Marmot Infestation

   / Marmot Infestation #71  
Powereng, please share some nomenclature on your 'harvesting' device, model, caliber, optic, etc. Asking for a friend. ;)
CZ-527 in HS precision stock, Par-Nor heavy profile barrel in 223, shooting hand loaded 55gr V-max's around 2900 fps. Glass is Bushnell Elite-Tactical, suppressor is SilencerCo. It's a heavy pig to stalk with, but a complete freaking laser.
 
   / Marmot Infestation
  • Thread Starter
#72  
I am hoping this will be my last post about trapping marmots, although by this time I have a strange fascination with the whole process. I started trapping the varmints about a month into my second year on this property in eastern Washington State. By the end of the season last year (they hibernate from around October to May) I had trapped 155 marmots, 37 from the same barn door.

I didn’t see as many this May as usual and thought maybe I had stemmed the tide. Then suddenly there were marmots everywhere. I began trapping in earnest again and within three weeks caught another 20, 15 from the same barn door. That makes 175 marmots to date, 52 from the same barn door. But I haven’t caught a single critter in the past week; in fact, when I see a marmot it is usually on neighboring property.

Maybe I am being overly optimistic thinking I may be getting ahead of the tide. It is a rare event when I see a marmot munching in my yard or garden or berry patch. I know they will continue to move onto my green bit of paradise from the rocky cliffs and hollows all around me, but for now my traps are empty and the birds are having a field day raiding the apple peels and cores without triggering the traps. Life is good.
 
   / Marmot Infestation #73  
Congrats! That’s similar to my mole infestation. Went on for 6-7 years, then POOF! Nothing. I now trap the perimeter at first sign. No problems for about 10 years.

However, tonight I trapped a groundhog under my front porch (Marmot). Cute little bugger that ate my potted flowers off of my front porch steps. I hazed him/her for about 10 minutes by chasing him around in the cage while yelling at it. I’m sure the neighbors were concerned for my mental well being. :ROFLMAO: Then I took it to the back of the property and let it go. It promptly ran into a ground hog hole that I did not know was there!🙃

Good luck and best wishes. (y)
 
   / Marmot Infestation
  • Thread Starter
#74  
Congrats! That’s similar to my mole infestation. Went on for 6-7 years, then POOF! Nothing. I now trap the perimeter at first sign. No problems for about 10 years.

However, tonight I trapped a groundhog under my front porch (Marmot). Cute little bugger that ate my potted flowers off of my front porch steps. I hazed him/her for about 10 minutes by chasing him around in the cage while yelling at it. I’m sure the neighbors were concerned for my mental well being. :ROFLMAO: Then I took it to the back of the property and let it go. It promptly ran into a ground hog hole that I did not know was there!🙃

Good luck and best wishes. (y)
Thanks. I haven't tried yelling at the critters, but it is probably satisfying. I am enjoying the break from daily dumping trips, and just refreshing the trap bait each day. A neighbor across the road remarked that he hasn't seen as many marmots this year. I like to think it is because of my efforts. On the other hand, the neighbor up the cliff is complaining they are everywhere, chewing car wiring, tunneling under the garage. Not only does he have a basalt cliff in front, but another basalt rise immediately in back, plenty of den locations. No doubt his tribe will one day come looking for new territory.
 
   / Marmot Infestation #75  
So there is hope for the rest of us? Yay!

I was checking/emptying the ground squirrel traps this evening and found one had tripped with nothing in it which is a rare event. After I picked up the trap, and was resetting it a few feet away, I noticed the rattler that had probably tripped the trap as it was slowly slipping into a ground squirrel hole. A Mohave/Mojave green rattlesnake. Not my favorite.

I have mixed feelings on that one. On the one hand I am glad to see underground predation of the ground squirrels, but on the other hand we have young calves around at the moment. Mohave green rattlesnake have a particularly deadly nerve toxin in addition to the usual haemotoxins. I think the adult human lethal dose is said to be in the 10-15mg range. I had to let this one go. I am not quick enough to get rattlesnakes by hand.

I knew a guy who was an ace at being able to grab a rattlesnake from the tail and snap it in a way that broke its neck. He had the slowest hand eye reflexes; I never understood how he learned the trick without being badly bitten. I need a tool.

All the best,

Peter
 
   / Marmot Infestation
  • Thread Starter
#76  
So there is hope for the rest of us? Yay!

I was checking/emptying the ground squirrel traps this evening and found one had tripped with nothing in it which is a rare event. After I picked up the trap, and was resetting it a few feet away, I noticed the rattler that had probably tripped the trap as it was slowly slipping into a ground squirrel hole. A Mohave/Mojave green rattlesnake. Not my favorite.

I have mixed feelings on that one. On the one hand I am glad to see underground predation of the ground squirrels, but on the other hand we have young calves around at the moment. Mohave green rattlesnake have a particularly deadly nerve toxin in addition to the usual haemotoxins. I think the adult human lethal dose is said to be in the 10-15mg range. I had to let this one go. I am not quick enough to get rattlesnakes by hand.

I knew a guy who was an ace at being able to grab a rattlesnake from the tail and snap it in a way that broke its neck. He had the slowest hand eye reflexes; I never understood how he learned the trick without being badly bitten. I need a tool.

All the best,

Peter
Rattlesnakes! No thanks, I’ll just leave them to their business. No grabbing them by the tail for me. We do have them in this area, the western rattler, but I haven’t encountered any yet. When my wife and I first visited WA State in 1974 we were camping our way across country from Illinois, living out of my ’66 VW Westphalia. We drove I-90 through Spokane during the World’s Fair and finally stopped after dark at a rest stop near Sprague, WA. We woke up early the next morning, and as we stepped out of the van, the morning sunlight was shining on a white sign with bold black letters: BEWARE OF RATTLESNAKES. Did we beware? Yup.

I grew up in northern Illinois and was always in the woods, fields and river bottoms, but never saw a rattler, even though there are timber rattlers in the area. When we moved to western Washington, we discovered there are no venomous snakes on that side of the State. I was a scout leader for many years and always had a bunch of boys in the woods or on the lakes and rivers, but never gave a thought to snakes, or problem-insects for that matter. Now that I live on the snake side of the State, particularly considering my rocky terrain, I’ll have to start paying attention. Snakes and ticks: something else to watch out for.
 
   / Marmot Infestation #77  
When we moved to western Washington, we discovered there are no venomous snakes on that side of the State.
South Dakota has a similar phenomenon. East River SD has no venomous snakes. West River SD has prairie rattlers. It makes the news when a rattler hitches a ride east.
 
   / Marmot Infestation
  • Thread Starter
#78  
South Dakota has a similar phenomenon. East River SD has no venomous snakes. West River SD has prairie rattlers. It makes the news when a rattler hitches a ride east.
South Dakota is one of my favorite states, been through there north to south and east to west many times, but never heard of the east vs. west side rattlesnake difference. I suppose that is not something folks talk about with visitors. I just Googled it and discovered the Missouri river is the dividing line. Just plain interesting.

In WA State’s case, the Cascade Mountains are the dividing line between venomous and non-venomous snakes. I guess they can’t climb mountains. Western WA does have a lot of garter snakes, and in my attempts to show the scouts they are safe, I have been chomped on repeatedly. It feels like being poked by a bunch of little needles.
 
   / Marmot Infestation #79  
South Dakota is one of my favorite states, been through there north to south and east to west many times, but never heard of the east vs. west side rattlesnake difference. I suppose that is not something folks talk about with visitors. I just Googled it and discovered the Missouri river is the dividing line. Just plain interesting.

In WA State’s case, the Cascade Mountains are the dividing line between venomous and non-venomous snakes. I guess they can’t climb mountains. Western WA does have a lot of garter snakes, and in my attempts to show the scouts they are safe, I have been chomped on repeatedly. It feels like being poked by a bunch of little needles.
Locals don't say Eastern or Western much. Usually just East River and West River. The Dakotas would have made more sense split East and West. East is farmland and fairly flat. West is hills and mountains and filled with ranches.

I've had family in Everett for my whole life. Nieces and Nephews in Seattle area. 4 went to school in Spokane. We will be up in Cle Elum in October for a wedding.
 
   / Marmot Infestation
  • Thread Starter
#80  
Locals don't say Eastern or Western much. Usually just East River and West River. The Dakotas would have made more sense split East and West. East is farmland and fairly flat. West is hills and mountains and filled with ranches.

I've had family in Everett for my whole life. Nieces and Nephews in Seattle area. 4 went to school in Spokane. We will be up in Cle Elum in October for a wedding.
WA State is another state that should have been divided north to south, along the Cascade Mountains. It is mostly dry on the east side. Columbia River irrigation makes for productive ranches, orchards and vineyards. The west side is wet and cooler, even a temperate rainforest on the Olympic Peninsula. Seattle and the greater Puget Sound area have the population and run the state, pretty much making any political opinions on the east side unimportant and unconsidered. Wasn't that way when I moved to the state in 1974. Part of the political shift along the entire west coast.
 
 
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