Woodchuck Problem

[dougtrr2]

I am looking for a way to discourage woodchucks. I heat with wood. Due to the lay of the land, I have a 10' block wall just outside my furnace room door. I stack up to 12 cords of wood against that wall. My wood is on treated 4 x 4s. In different years I have had a woodchuck take up residence. The hole is alway against the wall somewhere near the middle. Last year the woodchuck was very predictable and my wife was able to shoot him when he came out to sun himself.

I am thinking if I put some chainlink fence on the ground it could keep them out. I would drape it up the wall about a foot, go under the 4 x 4s and extend out from the wall about 3'. The wood would keep the chain tight against the wall. It doesn't happen every year, but I don't like those holes next to my footings.

Any thoughts?

Doug in SW IA

 

[skipmarcy]

When I was a kid in CT I worked with this old German guy winterizing the lake houses in early fall. The woodchucks would always burrow down beside the basement walls. The old man would go around to bars and get empty liquor bottles and we would throw a couple bottles in the hole and smash it up with a shovel and then lightly shovel some dirt back into the hole. A woodchuck will dig it's same hole back out and when it did it would cut it's front paws on the glass and then die - blood will not coagulate in a woodchuck's front paws !!

Back then (in the 60's) the state of CT had a bounty on woodchucks and paid $2 for a left front paw from one - they knew if it was missing a front paw that it WAS dead. Our local hardware store accepted the paws and paid the bounty back then for the state. They also sold cyanide gas/smoke bombs to put in the burrows out in the fields to kill them.

 

[Sergei1]

Lay some 60" x 10' Hutchinson's horse panels down, you can get them at Theisens. The spacing between holes is 4"x4". And easy to cut with bolt cutters to size.

 

[k0ua]

We always just used a .22. It is very effective.

 

[MossRoad]

I am looking for a way to discourage woodchucks. I heat with wood. Due to the lay of the land, I have a 10' block wall just outside my furnace room door. I stack up to 12 cords of wood against that wall. My wood is on treated 4 x 4s. In different years I have had a woodchuck take up residence. The hole is alway against the wall somewhere near the middle. Last year the woodchuck was very predictable and my wife was able to shoot him when he came out to sun himself.

I am thinking if I put some chainlink fence on the ground it could keep them out. I would drape it up the wall about a foot, go under the 4 x 4s and extend out from the wall about 3'. The wood would keep the chain tight against the wall. It doesn't happen every year, but I don't like those holes next to my footings.

Any thoughts?

Doug in SW IA

Every time I have attempted to store firewood near my garage, within a few months, a woodchuck would do exactly what you describe. You can shoot them all you want, however, another one will just take up residence a few months later. Discouraging a good place to borrow would be easier in the long run, and you wouldn't have that dirt thrown up against your wall every year. I'd run the chain link out past the pile edges a couple feet in all directions if possible. Grass will grow through it eventually and you'll be able to walk or drive right over it.

 

[MossRoad]

In fact, I like your idea so much, I might try it myself at my wood pile this year.

 

[k0ua]

I am seeing a Geico woodchuck commercial here somewhere.

 

[the old grind]

I use the 'Silent Guardian groundhog alert system', AKA a Conibear 160 body grip trap. Only muskrats are easier to gather with 'em. As a stealth device, and by its operating method, daily inspection is indicated. "When the chain is tight you got 'em right."

Takes no prisoners, and when I dig a g'hog hole they don't return to theirs. Crawl-offs are unlikely but canis latrans may relocate your catch and take the trap with it, so I stake DRT traps just in case to save $$.

btw, when laying 'mesh' or poly lattice (a 4' x 8' makes 3 16" x 8' pieces or 24 running feet) to deter dgging under fences lay it horizontally vs vertically for any intrusion(s) or animals will just dig deeper trying to get under it. (Got dog kennel, chicken pen?)

 

[Diggin It]

Last year the woodchuck was very predictable and my wife was able to shoot him when he came out to sun himself.

We always just used a .22. It is very effective.

You can shoot them all you want, however, another one will just take up residence a few months later.

You'll run out of ammo before you run out of woodchucks.

The chain or wire may work as long as you never have to dig up that area again, or it doesn't work itself up and catch a tire ... or foot.

 

[Jstpssng]

Lay some 60" x 10' Hutchinson's horse panels down, you can get them at Theisens. The spacing between holes is 4"x4". And easy to cut with bolt cutters to size.

Admittedly shooting them won't keep more from coming, but it will help keep the population in check. My father waged a lifelong war against the little buggers. He passed away a few years ago and they are already overrunning the place. I was fortunate enough not to have them here for 15 years. Recently I've starting seeing a few... most likely from people "livetrapping and releasing them on some backroad." I live on that backroad. I've had two woodchucks in the last 2 years, but they didn't last long. In my case a .22 worked wonders on the second... the first I chased into his hole with the tractor and buried it. I never saw him again.