Groundhogs
 

we have groundhogs under our gazebo. How do we discourage them from
digging there. We have put rocks in their hole and they pull them out.
Some of the rocks are very good size. Now we have noticed they are
coming to our deck. We have looked under there and don't see any sign
of them. We have lattice around the underside of the deck. This is
war. How do we get rid of them???
Thanks for any help. Rusty

Groundhogs
 

Rusty wrote in
:

we have groundhogs under our gazebo. How do we discourage them
from digging there. We have put rocks in their hole and they pull
them out. Some of the rocks are very good size. Now we have
noticed they are coming to our deck. We have looked under there
and don't see any sign of them. We have lattice around the
underside of the deck. This is war. How do we get rid of them???
Thanks for any help. Rusty



I got rid of a family of groundhogs one year by flooding them out. If
access to water is no problem for you, just flood the hole. They will
return. Keep it up for a couple of weeks. They will give up.

Jim
Zone 6, Niagara

Groundhogs
 

On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 20:08:55 -0400, Rusty
wrote:

we have groundhogs under our gazebo. How do we discourage them from
digging there. We have put rocks in their hole and they pull them out.
Some of the rocks are very good size. Now we have noticed they are
coming to our deck. We have looked under there and don't see any sign
of them. We have lattice around the underside of the deck. This is
war. How do we get rid of them???
Thanks for any help. Rusty


Years ago I had groundhogs getting into my vegetable garden. They
were climbing the chicken wire fence! After I installed an electric
wire around the fence, no more groundhogs and no more deer problems.
The groundhogs would not enter a Hav-A-Hart trap (I tried baiting with
apple and corn). I did beat one groundhog over the head with a
shovel, and that did not work either! Groundhogs do not like dogs.

Groundhogs
 

In article ,
says...
On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 20:08:55 -0400, Rusty
wrote:

we have groundhogs under our gazebo. How do we discourage them from
digging there. We have put rocks in their hole and they pull them out.
Some of the rocks are very good size. Now we have noticed they are
coming to our deck. We have looked under there and don't see any sign
of them. We have lattice around the underside of the deck. This is
war. How do we get rid of them???
Thanks for any help. Rusty

Years ago I had groundhogs getting into my vegetable garden. They
were climbing the chicken wire fence! After I installed an electric
wire around the fence, no more groundhogs and no more deer problems.
The groundhogs would not enter a Hav-A-Hart trap (I tried baiting with
apple and corn). I did beat one groundhog over the head with a
shovel, and that did not work either! Groundhogs do not like dogs.

We have a vegetable garden-ruining groundhog too!!! How high was the
fence you built that they climbed? We were planning to do a 4 ft fence
(we have deer to contend with also). Also, should we bury the fence a
bit - have you ever had the groundhogs tunnel under a fence?

-kim

Groundhogs
 

Kim E. wrote:
...We have a vegetable garden-ruining groundhog too!!! How high was the
fence you built that they climbed? We were planning to do a 4 ft fence
(we have deer to contend with also). Also, should we bury the fence a
bit - have you ever had the groundhogs tunnel under a fence?...



Use the fence. Don't bother burying it. Just make it difficult for the
woodchuck to get into and out of the garden. (You can't make it
impossible.) If you them plant something outside the fence that
woodchucks like, they will stay outside rather than risk being caught
inside the fence in an emergency. Clover works well, but takes some time
to get started. You could even start a sacrificial garden outside
somewhere with broccoli or cabbage or sunflowers. Use cheap seed.

Be alert for tunnels appearing in the garden. If one appears, get a
woodchuck smoke bomb. Not the small ones that most hardware stores have,
they're designed for small rodents like voles, but the large
woodchuck-sized ones. Agway carries them. They're about 1-1/2 inch in
diameter and 5" long (estimate from memory). Tie the bomb to a long
stick. check to see which direction to shove the stick into the hole to
get it as far in as possible. Get a shovel full of soil ready. The fuses
are never long enough, so get everything ready to go. Light the fuse,
shove the stick into the hole (bomb end first, of course) as far as it
will go and start filling the hole.

It works much better if you can find all the entrances to the burrow
(there are at least two, and possibly three or four). Bomb them all. If
you miss one or two the woodchuck could be back in a week after the
smoke dissipates. If you get them all, it might take two or three weeks
before it comes back. If you get lucky and the woodchuck was in the hole
when you bombed it, it might take four weeks before another woodchuck
finds the hole and moves in.

Groundhogs
 

In article ,
says...
Kim E. wrote:
...We have a vegetable garden-ruining groundhog too!!! How high was the
fence you built that they climbed? We were planning to do a 4 ft fence
(we have deer to contend with also). Also, should we bury the fence a
bit - have you ever had the groundhogs tunnel under a fence?...

Use the fence. Don't bother burying it. Just make it difficult for the
woodchuck to get into and out of the garden. (You can't make it
impossible.) If you them plant something outside the fence that
woodchucks like, they will stay outside rather than risk being caught
inside the fence in an emergency. Clover works well, but takes some time
to get started. You could even start a sacrificial garden outside
somewhere with broccoli or cabbage or sunflowers. Use cheap seed.

THere is *plenty* of clover in our yard to keep 10 gophers well-fed,
believe me! And a lot of the clover is near the garden. I was thinking
of doing the opposite, planting something distasteful like marigolds
around the outside of the garden to keep the groundhog away.

Be alert for tunnels appearing in the garden.

This we will do. About how big is a groundhog hole anyway, because we
have tons of holes in our yards, but they all seem too small for our
giant groundhog (i assumed they were snake or chipmunk holes).

-kim

Groundhogs
 

On Fri, 9 Jul 2004 10:18:10 -0400, Kim E.
wrote:

In article ,
says...
On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 20:08:55 -0400, Rusty
wrote:

we have groundhogs under our gazebo. How do we discourage them from
digging there. We have put rocks in their hole and they pull them out.
Some of the rocks are very good size. Now we have noticed they are
coming to our deck. We have looked under there and don't see any sign
of them. We have lattice around the underside of the deck. This is
war. How do we get rid of them???
Thanks for any help. Rusty

Years ago I had groundhogs getting into my vegetable garden. They
were climbing the chicken wire fence! After I installed an electric
wire around the fence, no more groundhogs and no more deer problems.
The groundhogs would not enter a Hav-A-Hart trap (I tried baiting with
apple and corn). I did beat one groundhog over the head with a
shovel, and that did not work either! Groundhogs do not like dogs.

We have a vegetable garden-ruining groundhog too!!! How high was the
fence you built that they climbed? We were planning to do a 4 ft fence
(we have deer to contend with also). Also, should we bury the fence a
bit - have you ever had the groundhogs tunnel under a fence?

-kim


The chicken wire fence we built was 4 feet high, supported by T-metal
stakes. We stapled the bottom of the fence to cedar logs laid around
the garden perimeter. This fence will keep out rabbits, but not
groundhogs. We use a solar powered electric fence with built-in
battery backup--works great. I've learned not to accidentally touch
it ! If you still want to give the fence a try, bury it or staple
the bottom as I did--if it does not work you can always electrify it.

Groundhogs
 

Kim E. wrote:

.... About how big is a groundhog hole anyway, because we
have tons of holes in our yards, but they all seem too small for our
giant groundhog (i assumed they were snake or chipmunk holes).

-kim





Probably about 5-6" across. The hole will go down at an angle, then make
a turn and probably another turn, so the general direction of the burrow
is not indicated by the direction of the outer part of the hole.

One hole will be fairly easy to find: it's the hole that the groundhog
uses to look around and check out the safety of foraging, and it'll be
close to the garden. It's generally under a shrub or partially hidden.
The tunneling spoils will be thrown out another hole which will be
hidden as well as possible under shrubs or dense undergrowth or even
under a porch or shed. The burrow might have an occasional side tunnel
that leads to the surface with a very small hole, not enough to get out
of, but enough to provide some air. The burrow might be up to 100' long
between exits.

The long tunnels don't respect property boundaries, so one or more of
the exits could be on a neighbor's property (or several different
neighbors).

Groundhogs
 

Phisherman wrote:

...The chicken wire fence we built was 4 feet high, supported by T-metal
stakes. We stapled the bottom of the fence to cedar logs laid around
the garden perimeter. This fence will keep out rabbits, but not
groundhogs. We use a solar powered electric fence with built-in
battery backup--works great. I've learned not to accidentally touch
it ! If you still want to give the fence a try, bury it or staple
the bottom as I did--if it does not work you can always electrify it...



Years ago I put a rabbit fence around my garden. It was about 3' high.
One day there was a rabbit inside. I opened the gate and tried to herd
the rabbit toward it to get it out. The rabbit just looked at me and
jumped over the fence.

3' is not high enough.

Groundhogs
 

On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 20:08:55 -0400, Rusty
wrote:

we have groundhogs under our gazebo. How do we discourage them from
digging there. We have put rocks in their hole and they pull them out.
Some of the rocks are very good size. Now we have noticed they are
coming to our deck. We have looked under there and don't see any sign
of them. We have lattice around the underside of the deck. This is
war. How do we get rid of them???
Thanks for any help. Rusty


Rusty,
A website called www.backyard-lifestyle
used to carry a product that I used called, "Mole Out Granules".
Just go to the webstie and search for MOLE, it should come up that
way.

It was a granular repellent is formulated to repel moles, skunks,
armadillos and voles from lawns, golf courses, and other turf
recreational areas.

I hope this helps,
Norman

Groundhogs
 

we have groundhogs under our gazebo. How do we discourage them from
digging there. We have put rocks in their hole and they pull them out.
snip

.. How do we get rid of them???

I have used a product that is sold at farming supply places such as Southern
States. It is a poison smoke bomb. You light the fuse, then toss it in the
hole, then fill in the hole with dirt. It works great if you know where
they have their back door because you will also have to do the backdoor
hole.

A friend of mine insist they are easy to trap. And he insists that I trap
and release. My thought is that trapping and releasing only creates the
same problem for someone else.

Groundhogs
 

"Chip's Mom" wrote in message
nk.net...

we have groundhogs under our gazebo. How do we discourage them from
digging there. We have put rocks in their hole and they pull them out.
snip

. How do we get rid of them???

Move

Groundhogs
 

On Fri, 06 Aug 2004 20:35:40 GMT, wrote:

On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 20:08:55 -0400, Rusty
wrote:

we have groundhogs under our gazebo. How do we discourage them from
digging there. We have put rocks in their hole and they pull them out.
Some of the rocks are very good size. Now we have noticed they are
coming to our deck. We have looked under there and don't see any sign
of them. We have lattice around the underside of the deck. This is
war. How do we get rid of them???
(piggybacking)
If it's really war, get some plastic explosive and make little gopher-shaped
charges, plant them in the holes, then when they come to talk to their little
buddies, you blow them away. ;)
(snip)