Ground Hogs

[MossRoad]

I've never had any luck catching them.

My options are
1) If I see them I get my gun.
2) I buy these things called gopher gassers, available on amazon or my nearest country store. Using them requires finding all the holes (the hardest part) and they need to be home. They will almost always be home in the middle of a hot day. Then you fill in all the holes with rocks and dirt except 1. You get rocks and dirt ready for the last hole. Light it, throw it in fuse end first and fill in the hole with rocks and dirt quick as you can. These things have never failed for me. They may not be legal where you are.

One thing about gopher gassers. You don’t want to use them for critters in holes next to your house, especially if you have a basement. My brother in-law did that, and about a week later the dead animal smell came into his basement and lasted for several weeks. Pew!

 

[MossRoad]

How do you feel about raccoons? ;-)

23 Skidoo!

 

[Jstpssng]

I didn't have them here until about 5 years ago. I suspect that somebody live trapped him and "Let it go on some back road" next to my garden. He wasn't in the least bit scared. One night I drove right up to him with the bucket raised before he started running. I dropped the bucket, hit the foot pedal and chased him across the field. I didn't get him but never saw him again.
A year later I had another a bit further up the hill. One shot with the .22, then I buried him and haven't seen another.

I remember killing one when I was growing up, and being surprised at the wave of fleas leaving it's body. It took a while to realize that was because the blood had stopped flowing.

 

[hube2]

One thing about gopher gassers. You don’t want to use them for critters in holes next to your house, especially if you have a basement. My brother in-law did that, and about a week later the dead animal smell came into his basement and lasted for several weeks. Pew!

I didn't think about them being near the house, all of mine have always been out around the edges of the property. Yeah, you might not want them dead in the hole right up against the house.

 

[shooterdon]

I used to hunt them when I was a kid in Ontario. Ate one once...not that good but he was a big old one.

None here where I live now in rural MI.

 

[NoTrespassing]

German Shepherd keeps them away here.

Our shepherd got one a couple months ago. He rarely gets a rabbit or squirrel but does occasionally. He gets a lot of moles, but his proudest moment was when he got a fawn about 3 weeks ago. It took 3 days for him and his "sister" to eat that fawn.

OP, looks like you have several good suggestions here, sorry for somewhat off topic post.

 

[Gee Ray]

My dad got something from the Landmark Feed Store. You poured a very small amount into the hole then wait a few moments. Using a very long pipe with a rag that was on fire he would touch it off. I wish I knew what it was. It came in a small brown glass bottle. But you never had to do it twice. The ground would lift like a 3-d map where the tunnels went and then settle right back down.

I am sure you can not buy it anymore.

 

[polo1665]

Used to shoot them in NJ and shoot ones I've caught in traps here in Va. They're too smart here in Va to shoot them sticking heads up out of holes or when they run away and then stop and stand up and sneer at you. My boss and I would run a tally. He'd shoot them from the 2nd floor of his house, and I'd shoot them with a 410 shotgun. We'd both get over 20/yr. Still could not control them in NJ.

I shot over 40 of them the first year we moved to this property. The number dwindled down every year as they got smarter. Now I rarely even see them.
I use a .22 in the field and a 20 gauge if close to the house.
I always said, if they live in the woods they are a woodchuck, and if they come out to the field they are a groundhog. I always say they are safe if they stay a woodchuck, but they're gonna die if they become a groundhog.

 

[fatjay]

I trap them and spray paint them orange. Release them a mile down the road at the river. If they come back they get a bullet.

 

[Oaktree]

Our shepherd got one a couple months ago. He rarely gets a rabbit or squirrel but does occasionally. He gets a lot of moles, but his proudest moment was when he got a fawn about 3 weeks ago. It took 3 days for him and his "sister" to eat that fawn.

Dunno how things are in your state, but in mine you wouldn't want Fish & Game to get wind of that...a dog who chases, much less takes down a dear will get put down immediately if a game warden finds out about it.