radio playing all the time
sharp gravel in the hole
sprinkle lawn fertilizer around and in the hole (irritates the skin)
repack the hole and put something really heavy/large over it

Ground hogs are so destructive, that the amish farmers pay my dad 1/2 gal of milk for every ground hog he shoots. Unfortunately, ground hog meat is real nasty to eat, so that's a waste.

Cher

I am not saying the groundhog is gone, but I haven't seen him in a while.

the stuff smells LIKE mothballs....

the downfalls are:

1. it expensive
2. it doesnt last long (expecially if it rains)

The next time you watch Bugs Bunny, think about having a little more sympathy for Elmer Fudd. The fellow is just trying to make a living. The current plague of woodchucks is directly tied to a Fudd shortage statewide, which is tied directly to development. How many Fudds are left in your phone book?

Thats what I was also told about squirrels. After much conflicting info I finally got the go ahead from the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife ( or was that Game). I was told the preferred method was to drown them but I could also relocate up to 5 miles away to private property with permission or to state land. I've been trapping 40 to 50 squirrels per year for the last 4 years. I drop them off at the water treatment plant at the end of Moonachie Ave. Thats where I also bring the groundhogs. Oh, one more thing. When I began trapping squirrels I would spray a little white paint on their tails to verify they were not returning. After the first 40 or so it became clear NONE returned.

According to Havaheart the preferred groundhog baits are
Fresh string beans
Sweet corn
Lettuce
Peas
Cantaloupe
Strawberries
Cucumbers
Peaches
Vanilla extract

I catch mine on broccoli though last year they eat most of my parsley and ALL my brussel sprouts :(
That was the last straw.

Pushed me OVER the edge, ended up killing one and almost (by a hair) killing the other. I was NOT proud.

Garden grown sprouts are a different species altogether from store bought ones

You got that right. As a child I would almost puke when my Mom tried to make me eat them. About 5 years ago I tried fresh ones completely different world.

And oddly enough, this thread has convinced me to try growing some brussels-sprouts next year. . .

Yours in sympathy,
Claire

P.S.--Brussels sprouts, what a wonderful idea.

Make sure you get the right size trap, read the instructions, leave a little water if you're setting it while at work, and have a way to transport the (feisty) little guy five to ten miles away.

I got my trap at Ferris Farms in East Brunswick. Believe it was about forty dollars.

Visual stimuli like strobe lights, mylar tape, scarecrows, and scare-eye balloons.
• Auditory stimuli like ultrasonic devices and loud noises.
• Motion activated water sprays will also deter wildlife as well as companion animals.
__________
f the area to protect is small, woodchucks can be excluded using a 4-foot high hardware cloth fence with a mesh size smaller than 2 by 2 inches. Do not use chicken wire, as it will rust and weaken quickly. To prevent digging, bury the bottom of the fence 10–12 inches below ground or bend the lower 12 inches of the fence outward in an L shape about 1–2 inches below ground. The height of the fence above ground should be at least 3 feet. To prevent woodchucks from scaling the fence, you can add an electrified wire 4–5 inches off the ground and 4–5 inches from the outside of the fence. Bend the top 15 inches of the fence out at a 45-degree angle for extra protection from climbing chucks. Be sure to reinforce the gate as well so that woodchucks cannot dig under it.
_________

--ellen

When I first moved into my house, there he was, Mr woodchuck. I thought It was going to be "the fight for the garden" with him. Then, the people behind my house, their cat had kittens and they come into my yard. I haven't seen Mr woodchuck since. Then again, someone may have put a contract out on him.

They hate the smell of human urine. I know, it can be gross, but if you pour about a cupful into the entrances of their home every couple of days for a few days, (there's always more than one--the main entrance has the big mound around it) they'll shortly disappear. They're actually very fastidious, and will leave when they realize they can't get the smell out.
I did a lot of research last year when we had the problem, and this was the only solution that worked--and they haven't come back.

Good luck to you & spread this tip around. So to speak.

I don't come to this forum that often but this thread made the cruise over worth it!

Between the deer, rabbits, chipmunks and woodchucks I don't know how to keep things growing anymore.

One can only buy so many different kinds of smelly substances to spray, scatter and hang around anything green.

I just know the 3 mongers I've seen sauntering down the driveway are reproducing in that cavernous burrow under the shed as I type.

Neighbor across the other way has trouble with groundhogs in his veggie garden every year. He traps them & releases in another state! PA.

---
Wendy

Could it have been a fox? They will live in underground homes.

It almost sounds like a large member of the weasel family--a wolverine--but I don't think they live in burrows.

In any case, if it kills and eats rabbits, I wouldn't let my young dog out.

You might want to call your state game commission and ask them for advice.

We've trapped two so far and have at least three left, one of whom is pregnant. VERY PREGNANT.

Assuming we manage to trap and relocate the rest of the horde, what is the best way to keep them from coming back?

Our exterminator also suggested a rather cruel method of killing them off: bubble gum. Exactly how inhumane is that?

Since yesterday morning, we have been blaring a hip-hop station on a small radio on the floor of the shed.

Have not the seen the 'darling' since then.

;-)

Cristina

I've been sorely tempted over the past 2 months of having almost everything eaten by these groundhogs and rabbits.

I know exactly where their burrows are since I see them everytime I'm slashing, hacking and pulling up the Chinese Wisteria vines that are like an old "X-Files" episode where huge vines take retribution on humans!

The deer are doing less damage now than the other two but still a pain. That will, of course, reverse itself come colder weather.

Since I stopped ground feeding birds because of chipmunk infestation they've taken to nipping plants at the stems and just leaving plant lying on the ground. They're even climbing trees in attempt to get at suspended bird feeders.

Moles have evidently found bulbs I relocated about 5-6 weeks ago. They're using holes excavated by chipmunks in addition to new ones and I just know by raised earth trails they're not just eating slugs under there. They've tunneled into almost every new plant I put into that garden. Mole repellant is a joke and garden has faithfully been covered in Bug-Geta to kill slugs.

Saw "mole poison" in Home Depot the other day. If I wasn't afraid some other innocuous animal/bird would eat it I'd put it down holes and where I see mole furrows to my new plants! Gonna have to dig up every place I put bulbs to see if they're eaten and need to be replaced. Had site mapped out so knew where to put perennials and new bulbs in fall.

I'm almost ready to give up first gardens put in this year. There are too many bugs, insects, critters, invasive vines/weeds, cement clay and black spot carried from trees to plants for me to fight constantly.

Spend more time chasing, fencing, protecting and spraying/spreading "whatever" repellant than actually gardening.

The groundhogs actually climbed up a 2' high container and pulled down the 3' chicken wire fence to finish off the Tithonia plants they'd been chomping back to stubs over past month and a half.

A friend lives next door to a local school and people have been trapping their groundhogs and dropping them off on school property at night. He found 5 of them sitting on his patio one morning and total count in his yard is over 25. There's a town ordinance of fines for trapping, killing and/or relocating groundhogs. Some are doing the nasty deed silently as a last resort but most people around here have stopped vegetable/flower gardening altogether.

Now I know why.

Feel so guilty complaining about this kind of thing when I think about people starving because wars, natural disasters, corrupt governments and the like.

On the bright side one of my Black Swallowtail caterpillars made a chrysalis in the hour I was NOT watching but I'm still thrilled.

It's the little wonders that make all the rest of this stuff recede into the background for a little while.

Since the vege garden was moved to the other side of the yard from their trail and fenced in (low fence, nothing special) they have left the veges alone and the dog loves chasing them so (they're FAST) so I don't think they linger and eat.

In previous years it was almost funny, they'd develop a taste for something they'd never eaten before and then find it everywhere in the yard and totally devour all of it. Then two weeks later it would be something else.

bigwuhead, you just shot down the two things I was going to try this year...ammonia and cement to fill the maze under my father's shed. I'd have to hurry up and do the cement deal while my father's down south for the month or he'd have a fit. With my luck, the cement would expand and lift his shed off its foundation...LOL.

The miserable mangy mongrels are all over along with the chipmunks who've emerged with the recent 60-70F temps after over a foot of snow last week. And I still have to get my bulbs up and blooming with daily repellant spraying.

I'm sure we could keep this thread going for decades...and they'd still be winning.

I have tried more than 10 suggested methods of evicting them but NOTHING I tried had lasting results. Finally I tried trapping them, which works very easily, but what does one do with them? In NJ you can not legally transports one of these animals without risking a hefty fine. Besides, they are dirty and do not smell too nice, so it's not an easy ride to a new location if you should decide to risk the law stopping you. The ONLY way is to trap them and then shoot them with a good pellet gun, then drop them in a hole and cover them up.

I buy the extra large traps available from Harbor Freight. A similar trap avialable at the local home center is at least twich as much. I bait them with an apple which works very well and is super fast. These traps will catch a ground hog in a time period of a few hours to a few days.

Anything short of giving these critters a one way ticket out of your life has NEVER worked for me. I've tried dozens of methods and "fail safe stuff" available at the home centers with absolutely no results to speak of. You need to get serious and make them disappear!

Gregg E. Bullwinkel