# Woodchucks



## sprucegum (Jul 2, 2016)

I have been battling a woodchuck off and on for the past month. The bugger has burrowed next to my garage foundation causing rain water to leak through a crack in the wall onto my garage floor. Every time that I attempt to get a clean shot at him he manages to duck back down the hole before I can get a shot off. Often chucks will duck into the hole then in a few min. stick their head back out but this old guy is smarter than that. Tried a den smoker but he must have one of those military surplus gas masks. I have flooded and filled the hole a couple of times and have now succeeded in making him abandon the den only to dig a new one closer the vegetable garden , I guess he is tired of a steady diet of my wife's flowers. A friend brought over his have a heart trap and we baited it with fresh lettuce and apples, he has ignored it for 3 days now. I have shot dozens of them in hay fields over the years maybe this one is like a woodchuck terrorist sent to get revenge.

Reactions: Funny 5


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## steve bellinger (Jul 2, 2016)

I've told this story before but not here. Back in my youth my brother found a dead mama woodchuck on the side of the road. She had a new born baby eyes still not opened Well he brought it home and my moms dog that had just had pups nursed it as one of her own. We raised it for over a year it thinking it was a dog finally my uncle took it and him(pockets)we named him lived out his life with my uncles german Shepard. Have pics if I can find one will post later at work now.

Reactions: Way Cool 6


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## woodtickgreg (Jul 2, 2016)

When I had property up north there was a goundhog that lived under my shed, he didn't bother me or damage anything, i used to like watching him. He was a fat little bugger, he got used to seeing me and knew I wasn't a threat. We just kinda watched each other.

Reactions: Like 2


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## Schroedc (Jul 2, 2016)

sprucegum said:


> I have been battling a woodchuck off and on for the past month. The bugger has burrowed next to my garage foundation causing rain water to leak through a crack in the wall onto my garage floor. Every time that I attempt to get a clean shot at him he manages to duck back down the hole before I can get a shot off. Often chucks will duck into the hole then in a few min. stick their head back out but this old guy is smarter than that. Tried a den smoker but he must have one of those military surplus gas masks. I have flooded and filled the hole a couple of times and have now succeeded in making him abandon the den only to dig a new one closer the vegetable garden , I guess he is tired of a steady diet of my wife's flowers. A friend brought over his have a heart trap and we baited it with fresh lettuce and apples, he has ignored it for 3 days now. I have shot dozens of them in hay fields over the years maybe this one is like a woodchuck terrorist sent to get revenge.



Gasoline down the hole and light a match? Mothballs?


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## gman2431 (Jul 2, 2016)

Put a 220 trap over the hole.

Reactions: Like 1


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## sprucegum (Jul 2, 2016)

Schroedc said:


> Gasoline down the hole and light a match? Mothballs?


moth balls maybe too close to my house for fire.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Schroedc (Jul 2, 2016)

sprucegum said:


> moth balls maybe too close to my house for fire.



Burning the house down would be a bad thing.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Mike1950 (Jul 2, 2016)

spring foot trap

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Spinartist (Jul 2, 2016)

My buddy in Virginia soaks bananas in anti freeze & puts them in their burrows (was going to say "holes" but thought about who was going to read this). That usually gets them. Or he runs a pipe from the exhaust on his 1936 tractor into the burrow for 10 minutes.

Reactions: Funny 2 | Creative 1


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## brown down (Jul 3, 2016)

cabbage is the best thing to bait them with from what I have used anyway. they can't resist. you know those buggers can climb trees and this year my buddy saw one swim across the stream fishing. I haven't had a problem with them this year in the garden but am having a heck of a time with the deer, they are eating the buds off the tomato plants and ate an entire row of lettuce in one night. My grandfather had a fence made for groundhogs and such that was electric and it did a great job keeping them away from his garden. lead poison is easier and much more fun tho

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 1


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## sprucegum (Jul 3, 2016)

brown down said:


> cabbage is the best thing to bait them with from what I have used anyway. they can't resist. you know those buggers can climb trees and this year my buddy saw one swim across the stream fishing. I haven't had a problem with them this year in the garden but am having a heck of a time with the deer, they are eating the buds off the tomato plants and ate an entire row of lettuce in one night. My grandfather had a fence made for groundhogs and such that was electric and it did a great job keeping them away from his garden. lead poison is easier and much more fun tho



We always have deer problems. I use a electric fence about 32-36 inches high, because they always come after dark they tend to walk into the wire without seeing it. When I first put it up in the spring I put strips of aluminum foil slathered with peanut butter on the wire every 20' or so, deer love the stuff and will stick their nose on it trying to find the source of the smell. After they get bit a time or two they don't even try, I have turned the fencer off and forgot to turn it back on for a couple of days in a row without problem. Since the fencer is all in place I just put another wire 6" off the ground as soon as the sweet corn is ready to keep out the Raccoons and skunks.


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## rocky1 (Jul 3, 2016)

No worries about fire near the house with gasoline... The explosion will snuff out the flames, likely remove all pictures from the walls on that side of the house, excavate several yards of earth, and flying debris is subject to take out a few windows. Flames are the least of your worries; believe me!

Not sure if a woodchuck will eat peanut butter, but peanut butter and mouse poison works wells on most nuisance species in my experience. Newer versions such as Jaguar and Tom Cat dehydrate them and don't really activate until they ingest water, so most of the time, they go off someplace else to find a place to die. Which that is advantageous when dealing with problem skunks. Mix the pellets (_chop them up if in the big chunks_) with peanut butter, place on a jar lid, and slide far enough into the hole to be out of reach of pets or children.

Reactions: Like 1


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## brown down (Jul 3, 2016)

sprucegum said:


> We always have deer problems. I use a electric fence about 32-36 inches high, because they always come after dark they tend to walk into the wire without seeing it. When I first put it up in the spring I put strips of aluminum foil slathered with peanut butter on the wire every 20' or so, deer love the stuff and will stick their nose on it trying to find the source of the smell. After they get bit a time or two they don't even try, I have turned the fencer off and forgot to turn it back on for a couple of days in a row without problem. Since the fencer is all in place I just put another wire 6" off the ground as soon as the sweet corn is ready to keep out the Raccoons and skunks.



My cousin years ago had honey bees and had a big black bear coming in all the time and destroying his hives so he took bacon grease and coated the wire. the bear came in and licked that wire and it took the legs right out from under it and knocked it out for a few seconds lmao needless to say that bear never came back and his hives were safe. to this day he wishes he had that on film and so do I. I still laugh every time he tells the story

Reactions: Like 1


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## sprucegum (Jul 3, 2016)

A friend had a black bear break into his hunting cabin years ago and the only food in the place was a 5 lb. pail of peanut butter, I think that would have been fun to watch. I have see what a time a dog hads with a table spoon full. Old bear must have given his tongue a pretty good workout. He said the pail was nearly full and the bear licked it clean as a whistle. Wardens finally had put that bear down because he was breaking into so many camps, they said it was a big old male past his prime.


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## steve bellinger (Jul 3, 2016)

All right I've tried putting this in my other post but this stupid phone won't let me edit it or I'm to stupid lol. Here's the pic or at least I hope so lol

Reactions: Way Cool 2


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## Kevin (Jul 3, 2016)

steve bellinger said:


> All right I've tried putting this in my other post but this stupid phone won't let me edit it or I'm to stupid lol. Here's the pic or at least I hope so lol
> 
> View attachment 108050



That's really cool Steve. Izat you with the cast or your brother?


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## steve bellinger (Jul 3, 2016)

That's my little brother


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## sprucegum (Jul 3, 2016)

steve bellinger said:


> All right I've tried putting this in my other post but this stupid phone won't let me edit it or I'm to stupid lol. Here's the pic or at least I hope so lol
> 
> View attachment 108050


When I was around 10 years old it was my job to get my grandfathers cows in for milking in the afternoon. One day while on cow duty I cornered a little chuck about the size of that one. I took my shirt off and threw it over him and caught him. Sure did not take me long to let him go even at that size a wild one is nothing to mess with.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## steve bellinger (Jul 3, 2016)

sprucegum said:


> When I was around 10 years old it was my job to get my grandfathers cows in for milking in the afternoon. One day while on cow duty I cornered a little chuck about the size of that one. I took my shirt off and threw it over him and caught him. Sure did not take me long to let him go even at that size a wild one is nothing to mess with.


 Boy can I agree with that. When I was in 2nd or 3rd grade, me and my two older brothers had taken our dads trident frog spear out hunting. Well not being very smart, we cornered a chuck up in a dead log. Roger ( oldest bro buy 3 years) thought it would be easy to kill him. just him with dads frog spear.That chuck must of decided he didn't want to get killed by 3 little boys, as he came out fighting and we took off running.


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## Kevin (Jul 3, 2016)

Hey a regular house cat can rip you to shreds!

Reactions: Agree 2


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## Don Ratcliff (Jul 3, 2016)

Kevin said:


> Hey a regular house cat can rip you to shreds!


When you stand eye to eye with any wild animal you are bound to get tore up...

Reactions: Funny 1


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## rocky1 (Jul 3, 2016)

Don Ratcliff said:


> When you stand eye to eye with any wild animal you are bound to get tore up...




Just got to be crazy to survive against critters... Back when I was younger we used to run a trap line and sell coons to the black folks in town. They'd give you $5 for a dead one, but you had to leave the feet on it so they knew it wasn't a cat, or they'd give you $10 for live ones. Likewise, had a friend that trained a few coon dogs that would buy the live ones, and he occasionally knew folks that wanted them to train their dogs, or take folks on guided coon hunts and such, so every once in awhile we'd run across one crossing the road, that simply had to be treed and caught. I was usually the only one crazy enough, agile enough, and light enough to climb the tree after them. So I'd go to the top of the tree, typically pine tree, but occasional cypress tree happened, and convince the coon to jump out. Wasn't always easy mind you, but the coon never won in the tree top. Then dad and my little brother would pounce on him when he hit the ground and was stunned. Usually placing a large work boot on his head until he could grab him around the neck. Worked great if we had a bee box or a burlap sack to put him in! Had to hold one about 4 miles out of the woods to the house one time. Kinda clawed the backs of the hands up a little, but I survived it.

Likewise, used to run wild hogs down and catch them on occasion. Catching pigs was fun, out running momma back to the truck was more fun yet!

Armadillos, possums, piece of cake. Occasional gator... both on land, and in the water. Caught a 6 footer one time, on land, carried it to the house tied it up to the clothes line pole for photos, carried it to the river and turned it loose the next day. Most fun I ever had was trying to catch about a three footer in a little creek one time. Talked my coworker into crawling through the culvert it usually hung out in to chase it out, while I and a buddy held a net on the other end. Big mudfish swam out of the culvert, hit the buddy in the leg, he screamed like a girl, dropped the net, and ran for the top of the culvert. Where he spent several minutes ranting incoherently about the damn thing had hit him in the leg. The coworker and I were about to die laughing at his goofy ass. He was brave right up to the moment of needing to be, and it was ALL OVER in an instant. Yeah... There might have been beer involved in that incident!

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