Well, it looks like it is back to “Marmot Wars” again.
Most of you who have followed this thread through the years are probably fed up with my periodic reports. But besides being an outlet for my frustration, I thought someone out there might benefit from my efforts to eliminate or at least decrease the negative effects of these nasty creatures.
After disposing of nearly 300 in four years, I was hopeful this year would be my R & R (rest and recuperation) year. Not so. As usually happens at this time of year, there was a sudden explosion of marmots digging around my house foundation, into the rock walls, around the barn, and under the chicken coop. I immediately set out all three have-a-heart type traps, and the war was on.
In just two weeks I have trapped 20 of the varmints. My big surprise is that every marmot trapped has been a juvenile. I have trapped loads of the big boars that are ready to fight (had hand-to-hand with a couple of them), so I know the difference between adult and juvenile. But these are plainly this year’s batch. As newbies, they are looking for new den sites, so every place I thought was safe is up for grabs.
As of today, I have gotten 12 of them from under my chicken coop alone, a 6 X 8 structure with a wood floor. The coop sets on a basalt rock shelf with a thin layer of dirt, and in previous years, seeing their tunneling efforts, I laid down a ring of concrete and basalt to block obvious entry points. This year they made it a team effort to defeat my protective barrier, and succeeded. They just keep coming. I don’t know whether new ones are coming in to take up the vacant tunnels, or whether they are living dormitory-style under there.
My barn has three external animal stall doors and two double-wide garage doors. Previously, every door was a potential entry point. I sealed the wide shop doors, taking out slack and closing openings. I laid concrete block sills under every stall door with basalt rock rubble under that. I figured that problem was solved. Hah! The marmots discovered one gap under one stall door, and in they went. They crossed the stall and tunneled under the main area concrete floor. So far I have gotten five from that spot.
There is more to the story, but I’ll save it for later. Have any of you had success with poisons? I have searched the net, but mostly people are just throwing up their hands in frustration. Any new ideas out there?
Ron