Ground Hogs

[Torvy]

Give 'em a case of fatal lead poisoning with a 12 gauge shot gun loaded with 00 buckshot. Worked for me.

00 buck seems bit of overkill for a groundhog. I would think 4 shot would be more than enough. Personally, I would be more likely to use the .22-250 or a 9mm.

 

[Topzide]

A conabear on each end of a 8 -12 inch corrugated pipe works great! Put pipe out where they can use for security, then put traps on each end! Found this out after watching one use culvert to travel. Went in and I put trap at one ent and blocks at other end. Waited and only had 20 minute wait till I heard the whack! Problem solved! Results may vary.

 

[Jstpssng]

I use a 12 gauge. If they hide or are too near a structure, I have the wife flush them out into an open area.

My mother was doing that many years ago for a chuck who had gone into the garage, as my father waited outside with his trusty 16. She moved the snowplow and dropped it onto Chuck’s head, killing him.

 

[dlctcg]

Whew... for a minute I thought this was going to be a tragic story...

My mother was doing that many years ago for a chuck who had gone into the garage, as my father waited outside with his trusty 16

Thank God it was only the ground hog that saw it's demise...

 

[RSKY]

Put your trap in a heavy black trash bag. Then a concrete block on top. That's what the county skunk catcher does and it has worked for me.

So far this year I have caught four baby skunks. They are still in traps way back in the sticks. Trapped one adult and one baby possum. Both were let go but it took four hours until the adult figured out he was free. S-I-L got a coon but it tore the trap up and got out. He also had a run in with an armadillo. Was trying new ammo out in my little Seecamp when something squeaked behind me. I thought it was a weasel but nephew said it was probably a mink. Didn't know they were around here. Anyway we stared at each other from about ten feet until it got bored and trotted off. Deer are so thick around here people are begging somebody to hunt on their property to thin them out. Rabbits are making a comeback and wife and I have both had close calls with wild turkeys while driving. Coyotes howling every night and have seen fox hunting behind my house.

I am 68 and there is more wild game around in Western Kentucky than I have ever seen.

RSKY

 

[RSKY]

Ground hogs can cause a lot of trouble in a field. On the farm we just sold they had dug burrows in low areas in the fields and as it rained they washed out into small gulleys. Brother in law didn't see one of those gulleys and hit it wide open with the right front on a 1206 International. Broke the front wheel off and hurt him where the steering wheel caught his stomach. I put big hay bales in them after that. We had so much trouble with them back in the 80's that another b-i-l put a scope on my deceased dad's Remington 22 and my kind hearted mother used it to kill 15-20 one summer.

RSKY

 

[bdhsfz6]

00 buck seems bit of overkill for a groundhog. I would think 4 shot would be more than enough. Personally, I would be more likely to use the .22-250 or a 9mm.

Tough to hit em' on the run with a rifle or pistol. I'll use a .22 mag at long range if they hold still long enough. Most I see now are close to the house and the 12 gauge with #4's works best.

 

[nyone]

220 conibear has worked so well for me. I didnt even know I had so many ground hogs before this year. I'm up to 6 this year..I only ever saw 1-2.

 

[Jstpssng]

220 conibear has worked so well for me. I didnt even know I had so many ground hogs before this year. I'm up to 6 this year..I only ever saw 1-2.

They aren't very forgiving though. A good 1 3/4 coilspring will accomplish the same thing, and you still have the chance to release a nontarget animal.

That's what I found scary about working in Vermont. Apparently they can set a 330 on the river banks; or at least they do it anyways.
I was working for the landowner, bringing my dog with me; and it would not have been good if she'd gotten into one.

 

[oosik]

I was reading from the log I keep on the property the other day. There WAS a family of ground hogs - down in the valley. The first weeks or so, when we came down from AK, my son wiped them out with his scoped 22. Replacements never came to the valley.

 

[Hay Dude]

Live trap right over the hole with some lettuce and cut apple for bait.

This was at my next door neighbor’s house June 19. Less than an hour after he set the trap.

View attachment 751911

How dare you post pictures of my mother in law!

 

[bdhsfz6]

Ground Hogs digging next to house best way to rid myself of them

Got one with my pickup in the driveway this morning. He managed to dodge the front tire but not the rear.

 

[CaptFerd]

Used cat litter around the entrance. I mean litter that the cats have crapped and wissed in. They cant stand it and will vacate their home to get away from it.

 

[MossRoad]

How dare you post pictures of my mother in law!

Yikes!

I know your situation in that department is much different than mine.

 

[Oneil88]

Good ol' 10/22 is the best medicine for ground hogs.

 

[5030]

even skunks. They're not much fun in releasing them.

You know the 'trick' to releasing a skunk from a live trap?

 

[m7040]

Got one with my zero turn. He could not outrun it and I could turn quicker than he could. Was not pretty

 

[MossRoad]

You know the 'trick' to releasing a skunk from a live trap?

Put a tarp over it, and the skunk can't see you. No perceived threat, no spray. Then just feel for the latch through the tarp and open it. Pull the tarp and run like heck.

 

[Yander]

I used to trap groundhogs for fun as a kid along my farming neighbors fields. Used a leg hold trap. When using a leg hold you have to stake it far enough from the hole that they don't take your trap into the hold. Made that mistake once. I would ride my motorcycle around the area and look for where they were eating beans on the edge of a bean field. I would set a trap or two and come back the next day. Also trapped them in a neighbors barn. Something to do.

They were thick back then. Coyotes keep them controlled around here now. Almost never see them. Though I did shoot a young one this summer, in my yard. He was looking for a new home I suspect. I gave him a new home

 

[LD1]

I used to really enjoy hunting ground hogs. .22-250 then sorta downgraded and used a .223.

Still good go 300-350yds. And our gently rolling farmland here made for some fun shooting.

They used to be everywhere. Spring/early summer when beans were just a few inches tall, you could see everywhere they were active. Large dead areas in the bean fields around their holes. And half-circle areas along fencerows. Just ride around in the atv and spot one a few hundred yards away. They usually werent scared from that distance, but easy enough to reach out and touch them with a high power .22 caliber.

Now....they are scarce. Hardly see them anymore or even see signs of them in the fields. And when you do see one, they keep close to cover like old barns and structures. Coyotes have really put a hurting on their population for sure