Any suggestions on how to get rid of a ground hog? Thanks in advance.

Joy

Xref: kermit rec.gardens:230758

Trapping or shooting are the only sure fire ways. I used to have a dog that
would catch and kill them, but dogs like that are hard to come by. You can
fence the garden. You can use repellents, like cayenne pepper or commercial
hot pepper wax, on the young tender growth of the plants they favor, but
that's not always completely effective. You can bribe them, leaving goodies
like melon rinds and corn cobs on the edge of the compost pile, and hope
they are satisfied enough to leave the garden alone. It doesn't do much
good to fill in the mouth of their burrows, or pour/toss offensive stuff
down there, as they usually have more than one entrance/exit.

For my own groundhog, I'm using a combination of cayenne pepper, sending the
dog to chase him when I see him (she's a lab; good at chasing, not good at
killing) and compost heap bribery. We seem to have reached a truce, but
that doesn't mean I won't wake up one morning and find my bean seedlings
gone. We're in the suburbs, so shooting is out, and I'm not angry enough
for fencing or trapping...yet. Plus, if I get rid of this one, another will
soon come to take it's place, so I'll take the devil I know over the devil I
don't.

Cheers,
Sue

--

Zone 6, Southcentral PA
"joy2wrld" wrote in message
...
Any suggestions on how to get rid of a ground hog? Thanks in advance.

Joy

joy2wrld wrote:
Any suggestions on how to get rid of a ground hog? Thanks in advance.

Joy

I tried planting broccoli one year in addition to peppers, tomatoes and
squash. My resident groundhog seemed to be addicted to the broccoli. If you
device to trap using something like a havahart use broccoli as the bait.

Robin

joy2wrld wrote:
Any suggestions on how to get rid of a ground hog? Thanks in advance.

Joy



My DH suggests lead poison, but I just keep chasing it off.
So far, we've pour many bags of rocks down the holes he
keeps digging.

--
Bonnie
NJ
http://home.earthlink.net/~maebe43/

On Sat, 31 May 2003 15:57:51 -0400, joy2wrld wrote:

Any suggestions on how to get rid of a ground hog? Thanks in advance.

Joy

As a kid growing up in the ohio valley, we would make a few dollars in the
summers by clearing out pastures of ground hogs. We would use a .22 and a
scope, but seeing we got paid by the head instead of the hour we had to
figure out a faster way. In the end we used cable wire snare traps that
would be placed at the hole's entrance at night to ensure that they were
home. When they woke and left their holes, they would get their heads
stuck as they climbed out and they would die shortly after.
Beyound killing the hogs there are really few optinions. Poisons are
really not a great idea due to the fact that the hog will die full of
poison and it's very likely some other animal (dogs and the like) will
find the dead hog and eat it, hence poisoning themselves also. If killing
it dosn't work for you, you could always plant a nice garden of greens
near his hole for him. He should spend more time eating whats close to him
rather than treak all the way to your garden.
Good luck with the hog.

--
http://yard-works.netfirms.com
Bellingham, Washington
Georgia straits area
Zone 8a usda

joy2wrld wrote:
Any suggestions on how to get rid of a ground hog? Thanks in advance.

Joy

Groundhogs are territorial & usually refuse even to live in pairs. With
rare exceptions a gardener will only have to cope with one groundhog at a
time, as they're not like prairie dogs & ground squirrels that live in
colonies, & they're not like rabbits that have extended families in
warrens. A female will annually raise a family, but they won't remain in
her territory when they are adult.

That generality can be mucked up by feeding groundhogs & rendering them
semi-tame. Whichever groundhog is "primary" in the territory may permit
offspring to return to a "common feeding ground" if excesses of fun food
are provided. But if one doesn't mind visits from adorable mammals,
feeding them carrots & broccoli & encouraging them to hang out doesn't
necessarily mean the garden is a gonner, as many people encourage them as
readily as they encourage birds, & gardens somehow manage to thrive in the
presence of a groundhog.

There are many people who manage to live with a groundhog & enjoy having
one about. There's no question but that they CAN wreck stuff, but so does
a big outdoor dog, so do children, so does the wind -- probably none of it
does as much harm as the basic lawn & garden chemicals far too many
gardeners put all over tarnation in the misguided belief they're doing
good. A world in which chemicals are embraced & fauna is discouraged is a
weird damned world.

It may not always be possible to live up to an ideal, but it should be
much more often possible to enjoy things of nature, such as a garden,
without having to negate everything else in nature.

This website:
http://www.hoghaven.com/
will acquaint anyone with the most enjoyable aspects of having a groundhog
about.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

paghat wrote:
joy2wrld wrote:

Any suggestions on how to get rid of a ground hog? Thanks in advance.

Joy


Groundhogs are territorial & usually refuse even to live in pairs. With
rare exceptions a gardener will only have to cope with one groundhog at a
time, as they're not like prairie dogs & ground squirrels that live in
colonies, & they're not like rabbits that have extended families in
warrens. A female will annually raise a family, but they won't remain in
her territory when they are adult.

That generality can be mucked up by feeding groundhogs & rendering them
semi-tame. Whichever groundhog is "primary" in the territory may permit
offspring to return to a "common feeding ground" if excesses of fun food
are provided. But if one doesn't mind visits from adorable mammals,
feeding them carrots & broccoli & encouraging them to hang out doesn't
necessarily mean the garden is a gonner, as many people encourage them as
readily as they encourage birds, & gardens somehow manage to thrive in the
presence of a groundhog.

There are many people who manage to live with a groundhog & enjoy having
one about. There's no question but that they CAN wreck stuff, but so does
a big outdoor dog, so do children, so does the wind -- probably none of it
does as much harm as the basic lawn & garden chemicals far too many
gardeners put all over tarnation in the misguided belief they're doing
good. A world in which chemicals are embraced & fauna is discouraged is a
weird damned world.

It may not always be possible to live up to an ideal, but it should be
much more often possible to enjoy things of nature, such as a garden,
without having to negate everything else in nature.

This website:
http://www.hoghaven.com/
will acquaint anyone with the most enjoyable aspects of having a groundhog
about.

-paghat the ratgirl


We have a large yard. The groundhog that has lived in the
back for many is fine and we enjoy watching his antics -
climbing trees and such. However, we have a young one that
has taken to digging holes next to my lilac and very near
the garden. I have found him several times sitting on my
veggie filter for the pond eating the water celery. This
one I would love to see gone!

--
Bonnie
NJ
http://home.earthlink.net/~maebe43/

joy2wrld wrote:

Any suggestions on how to get rid of a ground hog? Thanks in advance.

Joy



Groundhogs are like a fluid. If you remove one, another will take its
place. The only way I've been able to keep a groundhog hole out of use
is to find both ends and stir the soil around it with a backhoe. Just
filling the hole doesn't work. They must leave a scent around the hole
that tells them where it is, and the next one will open it up again.

They don't like to be separated from their hole by obstacles. I've had
fairly good luck keeping them out of the garden by (1) finding all the
holes (or at least most of them) and (2) placing a fence as an obstacle
between the good stuff and their hole and (3) placing something they
like (e.g. clover) outside the garden where they can chow down without
bothering me. The fence doesn't have to completely enclose the good
stuff, just provide an obstacle to a quick exit. Fences by themselves
won't do the trick. They can climb over or burrow under them. Even if
you bury the bottom of the fence, they can find their way in. However,
if you make it too much work or danger, AND provide them with something
outside, they will be satisfied.

If you trap them, I find brassicas (broccoli, cabbage, etc.) to be the
best bait. Also, if you trap them, most states prohibit moving wild
animals, so you can't legally relocate them. You have to either dispatch
it or release it. Moreover, relocating groundhogs just transfers your
problem to someone else. Be considerate of other gardeners.

I used to have a woodchuck problem, then a coyote moved into the
neighborhood :-D



"joy2wrld" wrote in message
...
Any suggestions on how to get rid of a ground hog? Thanks in advance.

Joy