groundhogs in the pasture

griff · Postby **griff** » Wed May 13, 2009 6:08 pm

mightyjames

You are probably catching the same ground hog over and over again if you are disposing of him humanily

griff

mightyhijames · Postby **mightyhijames** » Fri May 15, 2009 6:49 am

i'm not disposing of them THAT humanly so i know its not the same one.

Shammy Davis · Postby **Shammy Davis** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 7:24 pm

I carry a 12 gauge shotgun with me. I've learned that ground hogs get pretty cocky and it doesn't take long for me to get close enough to get off a shot. 00 Buck shot will do a trick on them. When it comes to the safety of my horses and my youngest daughter riding through the pastures, I don't think any where close to being humane to ground hogs. They are destructive and dangerous and putting them in someone else's backyard is not good game control. If they start to become extinct, which is unlikely, I might support a habitat program. Hell, they've re-introduced cayotes in our area and it is a mess. The state bounty program is normally depleted in the first month of each year. Animals like wolves, cayotes, and ground hogs are dangerous to domesticated farm animals especially horses.

Bunty Lawless · Postby **Bunty Lawless** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 10:06 pm

mightyhijames wrote:i'm not disposing of them THAT humanly so i know its not the same one.

Poor Punxatawney Phil!

Just kidding. About broke my ankle the other day in tall grass and a nasty gopher hole. Gotta keep the grass trimmed with burrowing creatures.

Not to fond of red ants either.

griff · Postby **griff** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 9:12 am

Preach on brother!

griff

mightyhijames · Postby **mightyhijames** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 9:19 am

we caught about 8-9 of them in the live trap, w/the exception of the babies i saw sitting on, around, the trap. they now seem to have moved on and we haven't seen any evidence of them being back. hopefully, they've moved far, far away.

mightyhijames · Postby **mightyhijames** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 11:31 am

mightyhijames wrote:we caught about 8-9 of them in the live trap, w/the exception of the babies i saw sitting on, around, the trap. they now seem to have moved on and we haven't seen any evidence of them being back. hopefully, they've moved far, far away.

well, they're back. i tried to be nice but no more. has anyone had any experience with the 'giant destroyer' bombs?

mightyhijames · Postby **mightyhijames** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 11:32 am

mightyhijames wrote:we caught about 8-9 of them in the live trap, w/the exception of the babies i saw sitting on, around, the trap. they now seem to have moved on and we haven't seen any evidence of them being back. hopefully, they've moved far, far away.

well, they're back. i tried to be nice but no more. has anyone had any experience with the 'giant destroyer' bombs?

xfactor fan · Postby **xfactor fan** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 7:45 pm

Has anyone tried earth dogs, rather than just any old dogs? I'm thinking of the terrier breeds that have been selected to "go to ground" after prey.

Earth dogs seem to take it personally when there is an underground critter in their territory.

Kari · Postby **Kari** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 8:06 pm

The rat terrier breeders we have in this area all lease/loan their dogs out for rat control. None of them will put their dogs on a groundhog. We get them upwards of 25 pounds in this area. I have no idea what they're supposed to weigh, but that's a big ol' rodent!

I'd call your local DNR office and ask for their advice. They could also refer you to a good pest control service.

Shammy Davis · Postby **Shammy Davis** » Tue Jun 07, 2011 8:21 am

As I posted before the best solution is "shoot to kill." Trapping and relocating only moves the problem to another farm or area. I don't think we have to worry about the extinction of groundhog.

Shammy Davis · Postby **Shammy Davis** » Tue Jun 07, 2011 8:22 am

I didn't post the previous message. My computer has been "hacked." :lol:

Lei Owen · Postby **Lei Owen** » Tue Jun 07, 2011 10:00 pm

Three S's. Shoot, Shovel and Shutup. :lol:

I'm sure glad that the only thing we have to contend with is an occasional possum, armadillo and snake. Oh, and the neighbor's pit mix dog's. But since we threatened to do the 3 S's...they don't show up.

Diane · Postby **Diane** » Tue Jun 07, 2011 11:26 pm

Have you tried harassing them? Battery op radio/cd player left near the burrow playing rap continuosly? My husband and one of our neighbors have had immense fun shooting the pigeons that try to spend too much time on the roof of our house with airsoft guns. They shoot plastic bb's that are supposedly biodegradable. It doesn't kill them. It doesn't break the roof tiles either. They are fairly quiet to shoot so you wouldn't be frightening your horses. Full auto a few times every afternoon sure cheers him up.....

Shammy Davis · Postby **Shammy Davis** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:15 am

Diane: Groundhogs are not fun. Harrassing them doesn't work. On horse farms they are hazard to the horses and people. Trapping them is a good solution, but you need to kill them when trapped, not relocate them. Using dogs is impractical because adult groundhogs are big and can be very fierce when chased and cornered.

You know all this.

I agree with the "hacked post that I didn't write" that shooting to kill is the answer. There are folks around here that will cook-up groundhog into stews and barbecue. Not exactly to my taste, but if the economy keeps bottoming out, I can see that groundhog might be a good inexpensive smoked or marinated meat.

Having been in southeast Asia many years ago, I visited markets that were full of various meats that we in the western world would consider road kill. A matter of fact, we in the western world might consider at least 1/4 quarter of their market meats as animals you or I would have as house pets that we spend hundreds of dollars annually to keep healthly so we can give them a proper burial.

Whatever happens with economy, the groundhog is not going extinct if a few, hopefully more, are dispatched to the goundhog hereafter.

Best wishes.