Ground Hogs

[5030]

Good to eat if you know how to prepare them....lol

 

[polo1665]

Good to eat if you know how to prepare them....lol

I'm with Hay Dude and Dodge Man, I try and shoot every one of them I see. I've heard the young ones are OK to eat, but I'm not trying them....lol

 

[5030]

Have to know how to prepare them, just like squirrel. Both vegetarians so the meat is good but all in the prep. I'd never use a scattergun on a whistle pig, always a .17 or a 22-250.

 

[RalphVa]

Live trap right over the hole with some lettuce and cut apple for bait.

This was at my next door neighbor’s house June 19. Less than an hour after he set the trap.

View attachment 751911

I use quarter to half a cantalope. Never fails. Can possibly get rid of them by putting ammonia in the holes. Worked in NJ. They leave for a while and come back here in Va. In NJ, I'd put a hav a hart trap on a path that they used, without any bait. Caught all sorts of animals including groundhogs in it, even skunks. They're not much fun in releasing them.

 

[RalphVa]

I'm with Hay Dude and Dodge Man, I try and shoot every one of them I see. I've heard the young ones are OK to eat, but I'm not trying them....lol

Used to shoot them in NJ and shoot ones I've caught in traps here in Va. They're too smart here in Va to shoot them sticking heads up out of holes or when they run away and then stop and stand up and sneer at you. My boss and I would run a tally. He'd shoot them from the 2nd floor of his house, and I'd shoot them with a 410 shotgun. We'd both get over 20/yr. Still could not control them in NJ.

 

[5030]

even skunks. They're not much fun in releasing them.

You have to know how to release them without getting stinky....lol

 

[hube2]

I've never had any luck catching them.

My options are
1) If I see them I get my gun.
2) I buy these things called gopher gassers, available on amazon or my nearest country store. Using them requires finding all the holes (the hardest part) and they need to be home. They will almost always be home in the middle of a hot day. Then you fill in all the holes with rocks and dirt except 1. You get rocks and dirt ready for the last hole. Light it, throw it in fuse end first and fill in the hole with rocks and dirt quick as you can. These things have never failed for me. They may not be legal where you are.

 

[Oaktree]

I'd put a hav a hart trap on a path that they used, without any bait. Caught all sorts of animals including groundhogs in it, even skunks. They're not much fun in releasing them.

Yeah, I caught a skunk in one a few years ago. What made it worse was that the trap was in a somewhat confined space where moving it was a little tricky. Wife was a little more daring than I, and was able to release it without any problems.

Woodchucks are really stupid. Had a mother and 2 young ones one year, caught all 3 within a day with the trap in the same place (with the same limp piece of lettuce as bait).

2) I buy these things called gopher gassers, available on amazon or my nearest country store. Using them requires finding all the holes (the hardest part) and they need to be home. They will almost always be home in the middle of a hot day. Then you fill in all the holes with rocks and dirt except 1. You get rocks and dirt ready for the last hole. Light it, throw it in fuse end first and fill in the hole with rocks and dirt quick as you can. These things have never failed for me. They may not be legal where you are.

I've gassed them with a hose off a tailpipe (assuming you can get a vehicle near one of the holes). 2nd entrance was under a shed where I couldn't get at it, but didn't need to. At least I assume I gassed it...after one session never saw it again.

Some rodents you can pee around the hole(s) and the scent will repel them, but that doesn't seem to work with woodchucks.

I don't have the patience to sit with a .22 and wait for it to show, especially since they're most active at dawn and dusk when the mosquitoes are bad.

 

[Mendonsy]

If they are in a place where you can't shoot them, try scattering some dog hair around the area. My daughter is a dog groomer so I get her to collect up some bags of dog hair and put it in the areas that the groundhogs like to dig. It'd not as permanent a fix as shooting them, but it works.

 

[mikester]

A scourge to the earth. Kill every one on them you see.
Nothing more than a giant burrowing rat.

How do you feel about raccoons? ;-)