RockWrangler
Bronze Member
A brief update on my marmot saga: Since my post on July 21, I have trapped an additional dozen of the pests, 7 from the same barn door. That makes 32 since this May, and a grand total of 187 since June 2020, with 59 from the barn door. I can see where they come up through the floor of the barn stall, but have not found an outside entrance. There are many dens in the rocky layers in my back pasture, so they must be traveling some underground highway into the barn.
The good news is that I was averaging 75-80 a year the first two years I was here and only 32 so far this year. I haven’t trapped a single marmot in the past 10 days; in fact, I have seen only one. They mostly hibernate sometime around October, so I suspect I have seen the worst of it for the year. I am hoping it is like MossRoad said, and I will eventually get control of the population. Of course, if I ever stop trapping, the neighboring marmots will soon take over the empty space. But for now, it does look like there is hope. I may even try gardening again next year!
The good news is that I was averaging 75-80 a year the first two years I was here and only 32 so far this year. I haven’t trapped a single marmot in the past 10 days; in fact, I have seen only one. They mostly hibernate sometime around October, so I suspect I have seen the worst of it for the year. I am hoping it is like MossRoad said, and I will eventually get control of the population. Of course, if I ever stop trapping, the neighboring marmots will soon take over the empty space. But for now, it does look like there is hope. I may even try gardening again next year!