Gardening
Related: About this forumYea me. The groundhog is no longer here. Although I have no doubt another one will show back up.
She had taken all my water melons except one, all 50 corn plants, my sugar snap peas,
and a shit load of tomatoes (squirrels too). I have gotten 2 tomatoes all season. Cucumbers
too.
brewens
(15,359 posts)SWBTATTReg
(24,164 posts)people wouldn't do it. She would grab her 22 cal. rifle (a 70 old lady, with her 90 year Mom), and stand on the front porch, wait for their groundhog to show up again, and try and shoot at her/the groundhog. As the grandson/great grandson, what could I say? If anything, they would load the gun for me, and tell me to shoot at it. I never managed to hit it, but perhaps that was a deliberate 'miss' attempt?
We did the same thing (try to shoot) the tiny chipmunks too, eating their tomatoes. Can you imagine hitting a tiny chipmunk, some 100 feet away? It's a little hard to do, even w/ my eyesight back then, which was a hell of a lot better then. Ha ha heh. I love my grandmas back then. Miss them still terribly.
Botany
(72,526 posts)She was very smart and hard to trap. A .22 took care of her.
SheltieLover
(59,708 posts)for feeding her other kids.
Easterncedar
(3,556 posts)Repels All seems to be saving the limas so far.
Ive got two young groundhogs under my deck now. Do I get out the hav-a-heart? Such a nuisance!
A few years back there was one that got so enormous I called him Jabba the Chuck.
notemason
(572 posts)Refused to enter trap regardless of bait. Finally I borrowed a .22 rifle and caught her feasting away; I centered that X dead on her chest and pulled the trigger. "Click". Dud bullet! When I ejected she heard it, saw me, ran away and has not returned.
p.s. One thing I found that would run her off before resorting to the death penalty was an external speaker thru which I played fox calls I found on You Tube.
Botany
(72,526 posts)Put some peanut butter on the pan of the trap.
Put some whole peanuts in the shell (unsalted) onto the peanut butter. Put some peanuts
And or some melon behind the pan. Collard Greens are good too.
Soak a little anise or almond extract or vanilla on a rag and put the rag on top of the trap.
Spread some birdseed
. With sunflower seeds and nuts in the front of trap and in front of the
door to the trap.
Cover trap with bath towel that has been left outside
less human smell. Weight towel down.
Set trap. Make sure the trap can be triggered. A little WD 40 or white grease on the trigger.
Put a drop of anise or vanilla on the lubricated area. Smell is important or lack there of when
doing this.
Close trap at dark. Less raccoons, opossums, and skunks.
Reset trap in early morning.
Once a wood chuck aka ground hog aka Ohio Road Panther has been finding food in
an area he/she will keep coming back.
A .22 sub sonic round is a good thing
. No loud crack sound when the bullet goes faster
than 1200 feet per second
aka speed of sound. The slug is made to break into 3 pieces
and puts the animal down faster. Gotta get them at a gun store/outdoor store. Very right
wing country.
Big ground hogs did not get to be big by being dumb.
Do not relocate the animal. Check trap often.
notemason
(572 posts)and it always works; except with this one. Will consider your choices in the future. I usually re-locate five miles from home. Thanks for the tips!
Botany
(72,526 posts)Most areas already have populations and bringing in a new one isnt good. If you still want to
relocate it make sure that you put it on the other side of a freeway from your property. I dont
know if ground hogs have the same homing instinct as squirrels but they tend to not make it
past a major road way.
You cant catch and rehabilitate them.