MossRoad
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Hmmmm..... 
Marmot Infestation
- Thread starter RockWrangler
- Start date
OP
RockWrangler
Bronze Member
I agree with MossRoad: the Victor Out O Sight trap is by far the most effective mole trap I ever used. I still have a few in reserve, although I haven’t seen a single mole on this side of the mountains. Of course, I can’t legally use them, since the urban/suburban majority voted to ban body-gripping traps here in WA State a few years back. When the State began enforcing the law, those same folks were outraged to discover the ban included the traps used to stop moles from tearing up their lawns. A State wildlife office was quoted, “I think it's clear that a lot of people didn't realize or want moles to be included … We're sympathetic ... but a law is a law.” Another example of what happens when the non-rural population becomes the voting majority.
Ponytug thought maybe my garden was eaten by deer or rabbits. I put up a six-foot “deer” fence around the barnyard, chicken yard, garden, and berry patch last year, and have not seen any evidence of deer—no droppings, no hoof prints. And now that you mention rabbits, I haven’t seen a single rabbit since we moved here. Maybe the marmots out-compete them for forage and burrows. If the garden was not wiped out by gophers, then it must have been marmots. Although deer have not been a problem for us, we did have a cow moose and a couple calves tearing branches off the cherry and apple trees last fall and winter. Those are big critters, so we just let them fill up and move on.
Regarding downstream poisoning of animals that might eat poisoned gophers, this State also banned or limited the more toxic chemicals like strychnine. If you want the good stuff, you have to drive a few miles to Idaho. The smoke sticks Ponytug mentioned sound interesting. I’ll have to do a little research on their effectiveness.
Oosik made me chuckle when he said the grocery store is more reliable than a garden, and cheaper. The same is true with raising chickens for eggs. A little research shows that store bought eggs are cheaper than home-raised eggs, yet we keep a few chickens anyway. My kids like our surplus, and whatever they don’t eat, the neighbors are glad to get. I often wonder what is rattling around in my head regarding chickens. I took care of the chickens when I was a kid, and always swore I would never have chickens when I left home. So much for that vow.
Regarding nets over my cherry trees, I am not sure how I can do that. The trees are probably 50 years old, and mostly unpruned the past decade or so. I was hoping to get them pruned this year, but didn’t make it. I would have to use a man-lift to put on a net, or take it off later. I am wondering whether I can wrap just the bottom few feet, and let the birds have the top. It might work.
I just came in from the garden to inventory what is left. I found a half-dozen uneaten green bean sprouts, a couple pumpkin plants, one pepper, six or seven tomatoes, a few potatoes, and a luxuriant, untouched rhubarb patch. Apparently rhubarb is not on the menu for local garden raiders. That rhubarb dates back to 19th century central Iowa, and has passed from father to son for five generations. I would hate to lose it.
Ponytug thought maybe my garden was eaten by deer or rabbits. I put up a six-foot “deer” fence around the barnyard, chicken yard, garden, and berry patch last year, and have not seen any evidence of deer—no droppings, no hoof prints. And now that you mention rabbits, I haven’t seen a single rabbit since we moved here. Maybe the marmots out-compete them for forage and burrows. If the garden was not wiped out by gophers, then it must have been marmots. Although deer have not been a problem for us, we did have a cow moose and a couple calves tearing branches off the cherry and apple trees last fall and winter. Those are big critters, so we just let them fill up and move on.
Regarding downstream poisoning of animals that might eat poisoned gophers, this State also banned or limited the more toxic chemicals like strychnine. If you want the good stuff, you have to drive a few miles to Idaho. The smoke sticks Ponytug mentioned sound interesting. I’ll have to do a little research on their effectiveness.
Oosik made me chuckle when he said the grocery store is more reliable than a garden, and cheaper. The same is true with raising chickens for eggs. A little research shows that store bought eggs are cheaper than home-raised eggs, yet we keep a few chickens anyway. My kids like our surplus, and whatever they don’t eat, the neighbors are glad to get. I often wonder what is rattling around in my head regarding chickens. I took care of the chickens when I was a kid, and always swore I would never have chickens when I left home. So much for that vow.
Regarding nets over my cherry trees, I am not sure how I can do that. The trees are probably 50 years old, and mostly unpruned the past decade or so. I was hoping to get them pruned this year, but didn’t make it. I would have to use a man-lift to put on a net, or take it off later. I am wondering whether I can wrap just the bottom few feet, and let the birds have the top. It might work.
I just came in from the garden to inventory what is left. I found a half-dozen uneaten green bean sprouts, a couple pumpkin plants, one pepper, six or seven tomatoes, a few potatoes, and a luxuriant, untouched rhubarb patch. Apparently rhubarb is not on the menu for local garden raiders. That rhubarb dates back to 19th century central Iowa, and has passed from father to son for five generations. I would hate to lose it.
ponytug
Super Member
Rhubarb is pretty safe from rodents due to the oxalic acid in the leaves.
I hear you on the trapping laws. Certain ways of killing animals from live traps have been classified as humane in this state.
There is always the "Rodenator". An acquaintance made his own for about $200. He mentioned minor fire control issues...something about flaming rodents running around occasionally...not sure whether to believe him.
FWIW: We use pvc pipe with an elbow on it to lift bird netting up and over individual trees. I know some folks who have made big "U" upside down to make hoop tents for rows of trees. I have a large design to net the whole orchard, but it hasn't made it to the top of the do list yet.
All the best,
Peter
I hear you on the trapping laws. Certain ways of killing animals from live traps have been classified as humane in this state.
There is always the "Rodenator". An acquaintance made his own for about $200. He mentioned minor fire control issues...something about flaming rodents running around occasionally...not sure whether to believe him.
FWIW: We use pvc pipe with an elbow on it to lift bird netting up and over individual trees. I know some folks who have made big "U" upside down to make hoop tents for rows of trees. I have a large design to net the whole orchard, but it hasn't made it to the top of the do list yet.
All the best,
Peter
the old grind
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I miss Mom's rhubarb pie or when she cooked up a batch like one would applesauce. Except in the pies she would substitute about half those red cinnamon dots for sugar by the cup. (great pink applesauce too) Mom never once 'ruined' rhubarb by adding strawberries, once in a while with blueberries and we called it 'bluebarb'.
I'm keeping up with chipmunks this year and just saw my first red squirrel this morning on the big deck. I set for it just moments later. (tomcat 'rat' trap w/sunflower seeds tossed deep vs just on the pan) Bet I get 'im in a day or two. Coyotes haven't come back and we have bunnies again like the good old days. neighbors are still thanki9ng me for taking out that alpha female that wanted to rear more pups. (I caught her off guard and in heat with a 12 Ga at 40 yd on a 1^F night.)
IIRC in Indiana it is illegal to transport/release live animals. Make pets out of 'em, dispatch & bury 'em, or put your recipe up in the 'country cooking' forum. "You never stand so tall as when you stoop to stomp a varmint." (CarToons magazine.)
I'm keeping up with chipmunks this year and just saw my first red squirrel this morning on the big deck. I set for it just moments later. (tomcat 'rat' trap w/sunflower seeds tossed deep vs just on the pan) Bet I get 'im in a day or two. Coyotes haven't come back and we have bunnies again like the good old days. neighbors are still thanki9ng me for taking out that alpha female that wanted to rear more pups. (I caught her off guard and in heat with a 12 Ga at 40 yd on a 1^F night.)
IIRC in Indiana it is illegal to transport/release live animals. Make pets out of 'em, dispatch & bury 'em, or put your recipe up in the 'country cooking' forum. "You never stand so tall as when you stoop to stomp a varmint." (CarToons magazine.)
MossRoad
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- Power Trac PT425 2001 Model Year
From here:
Living with wildlife questions
Find solutions to common wildlife interactions with people from the Indiana DNR..
www.in.gov
A raccoon, squirrel, or opossum is in my house, what can I do?
If you are the homeowner or tenant, you can buy a cage trap and trap the animal on your property without a permit. Learn more about appropriate trapping methods and bait to use. You can find traps at hardware stores and garden centers.After trapping it, you must then either release the animal within the same county on property where you have permission to release it, or you can kill the animal (in compliance with local ordinances and following AVMA guidelines).
OP
RockWrangler
Bronze Member
I hear you about the rhubarb sauce. I am just about to finish off my last batch, and have been studying the patch to see what I harvest next. Rhubarb sauce practically makes itself: cut the stalks into 1/2 inch pieces, put them in a pan over low heat with a bit of water—a small bit—and walk away. Stir it every now and again, and add sugar to taste when it is the consistency you like. Monk fruit sweetener is an acceptable substitute for sugar, if you are sugar sensitive.
When I was a kid, we used to spoon the rhubarb sauce over a piece of white bread, then pour on a dollop of milk. Mom would occasionally make a cobbler, but rhubarb on bread was our fallback dessert. These days we make strawberry-rhubarb pie and an occasional rhubarb cobbler. Last year my wife experimented with a cherry-rhubarb pie. I thought it was pretty good, but she didn’t, so we are not likely to see that recipe again.
plowhog
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I'd advise anyone reading this to check the laws of their specific state.
I recently considered trapping a nuisance animal on my CA property. Although I didn't proceed, the information I got was: 1) I needed a permit, even for just one animal, 2) the permit cost exceeded $1,000, 3) only an approved trap could be used, 4) my trap had to have a unique tag on it that identified me, 5) only certain seasons were allowed, and, 6) you could not, ever, relocate a trapped animal.
Pixguy
Super Member
orezok
Elite Member
Yeah. I bet you enjoy those grapes and a;mounds
Yeah. Don’t you enjoy those CA grapes and almonds
OP
RockWrangler
Bronze Member
It is a little over three weeks since I last posted, so I thought I would bring you up to date and reply to a few of your posts. The total marmots trapped to date is 120. 62 since May 1. A couple weeks ago I decided to focus on my barn, since so many of the critters run to the barn when I open the barnyard gate. I have trapped 19 from the barn alone in two weeks. Including the six I trapped from the barn last summer, that makes 25 just from the barn, and only from three animal stalls. On average that totals up to 250 lbs of marmots tunneling under a 25 X 70 ft barn. It is a bit boggling to think about.
Trying to figure out where they are coming from, I realized that the back side of the barn abuts the back pasture, an acre or so of rocky basalt with a thin skim of dirt, which in turn adjoins unlimited rocky ground. Although you can’t see it, the layering of the basalt allows the marmots to easily tunnel into the barn and over to my irrigated garden, berry patch, orchard and yard. Not only do they come to my cultivated patch of green from the mile-long cliff across the road, but they have an underground highway right to the greenery. I have three traps at the barn alone and it is a rare day I don’t get one or two of the varmints.
Regarding the gophers, you recommended the Rodenator gopher blaster and deep plowing to rip up the tunnels. I love the Rodenator! Blowing the gophers out of their tunnels sounds like fun. But my cultivated area is cross-hatched with an underground irrigation system, not to mention the septic system drain pipes. Blasting and plowing are not options. It looks like poisoning and trapping are the only choices. Eventually, once we’ve got traveling out of our system, we may consider cats and dogs.
As I said earlier, except for the rhubarb and a few tomato plants, my garden is gone. I have done no-till gardening for decades, always with resounding success—until I moved to my present location. I think the mulch layer is giving the gophers easy and invisible access to the plants. I searched around the perimeter of the garden, and found a gopher tunnel every few feet. I poisoned every gopher mound and tunnel I could locate, but the problem with poison is you can’t see whether you are successful. The results will only be known in the long term.
If I decide to continue gardening, I may have to go to raised beds with hardware cloth stretched across the bottom. That might take care of the gophers, but then I will have to stretch fencing around the beds to keep out the marmots. I am reminded of Oosik’s comment about grocery stores being more reliable. Still, it would be a shame to not use the land productively.
This is a unique property, and it looks like the only remedy will be long-term trapping and/or poisoning. Even then the results will be abatement and not solution. No wonder my neighbors all ran up the white flag. Thanks for your comments and suggestions. Ron
Trying to figure out where they are coming from, I realized that the back side of the barn abuts the back pasture, an acre or so of rocky basalt with a thin skim of dirt, which in turn adjoins unlimited rocky ground. Although you can’t see it, the layering of the basalt allows the marmots to easily tunnel into the barn and over to my irrigated garden, berry patch, orchard and yard. Not only do they come to my cultivated patch of green from the mile-long cliff across the road, but they have an underground highway right to the greenery. I have three traps at the barn alone and it is a rare day I don’t get one or two of the varmints.
Regarding the gophers, you recommended the Rodenator gopher blaster and deep plowing to rip up the tunnels. I love the Rodenator! Blowing the gophers out of their tunnels sounds like fun. But my cultivated area is cross-hatched with an underground irrigation system, not to mention the septic system drain pipes. Blasting and plowing are not options. It looks like poisoning and trapping are the only choices. Eventually, once we’ve got traveling out of our system, we may consider cats and dogs.
As I said earlier, except for the rhubarb and a few tomato plants, my garden is gone. I have done no-till gardening for decades, always with resounding success—until I moved to my present location. I think the mulch layer is giving the gophers easy and invisible access to the plants. I searched around the perimeter of the garden, and found a gopher tunnel every few feet. I poisoned every gopher mound and tunnel I could locate, but the problem with poison is you can’t see whether you are successful. The results will only be known in the long term.
If I decide to continue gardening, I may have to go to raised beds with hardware cloth stretched across the bottom. That might take care of the gophers, but then I will have to stretch fencing around the beds to keep out the marmots. I am reminded of Oosik’s comment about grocery stores being more reliable. Still, it would be a shame to not use the land productively.
This is a unique property, and it looks like the only remedy will be long-term trapping and/or poisoning. Even then the results will be abatement and not solution. No wonder my neighbors all ran up the white flag. Thanks for your comments and suggestions. Ron