Woodchuck Bait

njrqs · May 4, 2002

Ooohh

Large fat cats running around digging holes is not a good thing.

Then again, large fat cats are not much use either !!

Cheers

Boondox · May 4, 2002

I've always had luck with gassing them out. Have a bucket of fill dirt handy. Pour some chlorine bleach down the hole. Follow it with equal amounts of household ammonia...then quickly pour the dirt in to block the hole! The mixture generates chlorine gas, which sinks to the bottom of the burrow. Even if the fellow escapes, the gas makes the burrow a very unfriendly place to come back to. Just be really careful mixing this stuff. Do it in the hole, don't breathe the vapors yourself, and plug the hole ASAP.

Pete

Anonymous Poster · May 4, 2002

Victor Conibear Trap on top of the hole does a fine job.
Don't forget to chain the trap down, just in case it don't kill him right off.
NOT suggested for use where there are prowling pets.

Carl_NH · May 4, 2002

Pete,

Great idea and method. Have you thought about stuffing a 1" or so plastic pipe down the hole then pour in the chlorine? I was thinking this might delay the reaction if you could inject chlorine further down in the hole then the ammonia a bit further up.

By the way when they come out (if they do) woodchucks can be mean, especially if they have no avenue for escape.

Carl

TerryinMD · May 5, 2002

The fusee's are very effective - if Mr/Mrs Groundhog is home. They usually have multiple burrows. You need to check embankments, clumps of bushes, etc. Here's another approach.... I have the same problem with discharging firearms.

Buy or borrow a Haveaheart trap that has both ends opened. I believe it is the middle sized trap. Make sure you find both ends of the burrow. You take a couple of concrete blocks to enclose the sides of the hole just high enough to allow the trap to fit. Cover the top of the enclosure with a piece of plywood or something to enclose the end of the trap. Since the open at both ends and the trap trigger is in the middle. The groundhogs natural tendency to feed its face takes over. The bugger has to come out and it will go through the trap, tripping the mechanism.

This method was taught to us by one of the locals and it is fool proof.

Now, what you do with the critter is up to you. I just can't bring myself to killing a trapped animal so I take mine down to an area where he can do the least damage. A national park!! Let the critter meet his fate on his own terms. I refuse to take them near another farm or populated area.

If my explanation is confusing, just let me know and I'll post a photo.

Hope this helps.

Hillbilly · May 5, 2002

Get your rifle and waste him,skin him out and fry him up
The following recipe is out of an L.L. Bean cookbook
Baked Young Woodchuck in Sour Cream and Mustard

6 lb woodchuck, cut into serving pieces
flour
salt and freshly ground pepper
Dijon mustard
3 slices bacon
1 onion, diced
1/4 cup thinly sliced carrots
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
3 Tb. chopped parsley
1 tsp. Harvey's sauce or Kitchen Bouquet
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sweet cream

Soak the woodchuck pieces in salted water overnight or for several hours, then rinse dry, roll in flour, salt, and pepper, and saute' in fat until nicely browned.

When cool enough to handle spread the pieces generously on all sides with Dijon mustard.

Place on strips of bacon in shallow baking dish.

Saute' teh onion, carrots, and finally the mushrooms, add the parsley and Harvey's sauce, check for salt and pepper, then, over low heat, stir in the sour cream and the sweet cream, melding the two creams.

Pour over meat pieces and bake in a 350 degree oven 40-5- minutes or until meat is tender(bake rabbit, squirrel, or muskrat 3-=40 minutes). Check the dish once or twice and if it seems to need moisture add cream.

These animals are vegetarians,so PETA should not be too offended if you eat one?
Here in WVa we call them ground hogs,some people even call them Whistle Pigs because they make a whistle sound when excited.

How much wood could a wood chuck, chuck chuck,if a wood chuck could chuck wood?

Or as Dennis the Menace said:
How much ground could a ground hog grind if a ground hog could grind ground /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

These animals make nice pets if caught when they are small.
I had one in my arms carrying it to the house when I was a boy,my dog had just whipped it and I thought it was dead,they will play possum and act like they are dead as I soon found out,the sucker nailed me right next to my nose and I had to go to the hospital,and then my dad had to go home and find part of its brains to send off to check for rabies(State Law)he had a hard time finding any after shooting it in the head with a .243 Winchester.
I ate many of those things growing up.
Would I eat a racoon or opposum?NO way they are dirty in my opinion.in what they eat.
Another story,I had a dog that was h### on these things,when he did not catch them on the ground he would tree them,well one had climbed a persimon tree and the tree had a fork which the ground had slipped and hung itself,and been hanging there for a few days,I new it,my dad new it,but the dog did not until he seen that thing and started barking and thought he had one up the tree,well dad had to climb the tree with a long stick in his hand and make him fall to the ground to get the dog to shut up,the dog shook him for about a second and walked away when he realized it was dead.

Robert_in_NY · May 5, 2002

That is how we catch the baby woodchucks, when they are eating you sneak up and get between them and the hole. They have no choice but to try to get thru you and you just have to pick them up, but make sure you have good gloves on cause they are fun little critters. We try to kill any woodchucks before they have the little ones. If they have them then we wait as I don't like killing the little guys, their too much fun to watch and catch. Take care.

SteveBenson · May 5, 2002

I've heard brocolli is the magic bait.

rmorgan · May 5, 2002

Neil--

Woodchucks are actually marmots, which sort of rhymes with varmint, which they is--rodents, related to chipmunks and prarie dogs. As to burrowing, my father-in-law lost a small barn to woodchucks--they got under the slab and burrowed to the point that the floor collapsed. They are very common around here (Ohio) and range from the mid-Atlantic American states up into Canada. My current barn has a dirt floor with some pretty big woodchuck burrow holes in it. An adult can be a big animal--up to 20 lbs. prior to hibernation. They are smart, hard to trap and quick to learn; Havahart traps don't touch them. As to using the sulphur mole bombs with them, I never had luck because they maintain multiple entrances to their burrows. But they have at least one weakness--mulberries. A few years ago, we found one we'd been trying to nail for weeks taking what turned out to be his last nap asleep in the branches of a mulberry tree in broad daylight. Although they're far from the worst pests around, you're lucky not to have them down there.