Speaking of woodchucks...

[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”.