woodchuck under garage

crawdad · Jun 13, 2002

this afternoon i spied a very young (baby?) woodchuck looking critter hanging out by the rear corner of my detached 2 1/2 car garage. went out to investigate and looks like he has dug himself a hole under the garage. i have a concrete slab floor. should i be worried about him or just let him be.

pretty funny,when i went out to investigate i made my 15 year old german shepherd come with me,first he did not want to get up off the floor with the a/c on, then i point and tell the dog to "go get him" he barks and runs in the wrong direction,finally i bring the dog over to the hole to pick up the scent he takes one sniff and could not care less. years ago he would have dug that thing up and wrung its neck. just had to share that, it made me laugh.

so anyway , what should i do with this critter, thanks

chim · Jun 13, 2002

Shoot him when he appears again...............chim

rancar · Jun 13, 2002

Scott,

[blue]"...i bring the dog over to the hole to pick up the scent he takes one sniff and could not care less..."[/blue]

Your best friend knows best [wink]....if he couldn't care less about this critter, why are you concerned? Let the critter be. He'll likely do no damage under your concrete pad and at best he'll make an entertaining conversation topic when your friends and relatives come over to visit. [grin]

rancar · Jun 13, 2002

Scott,

"...i bring the dog over to the hole to pick up the scent he takes one sniff and could not care less..."

Your best friend knows best /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif....if he couldn't care less about this critter, why are you concerned? Let the critter be. He'll likely do no damage under your concrete pad and at best he'll make an entertaining conversation topic when your friends and relatives come over to visit. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

njrqs · Jun 13, 2002

[blue[so anyway , what should i do with this critter, thanks 

Tell it to get tough with woodchucks or it's no A/C for you fido /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

EdKing · Jun 13, 2002

should i be worried about him or just let him be.

I would definitly be getting rid of the groundhog. It may be cute now, but as it gets bigger, it will make bigger holes. This undermining could cause damage to your floor.

Anonymous Poster · Jun 13, 2002

Guy here in Upstate NY told me that when he was a kid they would find both ends of the burrow, then at one end they would pour down a quart of gasolene and them put a rock over it. That made the 'chuck move down toward the other end of the burrow, just a few feet from the entrance where he could get fresh air with his body blocking off the tunnel and the gas fumes. Once the air inside was saturated with gas vapor, they would drop in a firecracker and replace the rock quickly. Baloom! He said it blew the chuck like a cork from a popgun and he never came back!

cowboydoc · Jun 13, 2002

I agree with Ed. If you've got one you will have more if you don't do anything about them and if you don't have more the one you have will continue to dig tunnels and hamper your foundation. They can do ALOT of damage under your concrete and severely hamper the structural integrity of your concrete. If you are concerned with the "killing" aspect just use a racoon trap and put food in it and then take him at least 10 miles away from your house and let him go. Personally I'd either shoot him or poison him.

Anonymous Poster · Jun 13, 2002

Around my place woodchuck burrows are only allowed in the hedgerows, the woods, and the overgrown meadows. When they start encroaching on my turf, I find it easy to induce the woodchucks to move. I simply pack the burrow entrance with fresh dog droppings. The woodchucks get the hint and leave. The reason this works may be related to the natural behavior of foxes (in my area they normally take over and widen a woodchuck burrow for their dens).