and he had a trick for the woodchucks that would burrow down beside house foundations/basements and hibernate. We would go around to some local bars and get the empty booze bottles and would throw a couple down the hole and bust it up with the shovel and then lightly fill the hole in with dirt. A woodchuck WILL dig it's same hole back out if it can. As they dig the hole out they cut their front paws and bleed to death.

The blood will not coagulate in a woodchuck's front paws, I don't know why but it won't. Back then (in the '60s) the state of CT had a bounty on woodchucks and would pay $2 for a left front paw at the local hardware store. They used to sell cyanide smoke bombs at the hardware store too but I'm sure the .gov cut that out long ago … My friend and I used to shoot them and collect the bounty to buy reloading supplies.

 

[Jstpssng]

I set a #2 double longspring in the mouth of a den back when I was in HS and the woodchuck was waiting for me the next morning. When my sister had one living next to the foundation of her house I tried again... and caught the neighbor's cat. OOPS! My father put a grain bag over it's head and released it unharmed, although I guess it raised quite a ruckus.

 

[RalphVa]

I fought the groundhog war in NJ and lost, but one thing that would run them out of a hole is ammonia. I've done in lots of them by just watching their hole. Head pop up? No head or head full of 410 lead. I'd kill 20 or so every year and could not keep ahead of them in NJ. My boss and I kept a running total. He'd keep watch out of his 2nd story and pop them with a 22. He'd usually beat me by 2 or 3 on the count.

Here, they're less of a problem but when they go underneath the pool concrete decking, I'll set a hav-a-hart trap with a half a mushmelon. They'd die of lead poisoning.

Tried the ammonia on that hole. Kept them away for 2 or 3 days. Came back.

 

[/pine]

Non-chucking woodchucks have to take metal shop...!

 

[the old grind]

Connibear 160 set over a tunnel entrance and a place to bury your catch. Takes about as long to say it as it does to make it work.

The best way to reduce varmint numbers is to reduce their numbers. Relocating can lead to crowding somewhere else which may hasten repopulation as they seek lebensraum.

 

[RalphVa]

Relocating any wild animal is against the law in Virginia.

 

[hube2]

Relocating any wild animal is against the law in Virginia.

It's illegal in NY as well, you have to call someone that has a license to do so. This is why I leave them alone if they are not being a nuisance. Legally, in NY I can only kill them if they are actually a problem, causing damage or present a safety issue.

Trapping is really only useful if you live in an area where you can't legally fire a gun or use some other method to kill them so that you can take them somewhere else to dispose of them. It's actually illegal to use the gopher gassers I previously mentioned withing so many feet of a building as well.

I know some people that use poison, I won't because I'm worried about pets getting into it. I will have to try the broken glass in the hole the next time I have one causing a problem.

 

[the old grind]

Trapping is really only useful if you live in an area where you can't legally fire a gun or use some other method to kill them so that you can take them somewhere else to dispose of them.

I may have an hour/day to run my line but rarely have half a day to sit and wait for a shot. I've harvested two muskrats, a feral cat, and a coyote so far this year with a 12 Ga, all but one 'rat shot from the deck. Total time spent hunting < an hour.

btw, I caught two chippies and three mice this week in the barn where they aren't welcome. All I had to do was empty traps and re-bait my set. Sunflower seeds are cheap compared to ammo.

 

[hube2]

I've just never had any luck with traps. I guess it's a skill that I lack.

 

[Jstpssng]

Bury a 1 1/2 coilspring in the entrance, with the pan a bit off center so that he will step in it. Then stake it so that he can’t go back down his hole. I don’t like setting Conibears on the ground in residential settings as they aren’t very forgiving. Granted nobody’s pet should be there, but I don’t want to be the one who kills “Fluffy”.