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groundhog problem

Lobster11

Lobster11

Supporting Member
Apr 22, 2006
7,731
25,000
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Williamsburg, VA
#1
I've got a groundhog problem and don't know what to do about it.

For the last month or two I've seen one grazing in my front yard for a couple hours or so pretty much every day, after which he (she?) waddles across the street where I presume his/her burrow is. This has been fine as far as I'm concerned, but lately it has sometimes been getting into our vegetable garden and damaging the plants -- and just the other day I found evidence that something has been starting to burrow under our house and into a crawlspace. My wife is every bit as much of an animal lover as I am, but now that it's messing with her garden I think she would kill it with her bare hands if she had the chance. I could stuff up the hole under the house and, frankly, do without the garden, but in the interest of marital harmony I'd like to figure out how to get rid of this thing, or at least keep it out of the garden.

I've done a fair amount of online research and read about fences, repellents, and other solutions, but they all seem to either ineffective or just too much work. Trapping and relocating seems like the most humane solution, but it turns out that it is illegal to do this in my county. (Plus, trapping seems like it might be more difficult than it sounds.)

But then I figured if you really wanted expert advice about wildlife control, where else would you turn other than TalkBass? So.... anybody got any ideas?
 
#5
It's too late to put chicken wire underneath the plants, but you should do that before you plant next year. But now that you have the problem the only way to keep them from devouring your veggies you're gonna have to kill them. My parents have this problem and none of the traps or poison worked so my dad got a pellet gun.
 
#8
The only way to deal with them effectively in my experience is to kill them, but you could try harassment if you like. Though it's actually possible, given whacky wildlife laws, that it may also be illegal to harass them, but probably is OK to kill them as they are generally classed as "varmints" or some such.

Go chase it off whenever you see it, spray it with the hose, or have a supersoaker handy, etc. Or borrow a dog.

Fencing can be done, but it's a huge project since you have to trench the fence into the ground, and they are quite good at burrowing, so a small trench won't do. Bend a foot or so of fence outward, flat in the bottom, before going up, which reduces them getting under if they hit it and dig down.
 
#11
rtslinger said:
Cheyenne pepper,
Click to expand...

Do you get those from Wyoming or

81ThUa4ub8L._SY679_.jpg
 
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#12
MrLenny1 said:
.22 rifle
Click to expand...

Hate to say it, but this is pretty much the only real option. Assuming, of course, you are able to legally discharge a firearm where you live. Failing that, a powerful air rifle - at least .22 caliber. My brother in Arlington, Texas, uses one to get rid of armadillos that use his yard as a grub/worm buffet every year. Or, a crossbow... if you can stomach the thought of pulling the quarrel out of a dead groundhog...:unsure:
 
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#15
Lobster11 said:
I've got a groundhog problem and don't know what to do about it.

For the last month or two I've seen one grazing in my front yard for a couple hours or so pretty much every day, after which he (she?) waddles across the street where I presume his/her burrow is. This has been fine as far as I'm concerned, but lately it has sometimes been getting into our vegetable garden and damaging the plants -- and just the other day I found evidence that something has been starting to burrow under our house and into a crawlspace. My wife is every bit as much of an animal lover as I am, but now that it's messing with her garden I think she would kill it with her bare hands if she had the chance. I could stuff up the hole under the house and, frankly, do without the garden, but in the interest of marital harmony I'd like to figure out how to get rid of this thing, or at least keep it out of the garden.

I've done a fair amount of online research and read about fences, repellents, and other solutions, but they all seem to either ineffective or just too much work. Trapping and relocating seems like the most humane solution, but it turns out that it is illegal to do this in my county. (Plus, trapping seems like it might be more difficult than it sounds.)

But then I figured if you really wanted expert advice about wildlife control, where else would you turn other than TalkBass? So.... anybody got any ideas?
Click to expand...
I have no idea, but you have indeed come to the right place.
 

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