One ground hog is all it takes! War on the beast!

[Bobberman]

I am armed and ready to defend my beans and sun flowers ! Any way I can get this monster is fine with me. I forgot my shot gun so I have to try something else. I also forgot my trap so I am making one out of a old rabbit cage. Any suggestions?

[freedhardwoods]

Do you know where his hole is?

[Bobberman]

He is living everywhere around my greenhouses. No hole that I have found! I am only here on the weekends and have not seen it yet my girl friend has seen it every day but it must know to hide when it sees my van!

[cdog222]

I have been batting off and on with one of these buggers all season. First it was the kale, then the quinoa, then the corn, then my patiently coaxed quinoa regrowth. I wouldn't see him for a while and I'd relax, and the BAM.....he eats something else. It's quite ironic - I was just thinking today that I hadn't seen him in a while. As soon as I got home and looked out the kitchen window...there he is - standing up in the middle of my garden. I did put up some deer netting around my 4 x 8 bed of replanted corn, and it's keep him (and the squirrels) at bay thus far. At any rate, I'm taking up arms with Bobberman and ridding myself of this beast! Alright...I'm a softie. I'm going to hopefully trap and relocate. Good luck to you, Bobberman, and all the other unfortunate and unwilling hosts of the super cute but always hungry ground hog.

[applestar]

I'm not sure how it works out for people with big gardens in open area, but from what I've seen groundHOGs always makes a bolt hole and tries to turn it into a deeper more complex den somewhere close by... Even in my tiny suburban garden.

If there's a structure, they seem to prefer digging the hole under it. So far I've had the groundHOG holed up under the shed by the back fence and even trying to dig under the garage where it was much more convenient to raid the raised beds (VERY QUICKLY put a stop to that!). More recently, under a yucca and a crabapple tree.

So if you have a vantage point, someone should stay up high -- like an upstairs window or even standing on top of a vehicle or something -- while the other person scares it so you can find out where it runs to hide.

Good luck.

[applestar]

I wasn't sure if I was going to post this... But I recognize that from conservation standpoint, killing (and even eating) them is more humane in some ways than trapping and relocating them. The fact that I can't see myself doing it myself just leaves me feeling more of a hypocrite than anything else.

So if you are going to shoot it, I think it's better to get it done in one quick sure shot -- here is a link to instructions for DIY no-kill snare that I found while looking for a way to trap them.
https://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/easterly98.html

[rainbowgardener]

Yes, they live in underground burrows and they always do have more than way to get in or out. The holes are pretty big and recognizable, with a porch of stuff they pushed out of the hole.

I'm not a fan of trap and relocate... you are just giving someone else your problem. I think it is illegal to trap and relocate raccoons, not sure about groundhogs, but still either way, it isn't a friendly thing to do. And any place you release them, is likely to have some already, so they may not be able to find enough territory to be able to live.

Deer netting works just fine at keeping them away from your crops and can sometimes be pretty entertaining watching them still try.

We had a resident groundhog for years until we got a dog. The dog was fascinated by the groundhog holes and spent hours and hours guarding them, trying to stick his head in, etc. He never did hurt any of them, but they apparently decided our place was not the groundhog paradise it used to be. Haven't seen the groundhog or the typical groundhog damage for months now.

[applestar]

Yep there are local limits and regulations associated with trap and release. And significant chance that they won't survive the relocation.

It's a good idea to look them up so you can make an informed choice.

[Lindsaylew82]

In Pa, our groundHOG decided he was not to be stopped by netting or fencing.... He dug right under it, took a bite of every squash in the fence, and then took his fat hiney home.

My husband shot him. I was mad, but also glad.

I know this is completely unrelated, but Friday I helped fix an young lady's broken ankle after her horse stepped in a groundhog hole and fell. It was fatal injury to the horse, she was lucky to have only injured her ankle.

The den that our groundhog dug was under our shed. We didn't know it was even there until spring thaw the next year when the dirt under that corner of the shed collapsed... Luckily, we were renters...

[DDMcKenna]

Well, I guess RG's method sounds like the most politically correct I've read so far. But I guess they are always going to be somebody's problem.

[valley]

You can't live with these beasts, and you can't put them on others. They have to be eliminated or you have to stop gardening.
I've listened to people who lost newborn calves or chickens to Coyotes, they always have to take their choice, which they want to have living and eating on their land.
We've had that with bear, some people who think they'er cute and buy wooden bear for their little gardens.

If an animal breaks and enters, kills or destroys, you have dominion.

[freedhardwoods]

This story would come under the "VERY DANGEROUS, DO NOT TRY THIS" category.

When I was a kid, my dad would find their holes (many times several are connected), pour a little water down first (so the gas would run down farther), then some gasoline, and cover all but one with dirt. The last one he would throw a match in. Most just made a big fireball from the open hole and that was it. He never did this near any buildings.

There was one day, though, when we found 6 holes within 50 or 60 feet. He doped them all up and threw the match in the last hole.

KABOOM!!!

The ground shook like an earthquake and dirt flew in all directions.

That was pretty cool for a kid.

[Bobberman]

They do make a smoke bomb that you can buy at agway. You plug up one of his holes then put the bomb in the other and it is suppose to work!

[mattie g]

This story would come under the "VERY DANGEROUS, DO NOT TRY THIS" category.

When I was a kid, my dad would find their holes (many times several are connected), pour a little water down first (so the gas would run down farther), then some gasoline, and cover all but one with dirt. The last one he would throw a match in. Most just made a big fireball from the open hole and that was it. He never did this near any buildings.

There was one day, though, when we found 6 holes within 50 or 60 feet. He doped them all up and threw the match in the last hole.

KABOOM!!!

The ground shook like an earthquake and dirt flew in all directions.

That was pretty cool for a kid.

[freedhardwoods]

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[treehopper]

Groundhogs LOVE muskmelon...a conibear trap placed over their hole with a black 5 gallon pail over it is very effective as well. Make sure the trap is staked well.

[3 Pound Tomato]

I've used shotgun, my recurve bow, and a box trap and driving the critters down the road a couple of miles, LOL

[Bobberman]

.The ground hog is hogging my tomatoes with one bite from each. He has them all over the ground. I set my trap tonight made from a old rabbit trap. I think he will go after the apple I put in there!

[Bobberman]

Caught the ground hog in my trap but when I came back in 5 min. to move it down to a stream down the road it got out some how.! Next week when I come down here I will shoot it is I see it. Its about 15 pounds pretty big!

[valley]

Good for you! Hope you the little bugger. Be sure to take the hide in exchange for all he's taken. Best of luck.

Richard

[Bobberman]

Ground hog still on the loose. I have not been to my garden here for 2 weeks because of work and its 50 miles from where I live. I had 4 nice rows of beans that were just flowering but they are gone down to the stems. I forgot the shot gun again but made the trap better and set it with a apple.! Several of my nicest tomatoes with one big bite out of them! Had some nice tomatoes that he missed because they were up high! I hate ground hogs I see no use for them!

[Kageri]

I kind of liked our groundhogs. I fed them leftovers. We were middle of nowhere next to wildlife preserve so the garden had to be very securely fenced anyway. They did dig under buildings though. Just shoving a tpost in the hole and letting the doges snuffle and dig a bit for several days would make them find another less destructive home.

[rainbowgardener]

" I see no use for them"

You would if you were a wolf, red fox, coyote, great horned owl ... Woodchucks are a primary food source for a number of different carnivorous mammals and birds. People do eat woodchuck meat also. Woodchuck burrows provide homes for a lot of different animals including possums, mice, chipmunks, red fox. Some rabbits depend on them for escape routes, since the rabbits are not burrowers themselves. In overgrazed pasture, their burrows may improve soil drainage and provide a water reservoir. They turn and aerate soil and expose subsoil to weathering which helps it become topsoil. This increases vegetation around their burrow sites.

Everything in an ecosystem has roles and functions and sometimes we don't know what those are and how important they are until we subtract that creature from the system.

Do you know the song "All God's critters got a place in the choir." ?

[Bobberman]

Had the ground hog in my sights with the shot gun but it was too close to the house. Besides my girlfriend has named it rooter and thinks its a pet.! So I will have to decide if I want to shoot it or trap it and move it to a lake near by. I really don't like to kill animals!

[Bobberman]

Bought a nice new trap at Rural King for $29 including a smaller one inside as a bonus. great deal to catch the groundhog. I had it all set near my greenhouse & figured I would catch it but within 5 days someone took it so its gone and I am not to happy! Now I have two problems. Well the shotgun is coming back next week!

[Bobberman]

I got the ground tonight in one of my cage traps. Moved him a half mile to a secluded area near a stream! He was a big one! He even ate my swiss chard in my greenhouse!

[rainbowgardener]

If you are going to relocate them like that, you should try marking them, so you know if they come back.

[Bobberman]

Ya but how with spray paint I guess. I had a new one that I caught today. He or she was in the hole that the bigger one was in. I put a plastic seed 6 pack in front of the hole and I knew another one was there. I caught it today and took it down to a stream away from homes.

[Bobberman]

so far I caught 2 ground hogs and today a possum! All of them are relocated to a nicer area near a stream. They all were in the same hole under my small shed!

[Arriga]

Will an electric fence keep them out?

[jal_ut]

I forgot my shot gun so I have to try something else. I also forgot my trap

Not sure what this means.......... forgot them where? Perhaps you can go get them?

How about a dead-fall trap using the figure 4 trigger?

[applestar]

Will an electric fence keep them out?

I used a very small two wire electric fence -- one just above the grass and one at around 20" (set up outside the 28"H rabbit fence) to keep the groundHOG away from my dwarf apple tree. I DID NOT KNOW groundHOG would climb the low branched tree to steal the apples.

[cdog222]

I've been fretting over the inevitable reemergence of my resident ground hog. I convinced myself over the winter that a fence was going to be the ticket, but I don't think that's going to get the job done. So....maybe an electric fence, or trap / relocate. I know that relocation isn't necessarily a favorable option, but I can't bring myself to kill the buggar - despite his / her penchant for my veggies. I haven't taken any action yet, but I'm sure he / she is gonna be hungry - a few decimated crops will likely get my edited in gear!

[rainbowgardener]

Why do you not think fencing will "get the job done"? Deer netting is cheap and easy. It has been very entertaining at times, watching the groundhog try to get at my tomatoes when they were inside a deer netting cage. My friends that use electric fence say that works well too.

applestar - I didn't realize groundhogs climbed until I discovered them well up into the mulberry tree when mulberries were ripe. I can spot them because the branches start bouncing!

[cdog222]

I guess I just assumed that the ground hog would dig right under the fence. I did use deer netting around individual raised beds last year, which kept the ground hog out but it was a pain to work in the bed with the netting around it. My thought was to enclose the entire garden with a fence and have one entry point, but I figured the ground hog would just dig under the fence. I do recall reading somewhere on these forums the idea of taking a strip of fencing / netting and laying on the ground under the fence to discourage digging along the fence. I dunno what I'll do yet - the yard was so squishy last weekend (and my raised beds were still frozen) that I couldn't do any work, and we just got another 2 inches of rain the other day. I guess that gives me a little time to come up with a game plan!

[redneck647]

I've known of groundhogs to dig under fences.. I got a big box trap to try catching them this year but I'm not sure how well that will work. So far the best way I’ve found to keep them out of the garden is to bury them with a led ball lodged in its head.

[applestar]

Subject: GroungHOG ... NOT

Its not the only coon around those little bandits run in bunches! Ground hogs are easy to catch you just have to set the trap in the opening of their den and cover it with burlap then a light coating of dirt. They will walk right out and not notice it is a trap.

OhioTiller you were SO right! Thanks for this tip.
I set the trap right before a major storm hit last night just after sundown, so I didn't get the chance to cover, etc., but LOOK WHAT I FOUND THIS MORNING SOON AFTER SUNRISE !


Ha! I was looking at the photo and noticed it ate BOTH wedges of cantaloupe that were in there.

[rainbowgardener]

oh yeah. I'm sure no matter how much food you put in the trap, it would have all been gone!

Good job! Now what are you going to do with it?

[applestar]

Well that one was from last year -- but this is how I see it: On our property, there are PLENTY to eat -- I know they eat other vegetation besides what's being carefully grown in the protected garden beds. I also leave patches of what would normally be destroyed as weeds that I know they can and do eat. And then, besides mulberries you mentioned, there are plums and crabapples, hickory and acorn nuts if they care to eat them, wild grapes.... NOTHING within our property is sprayed or otherwise poisoned. I toss bug-eaten portions out on the open compost pile.

So if after I make what I consider to be reasonable amount of effort to indicate that THESE ARE OFF LIMITS and they still insist on stealing the fruits of my labor, I put the good kitchen scraps in enclosed compost bin, and step up on barricading, and even if THAT isn't enough, then trap and "relocate" according to DH's judgment. I will no longer "protect" them. WAR as the OP eloquently described the state of our non-coexistence. (...and I refuse to feel bad about it...even if my conscience prickles sometimes )