Woodchucks

[Jstpssng]

My father waged a war on the little buggers all of his life... most likely from growing up on a farm which used draft horses back in the Depression. They also are just plain destructive.
As the nearby city ofAuburn spread out, the homestead became a "no firearms" zone and he eventually started livetrapping and relocating them... something which I tried to discourage.
After he passed away my mother was talking about moving so I told her not to worry about them; the property will likely become a subdivision when she's done with it and they weren't hurting anything.

Less than 3 years later I'm eating my words. She decided to stay in the house my grandfather built, and which she and my father lived in for 40 years. The greenhouse is being leased, the little bastards are everywhere including in his seedlings. There are at least 3 active dens within 100 yards of the house, and they are getting obnoxious.
I'm seriously considering putting out a couple of good 1 3/4 Victors the next time I'm down but what do you do with a woodchuck in a leghold, when you can't shoot him? I also would have to make the set so that my dog doesn't go into it, and the last time I set a woodchuck trap down there 40+ years ago I caught the neighbor's cat. OOPS.

 

[jcummins]

Rodenator

 

[Jstpssng]

caddyshack scene with blowing up gopher holes - Bing video

 

[farmeratheart]

For many years I too waged war with woodchucks using a 22 rifle. Then Dad sold a few building lots that made some prime areas “unshootable”. When all of the entrances of a den are visible a poison gas cartridge down one hole works well. Shovel dirt over each entrance and you are done.

Frank

 

[radios1]

there are plenty of air rifles that will kill much larger animals very quickly, up to at least .50 caliber!.. a .25 caliber should do the job very nicely!. I have one, and it will go through a 1" pressboard.. Air Rifles: BB Rifles & Rifle Pellet Gun for Hunting | Pyramyd Air btw, it's sad that your father agreed to be a part of the City.. you then get controlled by them!!..

 

[Jstpssng]

there are plenty of air rifles that will kill much larger animals very quickly, up to at least .50 caliber!.. a .25 caliber should do the job very nicely!. I have one, and it will go through a 1" pressboard.. Air Rifles: BB Rifles & Rifle Pellet Gun for Hunting | Pyramyd Air btw, it's sad that your father agreed to be a part of the City.. you then get controlled by them!!..

He had nothing to do with it, it's the same old story of the town expanding out into formerly rural areas. The ironic part was that when they moved the city limits, the only new construction had been a mall some 2 miles away in another direction. Yet his 31 acres is right in a zone which the town has longed targeted for subdividing.

I will have to check out your link though... a good quality air rifle is something I've been pondering for some time.

 

[LouNY]

A havahart trap is quiet and allows you to release anything you want to,
when you catch what you don't want the disposal means should be one that doesn't burden others with something they do not want.

 

[Topzide]

2nd on air rifle! .22 pellet puts a hurting on a chuck at 20 yrs. Another option would be crossbow. If live trapped, dispatch them and fertilize the field, don't relocate and make them someone else's problem. Another option is a connibear over entrances. Had one in a drain pipe, blocked one end with block, other end with connibear! 20 minutes later, problem solveda

 

[Jstpssng]

when you catch what you don't want the disposal means should be one that doesn't burden others with something they do not want

I agree. For the last few years, instead of killing them my parents would take their unwanted squirrels and woodchucks up "on a back road" and let them go. I told them what I thought of that idea. I live "on a back road" in a different part of the state, and suspect that's why I now have woodchucks here, after 15 years. Also, people who catch squirrels in winter and release them miles away are condemning that animal to a cold death; just as if we were taken from our home and dumped someplace unfamiliar. A well placed round from a .22 is much more humane.

I can accomplish the same goal, easier, with a properly placed leghold; the problem either way though is what do you do with it afterwards. It's still in a no-shoot zone...

My father released the cat I mentioned above by putting a grain bag over it's head until he could release the trap jaws. Our lessee had a havahart set for the woodchuck earlier and caught a skunk instead. OOPS!

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I see two options, switch to Conibears, that will kill them for you, or get some of these,

Out of a rifle, they are as quiet or quieter than a pellet rifle and have more power.

I regularly kill trapped coons with them, no one will even know you are shooting them.

SR